1. Ask Your Friends or Colleagues
Asking for advice from your friends and colleagues can often be a great idea. If you know anyone who has worked with bookkeeping services in the past, then they’ll likely be able to let you know how well those services are. This is especially great if those friends/colleagues work in the same business as yourself since you’ll immediately know that bookkeeper will have had experience with your type of business.
2. Use Google
If you don’t have any business-owning friends, then you’ll likely need to start searching with Google. While this requires a bit more work on your part, you might be surprised by the number of bookkeeping services you find online. The harder part will likely be narrowing down your options to find the one that will work best with your business. Don’t be afraid to go on public forums to look for advice, either! That’s a good way to find honest and in-depth reviews of services.
3. Match Your Software to Your Bookkeeper
If you already know what software you’ll be using for your business, then it would help to match that up with the bookkeeper you want to hire. If you’re not yet sure what sort of software you’d like to use, it might be worth looking into that prior to finding a bookkeeper. Different bookkeepers will have different knowledge and specialties, so this will act as a great way to narrow down your list of options.
4. Research Their Website
A bookkeeper’s website is telling of their talents and experience. While going through their website, you should get a good grasp of the range of their capabilities. This should also let you know if the bookkeeper will be qualified to work in your area of business. If this isn’t true, then that could be indicative of their lack of organisation and ability to be concise. However, if their website is only missing a bit of information specific to your needs, then you should consider reaching out to them to clarify that information.
5. Check Their Cost
Prior to making any decision, it’s vital to understand the breakdown of the bookkeeping service’s cost. The amount the bookkeeper charges needs to be within your budget, but there are other considerations as well. Although a high price doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll provide the best service, cheap services might be more indicative of the quality of their work. Comparing the bookkeeper’s experience and talents to their cost will help you estimate the quality of their work.