Important Questions To Ask Your Bookkeeper

Engaging a bookkeeper to help you manage your financial reporting can be a positive way to help your business grow.

But how do you choose the best possible bookkeeper for your business?

Questions to ask your bookkeeper:

• Are you qualified?
• How much experience have you had?
• Are you a registered BAS Agent?
• Are you are member of a Professional Body, eg Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB), Australian Bookkeepers Network (ABN)?
• Do you attend regular meetings to keep your knowledge up to date?
• Have you had experience within my industry before?
• Do you offer only one software solution of do you have experience with different types of software?
• What happens to my data if I stop my subscription?
• I have staff - do you have HR Resources that I can utilise?
• Do you only work offsite or do you work onsite as well?

Software. The 3 main Software Solutions that we suggest are…

Xero: 

Xero Dashboard helps a business owner quickly see their bank accounts and any other section of their business that they want to track. They may choose to have invoices showing on the Dashboard. This means that either from their PC or mobile device they can quickly see what money is due to them and follow up.  You can invoice or even prepare a quotation for your clients from your phone. Xero allows for payments to be taken on your phone when linked to a Square Device which does help small businesses with cashflow. If you send regular invoices to your clients, Xero allows you to automate this process. The invoices can be sent without you having to be logged in. Reminders can then be sent out to let your customers know that the bill is either coming up for payment or is overdue.

MYOB AR: 

If your business is wanting more specific types of reporting than you cannot go past MYOB AR. This program integrates all of the tracking and timebilling reports including multiple profit and loss reports without having extra apps. MYOB does not have a limit on the number of staff that you have as there is one fee for as many staff members that you need. The only downside for MYOB AR is it is not a true mobile solution as you will always need to have the program installed on your PC.

Intuit QBO:  

This has a fantastic app on the phone that enables you to work and see how your business is going when you are not in front of your computer. You can add expenses, prepare quotes and get these authorised by a client directly on your mobile device. You can then convert this to an invoice and email this directly to your client. You can take payments using your phone, when linked to a Square Device. This enables you to get paid as you go. No more waiting for payment. You can conveniently see your profit and loss and balance sheet via you mobile device.

Xero and Intuit QBO both allow for the business to grow by starting with smaller packages. These do have limitations on them but for a new business the cost of start up is a major factor and some businesses rely on Excel spreadsheets at the beginning as they are not aware that you can start with a lower package and go to the next level as your business grows. MYOB does have Essentials but this does not upgrade to AccountRight.

Tip:

With all accounting software it is imperative that the business owner checks to find out how long they keep your data for if you decide to stop your subscription. Some will keep it for the regulated number of years, but will charge you to recommence your subscription. Some will delete the data after a set number of days from when the subscription is cancelled. Always make sure that the data is backed up and that either paper or electronic copies of all receipts and invoices is kept.

To find out if Curly Girl Numbers can help your business.