Bookkeeping Help for Small Business

They must offer flat rate pricing — a monthly fee in exchange for a well-defined set of deliverables. At my company, one of the specific things we teach accountants and bookkeepers who want to run a virtual bookkeeping service is that they should specialize in a few industries. This is true of any bookkeeper — in person or virtual — that you would hire. It’s especially true of virtual bookkeepers, however, because this will determine if the apps they use to do business are relevant to and compatible with your business. Some bookkeeping services can provide a full suite of bookkeeping, accounting and tax services.

Get answers to your questions

If you use QuickBooks Online, you can get easy access to QuickBooks-certified experts to help with your books. Bookkeepers help solo entrepreneurs and small business owners take care of recurring financial tasks. This allows owners to spend more time doing the things they love and get paid for. Smaller or less complex virtual bookkeeping services businesses might only need a few hours of bookkeeping services per month, so you aren’t onboarding a full-time employee. Acumatica users have access to a wide range of accounting tools, including accounts receivable and payable, currency management, tax management, time management and enterprise payroll management.

Accounting Resources

Aside from staying compliant, having organized books helps you monitor the health of your business, prepare for tax time, and prepare key financial statements. At Velan, we leverage the full potential of QuickBooks to deliver top-notch bookkeeping services that are bespoke and devised to your unique needs. QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping can be more cost-effective than hiring an in-house bookkeeper or outsourcing your bookkeeping to an accounting or bookkeeping firm. There are no long-term contracts, so you can switch or cancel your service at any time without incurring fees. And, QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping comes with an “Accurate Books Guarantee” to cover any errors made by your Live Bookkeeper (some exceptions apply).

Why We Chose QuickBooks Live

From entering transactions to reconciling accounts, we cover it all, leaving you with more time and mindspace to focus on what truly matters- your business. Danielle Bauter is a writer for the Accounting division of Fit Small Business. She has owned Check Yourself, a bookkeeping and payroll service that specializes in small business, for over twenty years.

The Pilot team also has professionals who are experts in helping startups scale up and grow. If you’re a startup, we highly recommend Pilot for its expertise and experience in handling startups. Although the plans are billed annually, Pilot’s pricing is still more affordable than most of the providers in this guide, especially if you consider the $200 discount.

• Mistakes within the balance sheet are frustrating and often result in hours of wasted time.
• Velan supports a New Jersey speciality chemical manufacturer with top-notch accounting services.
• However, there are some less expensive alternatives to QuickBooks you may consider, such as Wave and FreshBooks.
• This provides a middle ground between managing everything yourself with software and handing over the reins completely to an accountant.
• The Bench platform gives you monthly financial statements and expense overviews to keep you in control of your money.
• Our team spends weeks evaluating dozens of business solutions to identify the best options.

How much does online bookkeeping cost?

Bookkeeping is the backbone of any successful business, providing a comprehensive record of financial transactions, expenses, and revenues. QuickBooks, a powerful accounting cloud-based software, empowers companies to simplify their bookkeeping tasks. There are three pricing tiers for QuickBooks Live, which are based on your business’s monthly expenses. In addition to the cost of QuickBooks Live, you will pay a monthly subscription fee for QuickBooks Online, which ranges from $30 to $200.

While it lacks its own mobile app, you can use QuickBooks Online’s app to access your books. It’s ideal for businesses looking to outsource their bookkeeping with a full-service accounting firm. But if you’re looking for a dedicated mobile app that enables you to communicate with your accounting team and access your account from anywhere, then 1-800Accountant is a good option. A lot of virtual bookkeepers use accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks Online. Both are easy to navigate for bookkeepers and accountants alike but require some learning for the typical small business owner.

Bookkeeper and accountant support

• Tax and consulting services also aren’t offered, so points were deducted there as well.
• These criteria were disregarded for providers where no reviews were found.
• There are no long-term contracts, so you can switch or cancel your service at any time without incurring fees.
• First, you will be set up in one of our two softwares which suits your business best.
• They usually have full teams, so you don’t have to worry about your bookkeeper going on vacation or getting sick.
• Unlike most other outsourced bookkeepers on our list, Merritt Bookkeeping doesn’t offer any in-house add-ons for payroll and tax services.
• They categorize expenses, reconcile accounts and close your books for you as needed.

Its pricing can be a bit confusing as there is a sliding scale based on not only the accounting basis but also the amount of monthly expenses and the frequency and type of services you need. If you’re seeking straightforward and affordable pricing, then Bench is a good option, although it has its own proprietary accounting software. Bookkeeper360 offers both accounting and cloud-based bookkeeping services and business advisory services. Bookkeeper360 is also the only provider in this guide that works with Xero.

Finally, ease of setup and ease of use is about what we expect for a desktop program, but much harder than cloud-based software. Expenses entered manually in FreshBooks cannot be assigned to a specific bank or credit card account until they are matched to a transaction transferred in from a bank feed. This means you can’t track bank balances unless you agree to establish live bank feeds. If you want flexible banking features with the ability to reconcile transactions manually, you should consider QuickBooks Online. FreshBooks is our top choice for project-based companies because of its robust project management and time-tracking features. Hours and expenses can be tracked by project and then easily added to the customer’s invoice.