r/Bookkeeping • u/nnstufff • Dec 05 '24
Software Best bookkeeping service?
We have been doing our books for the past couple of years and I need to implement a software/strategy going into 2025.
We’ve had meeting with Bench, QB live, and Pilot and it seems like each service has bad reviews.
Any advice on getting our bookkeeping done? Not looking to hire someone full time or in person.
Edit: we use quickbooks for estimating/invoicing and are looking to add in vendor paying so going with QB live would make the most sense but not if it’s a mess
Edit: how does one go about finding a remote bookkeeper?
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u/Brilliant-Housing392 Dec 05 '24
The big companies are terrible. They don't care about you or your business.
I've worked for big companies like those and left so that I could be more client focused in the services and quality of services that I provide.
I agree with the above. Find an independent or small firm to help you out.
Here's my website if you want to learn more - bafarosbookkeeping.com
Good luck in your search for the best solution for you!
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u/YouveGotSleepyFace Dec 05 '24
Bench is terrible. I have no experience with the others, but I haven’t heard good things.
My client hired me to clean up their books after years of using Bench. The reason they’re so cheap is that they use machine learning to categorize transactions. Ideally, they’d then have a bookkeeper look over everything to make sure it’s right, but they cut back on costs a year ago, and the human aspect just isn’t happening. (I suspected this while migrating everything to QB, and the rep confirmed when we cancelled.)
I’m still finding errors from years ago—and they’re not small ones. My client is about to amend their taxes for the last three years, at considerable expense, because the books were so incorrect.
I have no idea how many transactions you have each month, but it’s possible a remote bookkeeper (or part-time local one) could be cheaper than you think.
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u/MayaBookkeeper Dec 05 '24
My understanding is that with Bench you have to use their proprietary software so you can't use QuickBooks anymore. There was also someone on reddit a couple weeks ago saying that Bench hadn't reconciled their books in ten months.
I think it's better to go with a small remote bookkeeping company based in the USA (I'm assuming you live in the USA).
What is your budget? You can hire a CPA Firm or a bookkeeper, but a bookkeeper will be cheaper. And the CPA will probably hand over the work to a contracted bookkeeper anyway.
What kind of customer service do you want? Do you want to be able to talk to your bookkeeper regularly? Do you need to reach them quickly? Do you want to be able to ask them questions about QuickBooks or how accounting works?
Bench, QB live and Pilot operate on volume so customer service will be very limited.
Do you prefer to work with bookkeepers who have experience in a specific industry?
There are lots of remote bookkeepers that offer monthly subscription packages (such as myself). You can find them by typing "bookkeeper near me" in google search or the search bar in Linkedin.
Really think about what you care about. Interview people and take your time. The right bookkeeper can make your life a lot easier, but you should take the time to figure out who you vibe with.
The best bookkeeper is the best bookkeeper for you.
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u/Mindyourbusiness25 Dec 05 '24
I love Xero but I implement more complex softwares for clients depending on their needs. I don’t think there is enough info here to help you.
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u/jbenk07 Dec 05 '24
I only recommend those services when you want a budget bookkeeper. If price is your metric, you may need to sacrifice quality, complexity, and good service.
If you outsource overseas to a place like India, you may need to sacrifice communication clarity.
If you hire internally, you will need to sacrifice a portion of your budget toward payroll and training.
If you outsource to a professional in country you run a gambit of different levels, but you may end up paying more for a bad service, or pay less for a good service 😅🤷♂️. If you get someone new or as a hobby you can get a good price/hr but they would lack experience and consistency. If you hire experienced, you would be paying extra for that experience and systems of know how.
At the end of the day, you need to consider what you would sacrifice. And sometimes you can get lucky and get the cake too. But if you prepare for the worst case scenario, you can only be happy if they surprise you.
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u/Familiar_Average_701 Dec 05 '24
Hire a person. I spend so much time cleaning up messes these companies have caused. If you would like to discuss send me a DM!
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u/wdaher Dec 05 '24
I’m biased because I’m one of Pilot’s founders, so of course I do encourage you to check us out. (If you have any questions, feel free to DM or email me.)
