Businesses looking for a bookkeeper will come across many candidates in the market. However, they must choose the best candidate.
There are some methods that businesses can follow to find a good bookkeeper. Though, they must understand the roles of a bookkeeper before finding a good one.
What Do Bookkeepers Do?
Bookkeepers perform many different tasks within a business environment. Some of the tasks that bookkeepers carry out may include:
- We are collecting source documents for business transactions and categorizing the transactions.
- It records the transactions of a business in its accounting system.
- We are reconciling bank statements with ledgers.
- We are preparing financial statements.
- You are tracking bills and invoices.
These are some of the main tasks that bookkeepers perform in business. These tasks can make up a large portion of the bookkeeping system of a business.
Therefore, businesses must find a good bookkeeper to perform these tasks effectively and efficiently.
How to Find a Good Bookkeeper?
Finding a good bookkeeper can be difficult if a business does not know what to look for. Below is a list of requirements businesses can use to check when trying to find a suitable candidate for their bookkeeping position.
1) Registration and qualification
The first thing businesses need to know about bookkeepers is their registration and qualification. Registration refers to being registered with a professional body.
In some jurisdictions, the law requires bookkeepers to be registered to offer their services.
Similarly, the qualification of bookkeepers is also essential. Bookkeepers must be qualified to handle all the responsibilities of their profession.
Therefore, businesses need to check for these.
2) Good rates
A good bookkeeper is someone who can provide benefits to a business through the quality of their work. However, they also must not cost the business more than their worth.
Therefore, a good bookkeeper will have reasonable rates for services that all types of businesses can afford.
Most experienced bookkeepers will come at a very high rate for businesses, while fresh bookkeepers will have lower rates.
A business can decide how much it can afford to pay them. Ultimately, a business must find a balance between cost and benefits when finding a good bookkeeper.
3) Continuous development
Like most other professions, there are constant changes in bookkeeping as well. These changes may be specific to bookkeepers’ industries or apply to all businesses.
Either way, bookkeepers need to stay up-to-date on the latest changes in the field to work effectively.
Businesses looking for bookkeepers must look for candidates that are not only up-to-date on the latest changes but also intend to continue their professional development.
After all, if a bookkeeper cannot keep up with the latest changes, the business can face penalties.
4) Familiarity with the industry
Bookkeepers can work for all types of businesses, but that doesn’t mean they will be effective in all of them. Bookkeepers need to understand the requirements of bookkeeping for specific industries.
This requires them to be familiar with the specific rules and regulations of the industries in which they work.
Therefore, businesses looking for good bookkeepers should ensure that the bookkeeper they choose must be familiar with their industry requirements.
5) Communication with clients
For bookkeepers, processing the transactions of a business and recording them is only one part of their jobs. Bookkeepers also need to communicate regularly with the business they are working with.
They also need to be effective in their communication to not only get their message through but also do it clearly and concisely.
The type of communication channel they use may also be necessary for some businesses. For example, some businesses will prefer written communication through email, while others may prefer to have conversations with them.
Therefore, businesses must choose bookkeepers that fulfill their communication requirements.
6) Delivery and response times
Sometimes bookkeepers may deal with more than one client at the same time. This means they must manage their time between two clients or businesses.
Therefore, businesses must consider the delivery and response times of bookkeepers.
A good bookkeeper will give clients enough time and resolve their issues quickly. On the other hand, sometimes bookkeepers handle only a single client or work only for them.
In these cases, bookkeepers also need to manage their time and meet the deadline requirements of the business.
Conclusion
A business can choose many different candidates for its bookkeeping position. However, it doesn’t mean they will all be good. To find good bookkeepers, the business must understand what they do.
Similarly, it must check if they fulfill some requirements. These may include them having a registration and qualification.
Similarly, they must also be costly for the business. The business may also need to consider its continuous development.
Bookkeepers also need to be familiar with specific industry standards and rules. Finally, the business must also consider its communication channels and response times.
