How to hire the best bookkeeper?
Before you hire a bookkeeper to take care of your company’s finances, our payroll services San Antonio team explain that there are several questions you should first ask yourself to ensure you’re finding the right person and/or firm for the job.
The last thing you need is to hire someone for these important tasks only to find out after the fact that the person isn’t qualified for the needed work. But remember your can always trust our accountant San Antonio specialists for this important decision.
You can never do too much vetting in this regard, but there are a number of questions that should be at the top of your list.
These include:
Is your bookkeeper qualified?
Are they qualified to handle the type of work you need done?
This is obviously of vital importance and should really be the first question you ask of any potential person or firm.
Determine exactly what your needs are, as well as how quickly you need them done. Examine what is the best accounting software that will need to be used and why use QuickBooks as a tool for bookkeeping?. Then you can ask more informed questions to make sure you have a good fit before moving forward with the interview.
Whatever the scope of the job is, just be sure that the bookkeeper is qualified to perform those tasks.
Bookkeeper communication Skills
How well do they communicate with their clients?
Our account services San Antonio TX team know that communication is key to any successful relationship and that certainly pertains to business relationships as well as personal ones.
Your bookkeeper is going to be handling a lot of financial responsibilities, so you’re definitely going to need to interact with him or her regularly about a number of different issues.
You’ll want to make sure that the person you have in mind for the job is clear and concise and can speak and write in a way that easily makes sense to you. As an owner or manager, you simply don’t have the time to deal with an inefficient communicator.
How will the bookkeeper charge for his or her services?
Be sure to settle this up front so there are no problems down the road. Will the bookkeeper charge you by the hour? On a weekly basis? Perhaps monthly or bi-monthly?
This shouldn’t be much of an issue if you settle on terms on Day One and there’s no confusion when it comes to getting paid.
How much experience does the bookkeeper have?
How much experience does the bookkeeper have?
You want a bookkeeper who can handle his or her responsibilities accurately, effectively and on time, and a lot of that comes down to how experienced he or she is in their job.
You may want to ask for references or give an on-site test before deciding who to hire for the necessary work. It may add some time to the process, but it will give you some piece of mind moving forward that the person you’ve hired for the job is the right fit.
You certainly don’t want to get a few weeks or months down the road and realize that your bookkeeper has made mistakes that need to be cleaned up quickly in advance of tax time or any other pertinent deadlines.
Is the bookkeeper familiar with your industry?
This may or may not be a big issue, but there will likely be a learning curve involved if the person you hire to handle your books isn’t familiar with the industry in which you do business.
Consider asking the bookkeeper in question if they have any current or past clients in your industry and go from there.
If you’re okay with a bit of a learning curve, then that’s fine and you can move forward. But if time is of the essence, you may want to go with our San Antonio tax services team if the industry is a new one to the person or firm you’re considering for the job.
