A good bookkeeper will get the job done, a Great Bookkeeper will be worth their weight in Gold!
There are so many bookkeepers around it can be overwhelming to try and find one that is passionate about what they do and one that can be a perfect fit for your business! Below we have six signs that will give you a good indications that your bookkeeper is intact a ‘keeper’ (haha)
1 – Relevant Bookkeeping Experience
We have said it before and we will say it again, just because you have done an online course doesn’t make you a “Great Bookkeeper”. Ask you bookkeeper;How long have you been in business
- Do you have experience in “your industry”
- Ask them how they would deal with your current biggest problem of your bookkeeper – this could be getting your POS system to reconcile with Quickbooks.
Don’t be so quick to turn away a Great Bookkeeper because of their hourly rate. A Great Bookkeeper will have the experience that allows them to complete tasks in half the time of an inexperienced bookkeeper.
2 – Continually completing accreditation
Again its not enough that you bookkeeper is simply qualified.
Ideally a Great Bookkeeper will keep themselves up-to-date with many areas of Bookkeeping. That can be compliance, ensuring they have a good understanding of GST. But more importantly that they are up to date with the
software program that they are using. If your bookkeeper uses Quickbooks Online for example, ask them what are their accreditation and what was the last training they completed. Here at Astute Admin we know how quickly cloud software is changing and we dedicate 1 day a fortnight to training webinars.
3 – Listens and Asks Questions
There is no better way to get a real understanding of someone business than listening to what they have to say and asking questions for clarification. Thats why number 3 is so important for getting the right bookkeeper for your business. You want a bookkeeper who is not afraid to ask the hard questions. Your bookkeeper needs to have a full understanding of your whole business for ensure they are both efficient in completing the work but also conforming to your in house processes.
You do not want a bookkeeper that makes too many assumptions! Too much guess work gives you a good bookkeeping services BUT you are after Great!
4 – Communicate Communicate Communicate
Might seem odd for a profession that is predominantly dealing with number and behind a computer screen but you need a someone with Great Communication Skills if you want a Great Bookkeeping Service. This communication is not limited to discussions, and questions as above, but they must have the confidence to discuss matters directly to your accountant and vice versa, relay technical information from your accountant to you!
This become ever more important if you engage your Bookkeeper for accounts payable and receivable, if they are making phone calls or emails on your behalf they need to have the ability to adapt to the culture of your business and communicate that in all correspondense.
5 – Ability to Solve Problems
I call this forensic bookkeeping!
When there is a bookkeeping issue you want that bookkeeper that can dive into what they have and present you with possible solutions.
Think about that for a minute!
In order to do this they need to have experience, be trained, ask questions and effectively communicate this!
Too many books have come across our desk from inexperience bookkeeper trying to ‘hide’ information by simply making assumptions based on now discussion with clients and reconciling transaction in order to process the bank feed! Come on! this is not offering a Great Bookkeeping Service this is simply getting through bank feed.
We hope that we have given you an indication of what to look for in engaging yourself with a Great Bookkeeper!
But most importantly
6 – Trust your Gut!
If you speak with someone and something is telling you its not right – then it probably isn’t! You need to work closely with your Bookkeeper – They become your closest ally in business over the years so you need someone you can TRUST. And we know that there are so many bookkeepers out their so pick up the phone and book an appointment with another one!
Found this useful check out other topics we have ;discusse
- 3 Signs of Bad Bookkeeping
- How to choose the perfect bookkeeper for you
- Hazards of DIY Bookkeeping
- Financial Reporting 101: Can you afford to be doing it wrong?
What services do we offer;
- Bookkeeping Service
- Business Reporting
- Onsite Bookkeeping Gold Coast
- Payroll Processing
- Catch-up Bookkeeping
- Start-up Business Bookkeeping