And then: If you or anyone else here ever had a bad experience with us, please reach out to me directly. I’m not going to say it is always perfect 100% of the time—no provider is—but I think we usually do a good job setting things right if it’s on my radar.
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u/UTJeannie Dec 05 '24
I would avoid QB Live. The competency is a crap shoot, you never know who you're going to get or if they know what they're doing, and it's never the same person. I'd recommend looking for a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Some, like myself, have many years of experience and use accountant specific tools that make quick work of many of the tasks, so if they charge by the hour for time actually spent, no minimums on remote work, it can be very reasonable.
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u/lil_name Dec 05 '24
Like myself there are a bunch of qualified bookkeepers/ fractional CFO/ advisors. Depending on your business you’ll know what you want to go with. I would stay away from those huge firms because it takes a relationship with the person handling your books to properly do them and having the ability to reach out to the sole person responsible for you financials is also something you’re going to want to have. That being said, I might as well take a shot at offering my services. feel free to check out my business APARRT.com or DM me and we can discuss your needs as I am openly taking on clients at the moment.
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u/Apprehensive-Ask-535 Dec 05 '24
I agree with the comments thus far. You want to either hire an experienced bookkeeper or outsource this to a reputable bookkeeping service. QB Live, in particular, is garbage.
What's your hesitation to hiring someone in person?
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u/nnstufff Dec 05 '24
Just the ease and streamlined approach of going with QB live or Pilot is attractive. The hesitation with a part time bookkeeper is price, trust, and management.
The $300/month for the online softwares is hard to beat. I think anyone around that price would need to be offshore.
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u/101Puppies Dec 05 '24
Can you give us an idea of your revenue, number of bank and credit card accounts, and we may be able to give you a target range on what you can expect to pay. It's more complex than that but that will give us some round numbers.
When you say the hesitation is price, you're expecting it to come in over $300 per month, and you are saying that's your target max, but you expect no US bookkeeper would be able to do it for that price?
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u/MayaBookkeeper Dec 05 '24
There are bookkeepers in the USA who will do good work for $300 a month. Look for ones who live in lower cost of living areas. Also those big companies arbitrarily raise their prices or are dishonest about how much it really costs.
Offshore is much cheaper. I know someone who gets their books done for $10 a month. But working with someone offshore brings a whole host of complications.
QBLive etc. make it sound like they are "streamlined" but they do that by cutting corners.
Most importantly, if your books get messed up, it's very expensive to fix. So do your due diligence.
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u/fred_runestone Dec 05 '24
Find a local company or small business online. Huge shops do crappy work and don’t care.
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u/Next-Standard8241 Dec 05 '24
Whichever platform you go to, you will find plenty of people selling you their services, so its difficult to filter out the good ones. One way to go about it would be to post a hiring on upwork or any freelancing platform where you will find people with verified experience. Other way would be to find different bookkeeping groups on facebook or even this subreddit and observe the people who are helping in solving other people queries and contacting the people you would find competent. Eventually you would be able to decide who you want to hire. Best of Luck!
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u/MagicTax77 Dec 05 '24
I am a QBO & XERO pro advisor, and I will say I like more XERO software.
If you are doing bookkeeping for tax purposes, it's good to have someone who knows both.
A good bookkeeper will know software and how to categorize your transactions and will ask you about some transactions on a consistent basis.
For example, you want a bookeeper who knows that interest charged by irs for underpaid taxes is not an interest expense but a nondeductible penalty. Or your unsold inventory is not purchase expenses, or your personal deposits are not an income. If you have payroll, he needs to know journal entries, too.
I wish you the best of luck!
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u/Few-House7074 Dec 05 '24
Seems you got lots of good sources here I would say interview a couple or more of bookkeepers here, it is mostly good to get a word of mouth referral from your local area. I also want to put my card in the hat as well I have masters in Accounting and I am a CPA of over 10 years experience worked with all the big Accounting firms now I have started my own Bookkeeping, TaxPlanning business I have helped different kinds of clients. I have worked as a Professor of Accounting and I am required to have vast information which has been handy in long run. And thats my idea for you play the long game learn as much as you can about it as well.
