Managing your money as a business owner is important - along with a million other things a small business owner handles. Often, as the business grows, the decision is made to hire a bookkeeper. The expectation is that they will know what to do to record everything and they will provide financial insight.
As in other things in life, expectations don’t always match reality. Ultimately, you are not going to be happy with who you work with if they don’t do what you expect. Here are some questions to ask yourself - and any potential provider - to make sure you're getting the help you need:
What do you want done?
Are you looking for someone to record transactions or initiate them (bill payment, invoicing, collections, etc.)?
Are you looking for someone to teach you how to do things or take over responsibilities from you?
What kind of monthly or quarterly reporting do you want, if any?
From your tax professional, what are you expecting outside of tax preparation?
Do you want someone who can answer questions and discuss both past figures and future projections, or do you just need accurate numbers?
You may need both depending on what your expectations are, how much daily work there is and how much information needs to flow between you and them to get the work done.
How do you expect to interact with your providers?
Email, phone calls, text, in-person?
Weekly, monthly, annually?
Proactive conversations or reactive conversations?
Are you going to completely get out of any of the financial work or analysis (Note: we don’t recommend you do this. You need to know these numbers to make intelligent decisions.)?
What has worked for you before, and what things didn’t work well?
Here are some questions to ask whoever you choose to be on your team:
What are their qualifications? Have they done this before?
Do they understand your industry?
What type of communication will they provide and in what format? Will they require you to learn new software or create new logins to access their programs?
How much will it cost?
What is NOT included?
What security and confidentiality measures do they have in place?
We are a firm that chooses to partner with you - regardless of whether you are a sole proprietor or have a team behind you. We want to know your business, your employees and your challenges. While we can simply do the data entry, we want to be a part of the team.
If your numbers aren’t accurate and we don’t know you and your team, it's impossible for us to help you make wise financial decisions. It's important to us that we deliver more than just a package of numbers. We can also connect you with other professionals that can move you forward and partner with you too.
Being an entrepreneur is tough and can often feel lonely.
