Book Keeper / Payroll

kanky

Hi Guys,

I am looking at the option of getting book keeping services.

I would be interested in hearing from people who have gone through this process before.

What things did you take into account before making your decision etc?

Regards,

kennyb3

Hi Kanky,

I'm an accountant working in a practice, I also do some bookkeeping of my own in my spare time, but hopefully that doesn't mean I can answer the question honestly.

With my accountant hat on, in order to minimise costs you'd want accounts that are as accurate as possible and easy to put onto the accountancy practices software. Do get this your looking at (imho):

- someone who uses a software package (tas, Sage etc). The trail balance can easily be put onto the accountancy practice software if different.

- someone who has an accountancy qualification - they'll know how to make accruals, prepayments etc to make the results more accurate that they provide to you. Some bookkeepers i've seen are truly shocking. They enter invoice etc but don't rec the sales or purchases ledgers properly

- capable of preferring a file up to submit to your accountant/auditor (again saving on fees)

With my bookkeeping hat on, other things you'd probably like are:

- A quick turnaround i.e give them records one week and have that months results the next week. You don't want to be chasing them.

- If you get someone good you might not need an accountant at all if you are audit exempt. They could also look after your tax affairs.

- Obviously cost is an issue so a fixed monthly fee might be desirable (usually is for both parties as they both know where they stand and there is no tension etc).

capefear

Hi Kanky

Were you based. As I know someone who I would highly recommend and for what your getting they are reasonably priced.

The price of a bookkeeper will range anywhere between 10.00 an hour to 25.00 and you get what you pay for.

I wouldnt cut corners when hiring a bookkeeper and I would look at hiring a bookkeeper to grow with your business and look after your day today stuff and your accountant should come in to look after your year end and tax returns, they two roles should compliment each other and not a case of hiring one or the other as its always good to have two separate roles.

hth

kanky

Hi capefear,

I appreciate that. I am based in Dublin.

Regards,

kennyb3

Kanky,

Are you looking for someone to do much or just a few hours a week?

kanky

It would just be a few hours.

tricky D

From my own very very limited bookkeeping experiences:

While this sounds like very basic common sense, make sure you have all your documents (sales and purchase invoices/receipts and statements) present and in good order. Try to make sure that obscure entries on your statements are annotated so that they can be coded and allocated properly. The amount of time wasted on chasing up missing docs and clarifying statement entries is somewhat incredible and likely chargeable.

Edit: Oh and in proper date order. (I've just received a stack of sales invoices in front of me in random order and stapled together for each client, so another half hour will be wasted separating and reordering.)

capefear

Hi Kanky

I hope you are well.

Are you currently doing the bookkeeping yourself at the moment and are you using an accounts package like Sage, if not I wouldn’t let an outsider near my paper work without knowing the basics myself. I would buy say for example Sage for €156+vat and spend some time learning the basics, and setting up the systems I would want implemented and then hire a bookkeeper to come in for a couple of hours a week and show them how you want things done. The reason I say this is there are some very good bookkeepers out there but there are also some very bad ones as has been mentioned above. I have seen business owners who have not giving the bookkeeping side of the business the respect it deserves and have gone through a few bookkeepers a year with the result that their figures are a mess, there is no traceability and I don’t know how they would expect to get through a revenue audit.

All I'm saying is this is your business and you are responsible for it not the bookkeepers you hire during its existence. So please speak to your accountant or people on boards.ie and set up the procedures you want followed and if it’s done right from the start you wont have any issues.

I hope this helps and PM me if you want any help.

kanky

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to reopen this so to speak, as I am still looking for someone who can do some booking keeping and payroll etc.

If this is you, or someone you know feel free to contact me.

Regards.

killiank

Hi Kanky,

Ive sent you a PM.

Killian