What to look for in Hiring a Bookkeeper?
Bookkeeping is an essential part of accounting for any company as it maintains and states the financial position of a company. Bookkeeping demands accuracy and an eye for the details. Thus, choosing a bookkeeper or a bookkeeping agency becomes a task with higher priority. There are several points that you should keep in mind while hiring a bookkeeper. They are as follows:-
Look for certifications:
Yes, certification becomes very useful in this case and acts as an authentic document. A person can easily achieve certifications for various courses available online as well as offline, like a course on payroll or accounts receivable. This also gives the candidate additional leverage. -
Ask for References:
As a client, you should always ask a candidate about providing references, as just certificates are not sufficed. For references, always ask for professional and relevant ones, like references of previous agencies or clients that the candidate had worked with. That will give you a clear idea about the profile and the work experience of that candidate. -
Check the business registration:
If you are thinking of opting for a bookkeeping agency, always check their business registration. That will provide you with basic information like their establishment year, location, etc. which can help you compare that agency with the other ones. -
A candidate with diverse knowledge:
It’s always better to look for a candidate that has knowledge about different aspects of accounting and not just bookkeeping. For i.e. it’s better to hire a bookkeeper who also knows about reconciliation, accounts receivables, etc. This can leverage your business in important times. -
Choose one that asks you the question:
Yes, you read it right! Make sure that the candidate or the agency you choose for your bookkeeping asks you the question about your company, its nature, and more. That shows the interest level and the relationship that they want to build with you.
Hiring Bookkeepers Who are Good At Solving Problems: Bookkeepers could make a significant influence on the capacity of businesses for thriving and growing by analyzing even the minutest, yet significant details for helping business owners to make their company successful. Usually, the best bookkeepers are those who are good at solving problems. However, while hiring bookkeepers, it is important to ask them a few questions such as situations that required them to deal with various types of problems or issues. You need to check how these bookkeepers had dealt with such issues, and how they arrived at the solutions.
Innovation and Technology: One might be of the view that accounting and bookkeeping is the last area wherein innovation is required. Cloud is totally altering the bookkeeping and accounting sector. But you need to keep in mind that changes in technology are getting geared up. So, there would be a need for a person who adopts change. They also should have a mindset for learning continuously for applying the best practices in bookkeeping. One requires bookkeepers who are open to adopting innovations for ensuring that they use payroll money for analyzing accounts. One requires finance-related intelligence which is precise and on-time.
Hiring a Credible and Trustworthy Bookkeeper: A good bookkeeper would have proper knowledge and information regarding a company’s business and would have adequate experience in the related industry. However, more significantly, the bookkeeper in question has to show honesty and credibility. Choosing a person who you could trust would offer peace of mind to you from the very start. Hence, This will make it easy for you to designating a bookkeeper from the very first day.
