4 Questions to Ask When Hiring a Bookkeeping Service

Among all accounting tasks, bookkeeping is one of the most crucial jobs contributing directly to the success of your business. If a bookkeeper fails to record day-to-day financial activities accurately, you may not get the right insight to file taxes and develop an effective financial strategy. This is the reason why savvy business owners realize the significance of hiring a bookkeeping service with the right skills that they can trust to maintain their accounts.

An incompetent bookkeeper can make your accounting system sloppy and hard to manage.

Here are 4 questions you need to ask a bookkeeping service provider to ensure accuracy of your records for making the right decisions.

1.    What are Your Core Skills and Competence?

At minimum, the bookkeeper should have skills and knowledge to post and update journal entries, draft and maintain bank reconciliation statements, as well as process payroll, accounts receivable, and accounts payable. Besides basic skills to perform day-to-day accounting activities, the bookkeeper should have strong problem solving skills to identify and correct discrepancies.

If your business environment is fully-automated, you may also want someone who can work with financial programs your organization uses.

2.    Do You Have Prior Experience in the Similar Capacity?

Bookkeeping practices vary across business sectors. While some industries may be more sophisticated than others, it’s essential that you ask if the service provider has specific skills and knowledge in the similar industry as yours. When the relevance of experience is more important than the duration of experience, a bookkeeper with specialized skills set may be a better option than a generalist.

 

 

3.    Are You a Certified Professional?

While accountants don’t need a license to practice, certification from the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers and National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers can be good indicators of competence of a bookkeeper. When a bookkeeper is certified, it implies that the person possesses advanced knowledge and skills to perform their job diligently.

Besides this, a bookkeeper may also be part of a professional body or association indicating professional status as well as commitment to their career. Association with a professional group may also keep these professional updated with news, trends, and best practices in the industry, allowing them to become more competitive and effective for their clients.

4.    Can We Contact Your Previous Clients?

Ask the bookkeeper to provide you with contact details of previous clients along with consent to speak to them. Call the references to learn about the work the service provider was assigned, their personal experience with the bookkeeper, and the consistency of their service to make sure that you hire a professional and competent service.

Hire a competent and professional bookkeeper with Basinger, CPA for your small business bookkeeping needs. With a team of highly qualified bookkeepers, the company ensures accuracy and reliability of your records to help you with a variety of accounting and taxation matters.