QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping offers online bookkeeping services that connect small businesses with trusted, QuickBooks-certified virtual bookkeepers. Depending on the service you choose, a bookkeeper can give you guidance or take the lead on your bookkeeping. Bookkeeper is one of the pricier business bookkeeping services on our list, but it comes with many possible add-on services. If you’re looking for a bookkeeping solution you can stick with for the long run, Bookkeeper has most bookkeeping features you could possibly want as an add-on.
Is the bookkeeping service compatible with your accounting method?
While pricing starts at $149 per month, it may be difficult to predict how much Wave bookkeeping will cost your business. There are no publically available pricing tiers—you’ll have to book a call with Wave to get a quote. Scrambling at the last second to gather documents for tax season is stressful, and rushing bookkeeping-related tasks can make you vulnerable to compliance issues and missed growth opportunities. Thankfully, online bookkeeping services have lowered the financial barrier to getting bookkeeping and tax-related help. Larger businesses may also hire virtual bookkeepers, but they’re more likely to have their own internal department for capex examples accounting services.
- Having access to robust reports and financial statements allows you to make better decisions for your business leading to an increased ROI from investing in online bookkeeping services.
- Every business, from the biggest corporations to pre-revenue startups, benefits from bookkeeping.
- Its bookkeeping service comes with its Enterprise plan, which costs $399 per month when billed annually.
- Today, virtual bookkeepers can easily add bill pay services to their offerings thanks to digital, cloud-based solutions.
inDinero: Best for established startups
In the cleanup/setup phase, your bookkeeper helps you set up your chart of accounts, connects your banks, and teaches you the basics of QuickBooks. If you have information in QuickBooks already, your bookkeeper will help clean it up in the first month of service. Would you rather tackle accounting yourself instead of outsourcing it to a third party?
Virtual accounting FAQ
A virtual bookkeeper might be an independent freelancer, a remote bookkeeping firm, a service offered by an accounting firm, or an in-house bookkeeper working remotely. No matter how they’re provided, the key to bookkeeping services is providing the information that’s needed to keep the company’s finances up to date. When comparing services, ensure you’re pricing out all the features you need, including add-on services like tax prep, payroll and HR. If you’re considering a bookkeeping service that runs on QuickBooks or Xero, include the cost of that software, too.
Keep that in mind as you search for the right virtual bookkeeper for your small business. We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence. Then, consider how that time could be better spent on other aspects of your business—like getting new clients, developing new products, or enjoying some much-needed R&R. Check online reviews, and if you can’t find any, ask the bookkeeper if they can provide testimonies or connect you with some current clients. Their levels of experience and education vary widely—bookkeepers aren’t legally required to have specific credentials. There are crucial skills a bookkeeper should have that aren’t backed by a certification.
But there are certifications and online bookkeeping courses that a bookkeeper can complete to show their understanding of bookkeeping, basic accounting principles, industry knowledge, and financial software. These credentials aren’t required, but knowing a third party has given their stamp of approval can help you feel more confident when hiring a bookkeeper. Every online bookkeeping service will offer a mixture of different features ranging from basic to advanced. As a result, a suite of features from one service will appeal more to very small businesses, while an entirely other set of features from the difference between gross and net revenue another service might appeal to larger small businesses. For virtual bookkeeping businesses, these tools can make the process more efficient and make the workload steadier throughout the month. Monthly fees come with benefits on both sides, providing reliable income for the bookkeeper and predictable bookkeeping expenses for their clients.
Online services may offer one-on-one meetings, but you might have to pay more. If you want a higher level of support in the future, such as chief financial officer or CFO-style services, consider choosing a bookkeeping service that will allow you to upgrade later. No tax prep or accrual basis accounting, even as an add-on service. For pricing, we considered whether a service offers a free trial or a free version of its software as well as the affordability of its lowest and highest price tiers. They can also send PDF copies of key financial reports including your profit and loss statement and balance sheet.
Possible add-ons include payroll services, individual and business tax returns, and financial performance reporting with key performance indicators. Online bookkeeping services, also called virtual bookkeeping services, are a very affordable alternative to the traditional employee bookkeeper. To put this in reorder point supply chain perspective, a bookkeeper’s average salary is $44,527. At the very least, you can expect most bookkeeping services to input transactions, reconcile accounts and send you financial statements regularly. Most services touch base monthly, but in some cases, you can pay extra to receive weekly reports. Depending on the company, you can speak with your bookkeeper (or team of bookkeepers) as often as you’d like or at least a few times per month.
Some business owners, for example, might want their bookkeeper to handle payroll, HR or other back-office jobs like invoicing, bill pay and inventory management on top of fielding basic bookkeeping tasks. Or, if it isn’t already included, you may be looking for tax support to take some of the pressure off when it’s time to file returns. These services can help you claim the correct small-business tax credits and deductions, prepare your returns and file them.
