Finding a Bookkeeper: Reinforcing Your Business Structure

On your quest to find a bookkeeper, you shall come across different means that shall seem equally enticing and fruitful, but not all of them shall assure you about hiring the best bookkeeper for your business. What’s then, the deal?

First, let’s see why you need a bookkeeper. It’s vital to keep track of the financial data of every business; the taxman doesn’t like us leaving the details to chance. Thus, someone is needed to be in charge of the books dedicatedly; this person, unless with sufficient amounts of training and experience, shall not be able to get the job done properly. However, that way we are talking about the bookkeeper per se; finding whom can be quite a bit of a challenge. Therefore, knowing what to look for among the prospective candidates is paramount.

A few points to remember before you embark upon the selection process:

Understand the difference between bookkeepers and accountants. They are not necessarily the same.

For an accountant, his job ends with providing advices and recommendations regarding financial matters.

For a bookkeeper, it’s about keeping track of income and expenses, processing invoices, settling the bank statements and payroll administration.

That would be sufficient for you to ask yourself if you need a person who can get those things done for you; if yes, then onwards to some serious shopping!

Determine first whether you are going to appoint a bookkeeper on a part-time, a full-time or on a contact basis.

An accounting degree is not a must for a qualified bookkeeper; however, they do require to complete certain formal coursework through an accredited institution in bookkeeping. For example, a complete course from the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers.

Besides the training ((including bookkeeping software) and a proper education, experience is a vital factor. Bookkeeping experiences teach a person how to handle complicated situations properly. It also imparts into a person a detail-oriented personality, without which, things can go frayed and disorganized.

Now, if everything goes as per your preference, be prepared to pay anything between $20 and $50 an hour. The easy way to find that out is to figure out the complexity and volume of the work; the more it is, the more are the charges.

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A Less Taxing Tax Season With Disciplined Bookkeeping

Appointing professionals for getting your bookkeeping done is fine as long as they don’t lack discipline. Small and mid-sized businesses chiefly suffer due to this reason; the situation worsens if there are just a handful of employees who fill the income and expenses accounts irregularly and not consistently, on a daily basis. That way, missing out on vital points become fatal and the dire consequences show up in the form of paying more to the government than required. Some still fall for the financial bookkeeping software commercially available; however, the human input remains constant. The situation worsens when people think of managing an entirely abrupt situation with some rudimentary accounting knowledge; with increasing levels of difficulty, all where it boils down to is getting deviated from their core businesses.

But there is a solution to every adverse situation and here it is outsourcing your bookkeeping needs. As for the privileges, the points mentioned underneath shall explain some:

• No more worries regarding income and expenses updating on a regular basis.

• With professionals working on your accounts, there remain no chances of erroneous entries.

• Specialized bookkeeping service providers understand the tax laws and tax standards better than anyone, so it’s maximum efficiency that you shall get in return.

• Focus shifts entirely upon building your business and customer base.
  
  If you are bothered about the cost of hiring an accountant, then think about buying an accounting software with a fortune and still not getting even 50% of the results. If the selection of an accounting firm is proper, you are on your way towards saving - if not double - the amount that you have paid unnecessarily all these days to the taxmen.

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Bookkeeping Systems: The Types and their Usefulness

Think about paying nominal prices; think about Asia. The continent offers a vast resource as far as outsourcing is concerned. With a large numbers of businesses opening everyday worldwide, this is how the balance is struck in the field of bookkeeping.

According to logistic surveys, labor costs are cheap in India. No, not physical labor, but the cerebral ones. This alone defines why bookkeeping needs are best taken care of in India; all those who opted for it got access to a highly technological bookkeeping environment with performances that match! To afford a similar one at any first world country, you need to be bigger than a medium-capital company. Anything that’s latest in accounting and bookkeeping services is a hallmark of the Indian companies; with employee-trained professionals, specialized services are directed towards single entry, double entry as well as towards online bookkeeping.

While you may ask – “How far the fees for single entry bookkeeping can go down; something this simple and uncomplicated just requires the transactions to be entered into a single column.” Of course, though very similar to checkbook register maintenance, it is a mechanical job that needs precision. Date, description and amount – all three columns require trained people for entering figures consistently into them without losing concentration. And if you ask the importance for such a tedious job, it is just that they suit small businesses better and leaves grounds for more columns lest they need to be added for different types of revenue and expenses.

To the initiated, this also proves such stuff holds good for calculating the daily and weekly accounts; for monthly, quarterly and annual accounts maintenances and for everything else requiring detailed financial information on spreadsheets, what you need is a Double Entry Bookkeeping System. It helps in calculating an exact financial position of a business; helps avoiding mistakes and errors for which no bank statement reconciliation is required; establishes a link between the balance sheet and the net income and keeps an exact track of liability and asset accounts, including inventory, accounts receivable and accounts payable. Unlike the single entry system, individual values are also not left out but are managed through debit and credit entries.

