Should you hire a bookkeeper? Or does it make more sense for you to keep doing your own bookkeeping? This is a question that business owners are often faced with as their business starts to grow. However, doing your own bookkeeping can add unnecessary stress to your plate if we are honest. Hopefully, if you’re nervous about hiring a bookkeeper, this guide can help you know what to expect when you hire a bookkeeper for the first time.

Your bookkeeper will request access to financial documents

For your bookkeeper to be able to get anything done, they will need access to financial information. This may include your bank account (although you can give read-only access), credit card information, PayPal, or anything else you use for finances. If it involves spending or receiving money, your bookkeeper will probably need access to it. This surprises many people when they first start working with a bookkeeper, but you will need to provide them access to these documents.

No more rushing around at the last minute to prepare your tax documents

Isn’t tax time stressful enough without the hassle of having to gather everything up yourself? A bookkeeper will help you throughout the year to ensure you have everything you need to file your tax return. They can provide you with tools to review and analyze your business finances whenever you need so that your tax documents aren’t waiting until the last minute.

You’ll have a lot of stress off your plate

Bookkeeping is stressful, especially if you’re not a numbers person! Doing things like this for your business will likely be more difficult for you and stress-inducing because it’s not your skill set. Bookkeeping requires you to be active in your business finances all year long, not just at tax time.

Bookkeepers can help reduce this stress by taking over things that aren’t your skillset. They can allow you to focus on your business and growing that business while they handle your day-to-day finances.

Bookkeepers are great at communication

It’s important to have clear open lines of communication when it comes to your needs and your business. When you hire a bookkeeper, it cannot be easy to figure out where you fit into this equation. However, bookkeepers are great at talking you through things and even setting expectations for communicating with them. A good bookkeeper will always answer your questions and even help you with things you don’t understand. You won’t have to wait to hear from your bookkeeper, as they will find open times to talk to you as things come up.

They will encourage you to know things even if you don’t do them yourself

Your bookkeeper is like a financial expert, and as such, they don’t expect you to know or understand things in Quickbooks or other financial software. You don’t have to know anything at all. You can still have a look around and ask questions, look at reports, and anything else you need to do, but you won’t have to know things as well as your bookkeeper!

Bookkeepers are happy to do this for you and take many financial responsibilities for your business. However, it’s not your bookkeeper’s job to run your business for you. They don’t manage your money directly. However, they can help you make decisions based on the money flow and help you stay organized!

If you have never hired a bookkeeper before, the process can be overwhelming and even a little surprising! This guide will help better prepare you during the hiring and working process when you are starting a new relationship with a bookkeeper.

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