Questions You Really Must Ask Before You Appoint a Bookkeeper Or Outsource Your Bookkeeping
The decision to let go of your business bookkeeping is not one that people take lightly, after all, you are letting a stranger into the inner sanctum of your business and private life, and your finances.
So how do you know that they are trustworthy, responsible, discrete, accurate, professional and competent?
Most employees or subcontract service providers you take on are there to provide a relevant service for your business and it is quickly apparent when they cannot perform. For instance, a salesman who upsets all your customers, a secretary who can't keep a polite tongue in their head under pressure, a worker who cannot get to grips with a process...
But bookkeeping is unique. 99% of business people don't know the first thing about it and simply muddle through. Because it is outside of such a high percentage of business people's comfort zone, there is a considerable positive attraction in getting someone to deal with this time consuming, tedious and mysterious side of their business. But how do you assess if they are likely to perform well, or make a complete hash of all your records.
So when looking for a bookkeeper, or a bookkeeping service, here is a simple list of questions to start with:-
1. Are they experienced in their craft and able to give you current businesses to ring to test out their claims?
2. Are they familiar with your kind of business?
3. Do they have the technical ability to reconstruct the records when most were lost in that flood last year?
4. Are they answerable to a professional body?
5. If they take your records away to deal with - what guarantees do they offer about security and return of the documents?
6. If they take your records away to deal with - do they use bookkeepers living and trained in the UK?
7. Do they dictate what form your bookkeeping should take, or what package they insist on using?
8. Do they have access to fully qualified accountants to answer questions if they get stuck on some technical points?
9. Will their work withstand the intense scrutiny of an in-depth Tax or VAT investigation.
10. Are they up to date with all industry, Tax and VAT regulations about what you can and can't claim?
11. Will they start from today, or will they go back to the start of your current financial year and bring your records up to date first?
12. Will you be able to get the reports you need from them on a timely basis?
13. Are they prepared to put their name to your VAT Return and sign it as a responsible official?
There are many more questions you should be asking but my bookkeeping bureau ticks every box that comes up.
Ray Stewart ICPA FCCA
Ray Stewart is the MD of Coalville Business Services Limited. He writes articles and reports about bookkeeping and business growth strategies, the two areas of business he is most passionate about. His bookkeeping business website is at http://expertbookkeeping.info and is a free resource for people looking for simple answers to bookkeeping questions and a chance to speak to him for free if you can't find the answer you are looking for. You can also visit his ecademy profile at http://www.ecademy.com/user/raystewart and join his network.
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/
Added: June 22, 2008
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