However, you may now ask why not going for the double entry system only? It’s because a double entry system requires more time and effort and cannot be afforded on a daily/weekly basis. And if that makes you think to hire an offshore service for the smaller jobs and a local one for the annual accounts, know that there’s something now called an online bookkeeping system; it aids in storing all business and source documents and related data in web-based applications at your beck and call on a 24/7 basis. So what’s the point in ending up spending more?

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Accountant in Chicago

I remember an accountant in Chicago telling me: “Accounting is not about mere figures; it’s the art of analyzing and interpreting data to make it respond correctly.” The above statement is enough to make a person catch the idea what an average accountant in Chicago means; however, there are different types of accounting services that Chicago accounting firms and individual accountants provide.

• Industrial Accounting: These are limited only to single firms and an accountant works under a single employer in return for a fixed salary.

• Public Accounting: The public accountants are the people who offer their services in this type of accounting. A more professional outlook being its prime forte, it’s better to go for a CPA (certified public accountant) if you are thinking on a national/international level.

• Governmental Accounting: Maintaining accounts for the Government is what this type of accounting deals with, using the double-entry method to update and maintain the journals and ledgers. The objective remains providing an efficient service rather than making substantial profits and both private and public accountants form a part of a governmental accounting team.

The other two types of accounting handled by accountants in Chicago are Fiduciary Accounting and National Income Accounting. The former involves a key person in the position of trust who keeps records and prepares reports under the authorization of a court of law, while the latter uses economic and social concepts to take accounting to further heights.

Click here to find a local accountant in Chicago

Click here to find a local accountant in Chicago

Bookkeeper Experience

An expert service for documenting financial transactions is subjected to two things: bookkeeping education and bookkeeping experience. Thus, being a mere professional in bookkeeping doesn’t stir the thoughts in the industry anymore; it’s the bookkeeper experience that now shares an equal ground with the former.

Now, experience doesn’t only mean that a person is putting figures in appropriate columns efficiently and over a long period; it also involves exposure for all types of businesses. Therefore, check bookkeeper experience as per the industries; a bookkeeper well versed in the education sector may not prove as good in the governmental jobs or in the construction or e-commerce industries. And though all are bookkeepers, some might be good as accountants while others as tax-prepare personnel or as payroll supervisors. Therefore, you must also learn how to ensure that the bookkeeper is qualified and experienced in the job you are putting him into.

To check bookkeeper experience, your questions must target the expert industry methods. An experienced bookkeeper should know the intricacies of maintaining the records of financial books; must be able to organize receipts/invoices and payroll processing at the least; if the person is well acquainted with the abovementioned, then it can be taken for granted that he is knowledgeable on the aspects of preparing reports/summaries; transaction verifications, calculating debits and credits and keep a clear track of accounts payable and receivables.

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CPA Miami

With communication protocols being taken to their heights, outsourcing has been the in-thing for almost everything involving paperwork. This particularly applies to the bookkeeping services; this new trend in businesses has made a lot of companies and individuals offer their help in the realms of bookkeeping. And if you ask who has jumped on the outsourcing bandwagon the most, beyond any doubt, it’s the CPAs in Miami. Despite being fixed to their base, they serve the other states as well, and sometimes, even overseas clients. Whether a debate may arise that they are prime causes behind other companies trimming down their accounting workforce, but fact remains their involvement in the outsourcing operations are also making entrepreneurs cut down on their respective capital investments.

But question still remains why should one go the extra miles to find a CPA in Miami and not someone operating within the same jurisdiction of the hirer? It’s because companies who have started newly or suffering from a sudden lack of workforce can save big in terms of investments i.e. hiring a CPA in Miami shall get done the job in return of a fraction of what a person would have invested otherwise upon setting up a team. This also grants the freedom to the hiring companies the liberty to concentrate on their core activities; the production part and the sales without being hampered much for procuring a strong bookkeeping team.

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Find local bookkeepers

On our quest to find a bookkeeper, it is a reasonable fee structure that we mostly target. Thus, honesty, trustworthiness, reliability and knowledge, even they don’t take the backseat, surface pretty later. But there’s no harm if cost remains the point of initiation; it’s just that the charges of a bookkeeper are proportional to the years of relevant experiences he has. However, the solution that’s your primary lookout involves many a things apart from what’s already mentioned. And the first and foremost is the fact that you must find a bookkeeper who practices in your closest vicinity.

A local bookkeeper search thus must comprise the following steps:

• A reality check: A bookkeeper – mostly a CPA – usually has a good idea of the local market’s situation. This comes from both experience and education and is a clear indicative of whether the fees he has quoted are in sync with the person’s expertise and competence. Before deciding on any local bookkeeper, it is always thus important to speak to a few, and then compare.
  

• Niche businesses: In case your business involves construction, retail, arts and entertainment or the medical industry, find out if your chosen bookkeeper is well informed in that particular niche. That translates to determining first your needs; therefore, your chosen local bookkeeper must also be proficient in data entry jobs regarding receivables and payables and writing checks when need be.
  

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