What’s in the ideal bookkeeping and payroll service package?
If you’re in the middle of researching different service providers for your business’ financial needs, this is your ultimate guide to accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll services.
What does a full-service bookkeeping package look like, and what should it include?
The Full-Service Bookkeeping Package
● Daily journal entries and reporting: The basic foundation of the accounting process. More and more of this can be fully automated, but it still requires oversight and the addition of any manual journal entries.
● Expense and revenue management: This can be more than just keeping an eye on expenses and revenue for the month. It can mean looking ahead to future months, projecting expenses and revenue for the month or the year, and providing management reports to you, the business owner, for decision making. This falls starts to go beyond the realm of bookkeeping packages and more into accounting services.
● Reconciliations: Reconciliations are key to making sure your books, and bank account statements, are error-free. Since they are also quite time-consuming, they make a good candidate for outsourcing. This is especially important if your business has multiple bank accounts and credit cards that need to be reconciled each month.
● Accounts receivable / Accounts payable: A good full service bookkeeper can help you manage customer invoicing and payment receipts.
● Year-End: The end-of-year closing entries, financial statement preparation, and tax preparation activities are one of the most demanding seasons in the year for accountants. Releasing this burden to a back office service provider can ease the burden on your team, and ensure that this detailed process is completed accurately.
● Year-End: The end-of-year closing entries, financial statement preparation, and tax preparation activities are one of the most demanding seasons in the year for accountants. Releasing this burden to a back office service provider can ease the burden on your team, and ensure that this detailed process is completed accurately.
● Payroll: As long as you have employees, you’ll have payroll. And payroll taxes. And benefit withholdings. Bookkeeping and payroll services go hand in hand. A full charge bookkeeping service manages payroll along with the regular monthly accounting cycle tasks.
● Tax and bank ready financials: Financial statements are a key that unlocks many doors. If you have correctly prepared, materially correct financial statements, you have the ability to go to banks for funding. You also have crucial pieces of information showing how your business was run during the year, should the IRS audit your business. Outsourced bookkeeping services can provide this for you.
● Easy document sharing and collaboration: Online accounting services and cloud-based accounting software are what make this possible. No longer do you have to wait for the end of the day to check cash balance, or the end of the period to get a preliminary financial statement. Everything is updated in real time, allowing you to get the most current decision making information.
● Monthly reports: A full charge bookkeeping service will have an organized way to present their monthly reports to you. You should receive not only complete financial statements for the period, but also reports or summaries of all the work they did for you during the period. Your full service package can also include regular check-in calls via phone or video in addition to the communication throughout the month.
FAQ’s
To outsource payroll, you will need to provide your contractor with your business bank account for payroll, all employee tax and benefit withholding information, and your payroll dates and frequency.
A professional provider will do a “test run” to make sure everything works smoothly before they take payroll live for all employees.
To outsource bookkeeping, you need to find an expert bookkeeper who knows your chosen accounting software and your industry. They will also need access to your banking information, payroll information,
If you’re looking to outsource your bookkeeping, contact us about our service packages.
