How to Choose Between an Onsite or an Online Bookkeeper

A Note from Monique

Wanted to share my Xmas “tree” with you. I just love these angels that my mom makes as Christmas ornaments… unfortunately, so did my cats! They must have thought that I had brought home some new toys for them, because the angels didn’t last long.

Wishing you and yours nothing but the best for the new year.

Monique

Featured Article: How to Choose Between an Onsite or an Online Bookkeeper

A friend of mine emailed me recently, “It’s on my list to research bookkeepers now for our household and my business. I am thinking we need someone to work with locally, that would come to our house, sort through the receipts, etc. I know virtual ones may have their advantages too. I would love to hear your thoughts on when one is better vs the other.”

So, let’s talk about that. A virtual bookkeeper can do everything that an onsite bookkeeper can do. Let me repeat that: everything. Even come to your house; virtually, that is, via phone and internet.

Essentially there are only three steps involved in doing your books and generating reports:

1. You gather up all your source documents (all the receipts and bills and bank statements that the IRS would want to see if, God forbid, you ever got audited).
2. Your bookkeeper enters those financial transactions into QuickBooks.
3. Your bookkeeper reconciles your bank and credit card accounts against the monthly bank and credit card statements.

If your bookkeeper is onsite, then the bookkeeping is done in your office. If your bookkeeper is virtual, the only difference is that you would either send those source documents electronically, and you would allow her (most bookkeepers are women) to have inquiry level only access to your online accounts to reconcile what’s recorded in QuickBooks to what the banks say they have.

There are a few different ways to get your physical source documents to your bookkeeper:
1. Mail them
2. Fax them
3. Scan them, then send them via a secure method like Dropbox or SmartVault.

You would transfer your digital source documents, like receipts sent to you from your vendors via email, via the aforementioned Dropbox or SmartVault.

Guess which option I like and recommend? If you picked #3, you’d be right on the money. And I’ll tell you why. Mailing and faxing can be a real pain in the butt. You have to tape the little receipts to a piece of paper in order to run it through the photocopier or fax machine. Then you have to file the paperwork away. And then you have to run to the post office. With scanning, on the other hand, you compress all these steps into one. When you scan them, you file them away on your desktop as well as share them. Easy peasy!

As far as talking directly with your bookkeeper, there are some awesome software programs out there, like GoToMeeting (my fave) or Join.Me or WebEx.  Not only can you talk for free using VoIP (voice over internet protocol), you can see each other’s screens, your bookkeeper can “drive” on your screen, AND she can record your call so you can refer to it later if you wish.

Now you might be wondering how much this is going to cost you. Again, that depends on where you are in your business. If you’re starting from scratch, here’s a general breakdown:

• One-time setup costs would run around $1,000 for the QuickBooks software along with setup and installation
• Basic bookkeeping fees and QuickBooks technical support would run around $1,500 per year
• So, you’re looking at around $2,500 the first year and $1,500 per year after that.

You would incur these costs whether your bookkeeper physically came to your office or worked virtually. So, as you can see, price point is not a consideration in choosing how you want to work. The deciding factor has more to do with the person you contract with. You’ve got to feel comfortable and confident with them, have a good rapport, and communicate well. After all, s/he’s going to be involved in some of the most intimate details of your life.

This gives you a brief overview of what’s possible.  I love to hear from folks about their business.  Please use the “Leave a Comment” box below if you’d like to know more.    And, you could schedule a complimentary, 60-minute “Financial Clarity” call and we could get down to the nitty-gritty of how this would work with your particular business model.