Bookkeeping Services for Small Business Owners in Winnipeg
How does this work? How much does it cost?
These are the 2 most popular questions I get asked all the time.
Once you figure out what exactly you are looking for, its much easier to answer both questions!
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GOOD NEWS: If your annual sales are $30,000 or less, I'd only recommend a bookkeeper near tax time to get the best bang for your buck!
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What should you be looking for?
2 fundamental things to think about:
- Do you want your bookkeeper to invoice your customers and pay bills or do you want to look after that?
- Where do you want your bookkeeper to work - in your office or at their office?
If you want your bookkeeper to invoice your customers and pay your bills, you will probably want them to work from your office because all the paperwork is there, and they can ask you questions. Also, you will need to see your bookkeeper more often since it's critical for cash flow to invoice your customers as you complete the work. This is what I call "real-time" bookkeeping - the bookkeeper looks after the day to day transactions as they occur in real-time.
Benefits:
*Less administrative paperwork for you meaning more time for your business
*Invoices get out promptly which means you can collect sooner and maintain your cash flow
Drawback:
*Increased cost due to frequency of on-site visits
If you want to invoice your customers and pay your own bills, then you really only need your bookkeeper to enter your transactions into accounting software and keep you up to date AFTER you've looked after the day to day transactions. With this service your bookkeeper can either work from your office or theirs. This is what I call "historical' bookkeeping. The key on-going purpose of the bookkeeper is generally to file the government remittances (GST/PST) on time; some business owners just don't want to deal with the government paperwork!
Benefits:
*Reduced cost due to reduced frequency of service
*Keep up to date on a monthly or quarterly basis
Drawback:
*Owner must take time to keep paperwork organized so that the bookkeeper can figure out what happened in the past
It also depends on what sort of business you have, each industry is different but this should give you a starting point to figuring out what you really need/want.