Do you need a bookkeeper?

If you are asking yourself this question, there are probably many factors to consider that are unique to you and your business. Depending on your business size, your profit, volume and lifestyle, there may be different answers for different people. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to you and what you want. Here are some factors to consider to hopefully help guide you along in making the best decision for your business and your future.

The first thing to consider is why you are asking yourself this question. Are you staying up late entering transactions into Quickbooks? Are you wondering if you had time to send that client an invoice, or did they already pay you? What about spending too much time at the office, missing important family events? Do you wonder if the bookkeeping course you took taught you enough to actually do your bookkeeping correctly? Or do you just plain not like dealing with all of the transactions and data entry?

One important thing to consider as a small business owner is your time vs. your money. Of course, as a small business owner myself, I get the appeal of doing things yourself to save money! Especially in the beginning of your small business venture, every single penny counts. So this is probably one of the most important factors when considering whether to hire a bookkeeper. If paying a bookkeeper will help free up your time enough to get more revenue coming in, would it be worth it?

The size of your business is another thing to consider. If you are a sole proprietor with a side hustle, you might not be making enough to afford a bookkeeper, and may be better off just doing the books yourself. Or, if you are an expanding business with a couple of employees, you are probably in a better position to hire a bookkeeper.

Another important factor would be your expertise in the area. If you don’t know anything about bookkeeping at all, it might take some time doing a course or other research on how to do your own books. And you might not feel certain that you’re doing them right or not. Without someone double checking your work, you might end up miscategorizing assets as expenses or vice versa. So, that would definitely be an advantage to having a professional bookkeeper work with you.

What are Your Specific Bookkeeping Needs?

Do you know what services you would need to hire a bookkeeper for? Different bookkeepers offer different levels of service depending on a business owner’s needs. They may be able to help you with managing receipts, recording and paying bills, payroll, etc. If you had an expert bookkeeper, they may also be able to help you with going over your financial statements, budgeting, etc., which are all valuable services that will help you grow your business.

The main thing to consider here is how much time needs to be spent on your bookkeeping. If it’s just a few hours a week, it doesn’t make sense to hire a full-time employee – unless you have other tasks to keep them busy with. Would outsourcing your bookkeeping be a good alternative? Many business owners and entrepreneurs have found this to be a great option.

As you can see, it’s important to keep proper business records, and to store them. Hopefully this information has helped I’m sure if you’ve been Google searching for data on bookkeeping, you’ve gotten ads from various companies offering to handle your books for you. Or, you may know a fellow business owner who does bookkeeping or other businesses, or even a friend or family member who does bookkeeping. By outsourcing your bookkeeping to a bookkeeping professional or firm, not only would this take all of those functions off of your plate, but you are probably going to be working with someone who is quite knowledgeable in the area. They may end up being a great partner to work with in growing your business – just from the financial side!

How Much Does a Bookkeeper Cost?

How much would a bookkeeper cost? Of course, it depends on your business size, and how much time it would take to do your bookkeeping. If you go with hiring a full-time employee, their average salary would be around $45,000 a year – not to mention any other costs you would need to think with, such as payroll taxes, benefits, etc. (See Salary.com for more information on a typical salary for a full-charge bookkeeper.)

When outsourcing, business owners pay an average of $500 to $2500 per month. While that might seem quite a big range, the main factor there will be on your business size and the amount of transactions. (Click here to contact us if you’re interested in a free consultation!)

An important point though, is to keep it up regularly. As with many things, the more you put it off and let it pile up, the So, as you can see, there are quite a few factors to think with when considering hiring a bookkeeper. Not only in whether you should hire one, but if you can afford it or who to hire. Ultimately it is up to you, your business and your decision. But I hope the above can be a helpful guide in things to consider!

Do you have any questions, comments or feedback? Email us at [email protected].