What is the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant?
While the terms "accountant" and "bookkeeper" are sometimes used interchangeably, they represent distinct roles within financial management.
A bookkeeper's main goal is to accurately record and organize all financial transactions, ensuring that:
- Every dollar is accounted for: They categorize income and expenses into the correct accounts, providing a clear picture of where money is coming from and where it is going.
- Accounts are balanced: Through monthly reconciliations, they ensure that your internal records match bank statements, credit card statements, and other financial documents, pinpointing and correcting any differences with detailed journal entries.
- Compliance is maintained: They handle critical tasks, such as preparing and submitting state sales tax and quarterly reports, which help businesses stay compliant with financial regulations.
- Optional Services: Bookkeepers often offer Invoicing and Accounts Receivable services to keep business owners fully informed and provide accurate invoicing and tracking of receivables. These services go beyond basic transaction recording, actively contributing to a company's financial health and stability.
- Cash flow is managed: By tracking Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable, bookkeepers can alert you to upcoming bill payments, helping you manage your cash flow effectively.
- Payroll runs smoothly: For businesses with employees, payroll processing is often handled, ensuring staff are paid accurately and on time.
Accountants rely on financial reports provided by the bookkeeper. They also handle annual income tax preparation and submission. While most accountants are CPA-certified and highly qualified, they're also expensive. That's why it's smart to have a bookkeeper manage your day-to-day finances and only bring in an accountant when their specialized expertise is needed.
What is bookkeeping, and why is it important for my business?
Bookkeeping is the systematic recording of financial transactions (income, expenses, sales, purchases) to maintain accurate and up-to-date financial records. It's crucial for understanding your business's financial health, making informed decisions, complying with tax regulations, and planning for the future.
How often will you update my books (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly)?
We believe in providing exactly what your business requires. That's why our pricing is based on custom packages, ensuring you get all the services you need without paying for anything extra.
How safe is it to send my QB information to a bookkeeper?
- Intuit employs advanced security measures like encryption (128-bit SSL) and firewall protection to secure your financial data.
- They continuously monitor service performance and implement threat detection tools to identify and mitigate potential risks.
- Encryption: QuickBooks Online encrypts your data both while it's being transmitted (in transit) and while it's stored on their servers (at rest). This ensures that your data remains unreadable even if intercepted or accessed without authorization.
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): This adds an extra layer of security beyond just a password, requiring users to provide multiple forms of identification before accessing data.
- User Permissions and Access Controls: QuickBooks Online allows you to control who accesses your data and what they can see and do. You can assign specific roles and permissions to limit access based on job responsibilities.
- Activity Logs and Audit Trails: QuickBooks Online maintains detailed records of user actions, including logins and data modifications. This provides an audit trail to track changes and maintain accountability.
- Secure Data Centers: Intuit, the company behind QuickBooks, stores data in secure data centers with physical security measures and strict access controls.
- Regular Data Backups: Intuit performs regular backups of QuickBooks Online data to prevent data loss in case of system failures, disasters, or cyber-attacks.
- Data Redundancy: QuickBooks Online utilizes data redundancy across multiple servers and locations to ensure high availability and fault tolerance, meaning even if one server goes down, your data should still be accessible.
- Set Appropriate User Roles and Permissions: When inviting a bookkeeper to your QuickBooks Online account, utilize the user permission features to limit their access to only the areas they need for their work. For instance, consider using a Standard User role rather than giving full Company Admin access.
- Review Contracts and Confidentiality: Ensure the service contract with your bookkeeper includes provisions for protecting your confidentiality and outlines procedures for the return of records if the relationship ends.
- Consider Disconnecting Bank Feeds: If you have security concerns, you can choose to disconnect bank feeds and manually import bank transactions, although this might limit the bookkeeper's ability to process vendor payments and reconcile accounts.
Can you help me set up a new accounting system or clean up messy books from the past?
Absolutely! That's what we do. We can set up your QuickBooks account and provide you a substantial discount on QuickBooks services. Many businesses, especially those that are new or growing, often have messy or incomplete financial records. We will sort through that backlog and ensure accuracy for both historical and current data, which provides immense relief and clarity to business owners.
How much does bookkeeping cost?
That depends on what you're looking for. We will customize your plan for you, including what you want us to handle and nothing you don't. As a guideline, see the packages below.
ESSENTIAL | PROFESSIONAL | ENTERPRISE | ||
| * Small busisness with up to 3 accounts, | * Everything in Essential | * Everything in Professional | ||
| bank account, credit card account etc. | * Additional account/Transactions | * Complex transactions, reconciliations | ||
| * Monthly reconciling of those accounts; | * Accounts Payable | * Custom Reporting / Strategy Sessions | ||
| approximately 50-80 transactions | * Accounts receivable | * Sales Tax Filing | ||
| * $250 - $350 | * $350 - $550 | * Payroll Assistance | ||
| *$550 - $850 |