While a virtual bookkeeper can handle cash transactions, it’s faster and easier for them to categorize digital transactions (like credit card, debit, Shopify, and Paypal transactions). Virtual bookkeeping and accounting services can take bookkeeping tasks off your hands for good. All of the time you spend doing menial tasks, like making journal entries in a general ledger, can be redirected towards growing your business.

Then we categorize every transaction and produce shiny financial statements for you. We also give you an easy-to-use platform with simple reports and dashboards to keep track of your finances. You’ll likely need off-the-shelf accounting software in order to check your books and help your virtual bookkeeper categorize any transactions they’re unsure of. Be prepared to communicate mainly through email or messaging apps like Slack. Virtual bookkeeping is especially helpful if your business mostly deals with digital transactions rather than cash.

How to Find the Best Virtual Bookkeeping Service for Your Business

Check out our list of the year’s best accounting software for small businesses to get started. Bookkeeper.com is an all-around solid pick for small to midsize businesses that might want additional payroll and tax help down the road. The virtual bookkeeping providers above might be our favorite—but if they don’t quite fit your needs, we understand completely. Here are three other online accounting service providers worth looking at. It will be a lot harder to work with a virtual bookkeeper if you use QuickBooks and they use FreshBooks or Xero. Therefore, make sure you ask them which accounting app they use for their business and why.

Bookkeeper.com: Most versatile outsourced bookkeeping solution

Your bookkeeper can run detailed reports that give you a clear view of your business, so you have the info you need to make informed decisions and feel confident at tax time. Next, your bookkeeper will take on the monthly management of your books. First, quick irr calculation in lbo models a bookkeeper reviews your chart of accounts and past transactions to bring your books up to date. With QuickBooks Live Expert Full-Service Bookkeeping, a dedicated bookkeeper will get to know your business, bring your past books up to date, and do your book for you, start to finish. Business owners have to use Bench’s proprietary software, which could make it hard to move to another provider in the future.

1. Virtual, outsourced, and online are often used interchangeably when referring to bookkeeping and accounting.
2. If you invoke the guarantee, QuickBooks will conduct a full n evaluation of the Live bookkeeper’s work.
3. Live Expert Assisted also doesn’t include any financial advisory services, tax advice, facilitating the filing of income or sales tax returns, creating or sending 1099s, or management of payroll.
4. Hiring a small business bookkeeper involves a few steps to find someone you trust for the role.
5. Want to learn more about bookkeeping before you sign up for a virtual provider?

Merritt Bookkeeping: Best for businesses on a budget

Online bookkeeping services typically offer a dedicated contact or team — but these are still virtual bookkeepers, available by email or occasionally by phone. If you don’t want to communicate virtually, these bookkeeper interview questions can help you find a resource near you. Forbes Advisor analyzed 13 online bookkeeping services and considered 15 metrics such as price, features, customer service, ease of use, integrations and service level. We also looked at real customer experiences to determine if their 4 bank reconciliation statement problems and solution example expectations were met based on what each company promised. After assigning a weighted score to each category, we formulated rankings for each company. When you work with Ignite Spot Accounting, you’ll get bookkeepers certified in a variety of popular programs, such as QuickBooks and TSheets.

This is especially true because small businesses may not have a full-time CFO or an in-house accounting department, but they still need to generate financial reports. They may hire a part-time bookkeeper to manage the day-to-day how much does bookkeeping cost books, and they often use an external accounting firm for tax preparation. Virtual bookkeeping, also known as cloud accounting, is when a bookkeeper or accountant works with their client remotely.

If they are offering advice that others find useful, then you will be able to see that rather than simply taking their word for it. If your prospective virtual bookkeeping service understands the value of adding to the conversation, then it is a good sign that they will be genuinely helpful to your business. Our intuitive platform is designed for business owners, not accountants. So you can easily see all your transactions, track your cash flow, and check out visual financial reporting through your web browser or on your phone. At Bench, for example, we connect directly to your bank and credit card accounts to automatically pull your transactions.

They’ll categorize transactions for you and be more familiar with tax deductions and credits relevant to your business. In fact, you may find you rarely need to meet with your local bookkeeper in person. That’s because local and virtual bookkeepers are becoming more and more alike in both their services and how they offer them. Traditionally, local bookkeepers have been the first choice for small businesses. In the past, you’d hire a bookkeeper in your community—either an individual working for themselves or someone at a bookkeeping firm.