What are the qualities of a good bookkeeper?

In the last blog post, I talked about some of the qualities that I look for in a bookkeeper. This is part 2 if you haven’t read the first one yet.

What are those qualities that you look for in a bookkeeper? Well, I'm gonna start by talking about the skills you need to know to be a good bookkeeper. You need to know how to make numbers work for you and your business. You need to be able to see through things that don't make sense, like sales trends or inventory levels; and you need to be able to spot problems when they're happening (this is important). You also need experience with accounting systems, so you can keep track of your finances. And finally, you need an ability to tell good stories—a story that's right for your business and right for your customers. So here's what it looks like:

A bookkeeper’s job is to keep track of all the work you do, both on your side and on the company’s side. Though most people think of bookkeepers as simply taking care of numbers, that’s not what they really do. They really should be thinking about how to make your life easier. And if you want more information on exactly what a bookkeeper does and how you can hire one, I suggest you check out this thread in the MacRumors forums: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/bookkeeping-and-accounting-by-dictionary.8169/

If you are actually serious about hiring a better bookkeeper for your company, here are some things to consider:

• While it’s easy enough to say “I want someone who is good with numbers and has high integrity,” it is not always so easy to find someone like that — especially if they are based in another country or have other obligations outside of your business (such as family). Hiring one just by virtue of being good at numbers and having high integrity is much more likely to work than hiring one based purely on those two qualities. So it has to be something else (such as personality) that makes them a better match for your business needs — not their skill set.

• Hiring someone nice can be difficult too; after all, often we only see our managers or colleagues when they perform poorly, so we don't necessarily have very positive feedback when we evaluate how good they are at their job. One place where this can come into play is with hiring someone for a specific position such as a bookkeeper or accountant — if we want them to do well in his job, we want him to perform well at his job too (even if he isn't our manager). A bad hire could take away from the person doing something very important for our business (which will rarely help us anyways).

• We also don't want just any bookkeeper though; there are great bookshelf types (those who only do accounting) and there are great manual type bookkeepers (those who only do ledger work) — so it's important that the candidates look like they belong in either category or have some type of experience working with both types (so they aren't just newbies). This means checking their resume as well as talking with them about what type of projects they would like to tackle

Bookkeepers, like other professionals, have to be paid. But they also have to make a living if they are to support their families and also continue their work.

It’s no surprise that bookkeepers are fairly compensated for their services: the median salary is $48,000 in Boston and New York City. But what often goes unnoticed is that bookkeepers tend to make more than their counterparts in other professions: a study by the accounting group EY found that most bookkeepers earn between $77,000 and $100,000 per year.

Why do bookkeepers earn such high salaries? The main reasons include their experience and training (on average, they have more seniority than other professionals), and the use of software (bookkeeping software allows for easy data entry). Another reason is that some value added services are included with the books themselves (like payroll preparation), making it easier for bookkeepers to get paid in full every month.

In order to help you determine just how much bookkeepers should charge, we’ve compiled an interactive dashboard of multiple metrics from our dashboard database — you can use these metrics as your own reference point for determining your own rates.

It is no secret that bookkeepers are rare commodities. Most businesses don't hire full time bookkeepers and instead have department heads who do the books and manage accounts. But are these departments really necessary?

Doing the books is one thing, but managing accounts is a different story. It's not just about keeping track of your books and accounts. You also need to make sure your accounts don't go unnoticed or through the cracks of your business processes. You need to keep track of everything from when you got paid to when those bills get paid, so you don't end up broke on payday.

If you're looking for a best fit for your business, there are two ways to look at it:

• How much money does it really cost to hire a bookkeeper?

• How important is it compared with other things you could spend money on?

If you're looking at either option, here are some examples:

• If you’re going to spend $100 on a bookkeeper, should you do it now? Should you wait until after month 3 or month 4?

• If the answer is no, then what should be done now? If a job isn't done right now, then maybe it's time to bring someone in who can do it right now instead of waiting until March. If a job isn't done right now because there's too much work needing done, then maybe it's time for someone else who can handle that kind of work as well as yours to come in so that everyone can focus on their own tasks together (by sharing billing information).

Also consider this: if hiring one person for $100 would save $50/month in bookkeeping fees (or even more), then why wouldn't it be worth it? I'll say yes! And before we finish this post I'll add some caveats if this advice doesn't apply to your situation:  This advice applies only if the business has enough cash flow that the savings won't matter too much (for example if all your expenses are below $5k per month).  It doesn’t apply if all expenses exceed $5k per month.  It applies only when someone else may have already taken over responsibility for some portion of the invoice processing and bill paying/payroll responsibilities (such as an accounting department).  It doesn’t apply if there’s no other business management in place and all invoicing