Virtual Bookkeeping: What You Need To Know

As a business owner, do you ever wish you could have a magical genie that automatically organizes your chart of accounts, ledgers, and payroll? Fortunately, the good news is that the genie is a real person, and they are right on the other side of the computer screen!

You probably think that we have lost our minds, but we are serious; that “genie” is called a virtual bookkeeper.

Running A Business

Look, we know what it takes to run a business and when you own a small business, you are doing 90% of the work on your own. That includes everything from working with your clients, managing your social media pages, paying bills, hiring vendors and staff, and managing your accounting and bookkeeping tasks, all while trying to grow and expand with new ideas and processes.

Your passion is what you’re an expert in; that’s why you started the business in the first place! So whether it’s building amazing software, running a legal firm, or being an architect you want to focus on what you can do to grow your passion and build your business.

But, when you run a business, you have hundreds of other plates stacked up waiting for you to clear them. One of those plates is bookkeeping. One thing you DON’T want to do is wait until the end of the year and scramble to finish and balance your books. If you do that, you’ll have no way of finding out how your business is doing throughout the year. Plus, you may miss out on thousands of missed tax deductions because of poor data entry.

Our Goal

Here at Redmond Accounting, we want our clients to work smarter and more efficiently. We don’t want to stack any more plates on; we are here to help take some of them away. We want to help set you up for success with proven workflows, accounting processes, and support.

We also believe that knowledge is power and helps our clients understand the importance of having an accounting technology professional on their team. So let’s get you organized and talk about virtual bookkeeping and the incredible benefits having a virtual bookkeeper adds to your business.

Back to Basics

To understand how beneficial a bookkeeper can be, let’s get back to the basics.

Bookkeeping and accounting aren’t the same. An accountant can do bookkeeping, but bookkeeping and accounting are different tasks. A bookkeeper helps organize, manage and prepare your books and ledgers so that an accountant can assess and audit your business’s financial state.

There are traditional, on-site bookkeepers and virtual bookkeepers. Virtual bookkeeping has become a staple in small businesses and businesses with no office or facility. Virtual bookkeepers and still real people; they’re just connected to you online instead of in person. Your virtual bookkeeper might be down the street or a hundred miles away! Regardless of the distance, you can connect with them online and give them access to your financial information through revolutionary platforms like QuickBooks Online, Expensify, and Bill.com.

Accounting Tools

Do you use QuickBooks Online, Expensify, or Bill.com? Using these cloud accounting tools can help you streamline your accounting process and allow you to hire virtual bookkeepers, payroll specialists, and even accountants!

If you use these accounting apps and spend a lot of time working on them, it might be time to switch to virtual bookkeeping and hire someone to help you.

Benefits of Virtual Bookkeeping

So how else can you benefit from a virtual bookkeeper?

• You can hire one on an as-needed basis and can save money on employment costs. For example, many virtual bookkeepers are hired on a monthly fee compared to being billed hourly.
• They have instant access to your accounting information through cloud accounting tools.
• They are readily available for questions and can respond via Zoom.
• If you get stuck and need help, they are just a message away!
• Reduce error by having an expert take care of organizing and managing your books and accounts.
• Increase your productivity by eliminating the hours spent working on bookkeeping.

Another benefit to going virtual is the ability to go paperless! We’ve enjoyed being paperless for over a decade, and we strive to help others get 100% paperless accounting as well!

Work with Redmond

As accounting technology professionals, we know everything about cloud accounting technology and virtual accounting services. Our accounting firm is 100% virtual, and we work with businesses all over the country.

We offer virtual bookkeeping, payroll, accounting, and even CFO and Controller services to help your business grow and succeed!

If you’re interested in hiring a Redmond Accounting virtual bookkeeper or learning more about our services, connect with us today! Grab a time on our calendar here for a complimentary consult.