How to Hire a Virtual Bookkeeper - The Hand-Off Process
I know the idea of handing your bookkeeping off to someone can sometimes feel intimidating.
Maybe you had a bad experience with a different bookkeeper and are asking yourself how you can possibly trust someone again? Or maybe your business has grown, and you just have no idea what the process looks like.
I get it - letting someone into your finances is a PERSONAL thing. You built this business from nothing; it is a major part of your life.
I’m going to lay out what it would look like if you were to hand your bookkeeping off to me!
Inquire & Discovery Call With the Bookkeeper
→ You are here! ←
First step to handing off your bookkeeping is to fill out my new client form. And yes, I ask quite a few questions in my form because this will tell me A LOT about what your bookkeeping will look like (without actually diving into your QuickBooks account) and will save us a lot of time on the discovery call or tell me if we aren't a good fit right up front.
Now I know there is some debate if discovery calls are still in, but for me, they are.
As your potential bookkeeper, you are letting me into a very personal part of your business - your finances! So it is important for me that we “meet” face to face to make sure the vibes are there.
I also use this time to gather any additional information about your business for your bookkeeping & you can ask whatever questions you want (there are no dumb questions here).
Review QuickBooks Account & Bookkeeping Quote
Next up is for me to review your accounts to give you a quote for bookkeeping services.
If you already have a QuickBooks Online account - I do something called a QuickBooks Health Check which is $200 (but if you accept the quote, it is applied). This is my deep dive to see exactly what is going on, if any catch up/clean up work needs done, and to give an accurate quote for ongoing bookkeeping. You receive a full diagnostic report as well as quotes for any one time and ongoing projects.
If you don’t already have a QuickBooks (no shame in this) & we are starting from scratch, I may gather a few of your bank/cc statements to get an idea of what we are working with!
Types of bookkeeping services you may receive quotes for:
One Time Catch Up - you have fallen behind on your books and need things caught up through a certain date
One Time Clean Up - you have been DIYing and maybe things got a little messy (that is okay - no judgement). There is some work that needs to be undone and then redone to get everything perfect.
Ongoing - monthly bookkeeping support
Contract, Payment, Onboarding
If everything sounds good in the proposal I send over, I will send a contract and invoice. Once those are signed & paid, I will start onboarding!
→ now is when you can take that deep sigh of relief if you haven’t already
This is going to be the point where you are the most involved! (Trust me if I could do some of this for you - I would!) I am asking all of the questions up front to learn about your business, so down the road I have very minimal questions.
During onboarding, I will send you a beautiful list of tasks to complete for me using a platform called Financial Cents! You can securely upload any documents here, comment any questions you may have on tasks, and check things off as you complete them for me.
I get any and allinformation and access from you that I may need, like view-only access to banks, credit cards, payment processors, etc. so I can get all of your finances neat and organized without having to bug you each month.
I also take time to learn about your services and how we may split up your income and expenses so it is easy to read on your reports.
I also go over best practices for how to get receipts into QuickBooks and any other important expectations!
Then the fun begins! (fun for me - you just sit back and relax!!)
“Your onboarding process from the CX perspective is *chefs kiss*”
Organize, Organize, Organize
Bookkeeping can be like a big puzzle (which I LOVE).
This is where I really start to learn YOUR business from the point of view of your finances.
I dive deep into your QuickBooks Online account. I either get things set up if starting out fresh or cleaned up if you have been in there already. I will get your Chart of Accounts set up (all of your income, expenses, assets, and liabilities).
I clean up anything that needs to be, categorize transactions, reconcile accounts, match receipts to transactions, etc.
If I have any questions as I go through this, I will send them your way! Typically, after my first round of going through things, you get a list of transaction questions. I never categorize things randomly if I do not know what they are (so that trip to Target or order from Amazon with no receipt - I will be asking what it is for because it could be literally anything!)
Typically, a catch up/clean up project can take 2 weeks depending on the scope of the project (but really what slows me down the most here is your response time. Now I am not saying you need to respond to me immediately - I respect you have a life outside of your business)
First Bookkeeping Reports: Review
Once I have double and triple-checked everything in your account, you get your first reports from me!!
This includes a Profit and Loss, Profit and Loss % of Income, Profit and Loss by Month, Statement of Cash Flows, and Balance Sheet (can add more at request).
I love to have an initial meeting after this to go over reports (as sometimes this could be the first time you have ever seen your business broken down on a Profit and Loss report). You can ask questions (no dumb questions), we can adjust things, and make sure we are on the same page!
Ongoing Virtual Bookkeeping Support
If you have decided to stay on as a monthly client, you get to sit back and forget about your bookkeeping. (*cough* other than uploading your receipts for me *cough*).
My ongoing clients receive their bookkeeping reports by the end of the following month (so March books are completed by the end of April). But many of my clients have their reports within the first couple of weeks (again, the thing that slows me down the most is your response time).
Before you even remember your bookkeeping needs done, you will hear from me the first week of each month with any transaction questions that need clarification, and then shortly after you respond, you will receive your monthly reports! (yes my turn around time is pretty quick)
“Did you literally just turn my Feb reports around in a day?? 🤯”
If you have already filled out the inquiry form, you should be hearing from me soon to set up a discovery call.
So… Can I Hand Off My Bookkeeping to You Now?
Maybe you just read all of that and are thinking you want to hand your bookkeeping off to me… go ahead and fill out my new client form (from step 1)! I’d love to take the load of bookkeeping off your shoulders as a small business owner.