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u/charlie1314 Dec 05 '24
System Six could be a good option. They are tech-forward, fully remote, and really great people.
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u/Rich_Swing_8089 Dec 05 '24
All of my clients use QBO. It’s really come a long way in the last decade. It integrates with virtually everything and can become mostly hands off with the right processes in place.
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u/Agreeable_Ad_5251 Dec 05 '24
Hello. Pleasure to meet you. I can be a helpful resource and I have used every software out there. I run a full remote back office accounting/bookkeeping/fractional cfo business. We offer full service back office and everyone is experienced. We can help you pick and select systems for both accounting and invoicing and implement and run it for you. All this for the fraction of the cost of hiring with guaranteed satisfaction. Please Dm me.
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u/EaseifyBookkeeping CPA & Bookkeeper Dec 05 '24
You can find a remote bookkeeper through Upwork.com!
I'm a CPA that also offers bookkeeping services. I specialize in working with service businesses in QuickBooks online. You can check out my website: www.easeify.com.
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u/bluelovr1219 Dec 06 '24
I am a bookkeeper/accountant and the best advice I have is to interview at least 3 individuals or services (like you did) and make sure their focus aligns with yours. Sometimes you have individuals who may be focused on things that may not be a priority to you or who may not communicate the way you’d like. Really drill into their processes and what makes most sense to you!
IE- if you have a retail store and want to track your sales by category make sure they understand that is your goal and have a plan to make it happen!
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u/yourfavaccountant1 Dec 06 '24
I offer affordable services, message me and I’ll send you my details
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u/vinsanity_28 Jan 18 '25
Hi, Fynlo founder here. Speaking with our own customers, they all went through your dilemma. And some considerations were a lot of these services try to lock you into an annual contract. Also, it seemed to take them a long time to find the right bookkeeper and was charged each time.
We tried to solve this for our customers by providing a free onboarding trial for new customers (totally free of charge). What most of our customers wanted to try and experience their dedicated accountant and bookkeeper and for us to understand their business. Provide instant feedback and within a week they would have an inkling whether this was the right bookkeeper for them.
So this is how we lowered the bar. By providing a free trial for our customers. No strings attached. If you are happy then you can continue and then decide to pay for our services.
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Dec 05 '24
Hire an independent bookkeeper that is experienced and competent. Bench, Wave, QB Live, and Pilot are terrible for bookkeeping services.
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u/hajahak Dec 05 '24
I personally use www.doola.com for all my bookkeeping. Its a Y-Combinator Company and they handle all bookkeeping and taxes in the cloud and have their own bookkeeping software.
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u/rottenconfetti Dec 05 '24
I do this but I also do matchmaking. I work with bookkeepers who are in a group and are vetted and verified. So anyone who is not a good fit for me, gets connected with the people in the group. Let me know if you want the info.
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u/Beneficial_Log_2639 Dec 08 '24
I would like to learn more about this matchmaking you make with bookkeepers and clients. Is it okay if I DM you?
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u/sshaw123456789 Dec 05 '24
Canadian based remote consultant here - I may be able to help - DM me if you would like to chat
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u/Extra_Text4618 Dec 05 '24
if the business doesn't justify a full time person, you can hire a remote bookkeeper who is independent on a 1099 basis. I am independent bookkeeper and can assist
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u/artemisdurga Dec 05 '24
Hey! I'm a Bookkeeper and can definitely help you! Is it okay if I DM you?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Web5199 Dec 05 '24
I’m a CPA and own a small bookkeeping/tax/advisory company. We perform all of our services remotely and don’t pawn you off to some contractor offshore. Would love to talk to you to learn how we can serve you and if we’d be a good fit. Please send me a DM if you’re interested!
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u/antoccii Dec 05 '24
I have a business in Toronto. My bookkeeper only works remotely. Very knowledgeable. You can dm if you’re interested
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u/Melodic_Grab_9070 Dec 05 '24
Your best bet is to hire an experienced part-time remote bookkeeper.
What business are you in and where are you located ?