Bookkeepers are like the spine of a business not only can they help you with your everyday accounts and keeping intact the transactions of the company, there is a lot more to them than just transaction keeping, the question which arises is when is it necessary to hire a bookkeeper?
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A bookkeepers role
A bookkeeper is responsible for recording the financial ins and outs of a company. Furthermore, they:
- Keep a record of sales and purchases
- They give an input on the overall design of the business
- Organize and make the minutes of the finances on a regular basis
- Record the financial information about your business in a standard way, so that accountants can also access it.
Why is a bookkeeper required?
I’m sure you’re highly passionate about your business and will go through lengths to ensure it is a successful business, like other business owners you will probably prefer to stick to the task you enjoy rather than making data entries of transactions.
For example, suppose you’re a restaurant owner. You should have:
- An uncomplicated business model
- Too many customers, which leads to too many transactions
- Supplier invoices for food stock
- Sales records
- Staff wages to record and play.
That’s an extensive amount of information to keep track of and record, furthermore, bookkeeping may not be something right up your ally. If you didn’t have a bookkeeper your day to day transactions would go unnoticed and unrecorded, this means you may lose important data. This is where the role of a bookkeeper is brought in, their purpose is to minimize your workload.
The role of a bookkeeper
Bookkeepers are trained individuals they are similar to accountants, but unlike accountants they record the transactions of a company on a daily basis, they organize your companies’ numerical data so it can easily be accessed by accountants, they:
- Track all your transactions and make note of them on one platform.
- Record them in a software.
- Make sure the numbers make sense.
These people are experts at accounting softwares but there is something else they may be able to advise you on too, this includes:
- Tools to use to streamline your business
- Payroll services to pay your staff with ease
- Bookkeeping to help your business not suffer from the mistakes of stuff that is inexperienced
- Training on how to use bookkeeping softwares
Your business in details
Bookkeepers and accountants more or less work with the same numbers, this means they both use the same data of the business to make their reports, they share this information with each other using accounting softwares, so basically both of them should be able to access the companies finances online in order to make accurate findings regarding the financial status of the business if you wish to receive accurate advice.
.The bookkeeper is the regular accountant and is the best person to consider for any questions regarding the finances of the company.
At what point would my company need a bookkeeper?
Well, as soon as you get started, if your company doesn’t have a bookkeeper at this moment I would suggest you hire one soon, ideally you don’t want to stack your bookkeeper with months and months of work to cover up and receipts and payments to go through, do you? They are the best people to go to if you can’t remember what a certain expense in your bank account was for. E.g. why did I buy more burger buns for the restaurant on 21st July than normal- a bookkeeper will look up into their data and instantly tell you “you hosted a party on that day”
Finding the ideal bookkeeper
You need to ensure that the person you hire is completely trustworthy and is competent enough to handle the day to day cash flow of the business, hiring a bookkeeper requires extensive thought and careful consideration.
Hiring a bookkeeper shouldn’t be too much of a hassle as there are many agencies that can help you recruit a competent one or you could directly contact one through the internet or through advertising the vacancy on various sources.
You may even ask your accountant to provide you with a suitable candidate, it’s best if they both use the same software, it makes the correlation much more simpler. It is recommended that the software used by both should be cloud based, this means both should be able to access it online regardless of time and place.
Once you have a shortlist you may:
- Check their work history
- Speak to references
- The accountant and bookkeeper can meet one another to discuss possibilities of working together
You can’t just share your company’s finances with anyone you need to make sure the person is trustworthy and will not maliciously use your company confidential information
