If you have just set up your small business or are currently planning on establishing one, then amongst all the things you have to tend to, you also need to think about enlisting the right bookkeeper. In fact, this is one of the most important things you will do for your company. Whilst you might be able to keep basic accounts initially on a spreadsheet, once your business begins to grow you will have too much to keep track of. Plus, it will take up pretty much all of your time and energy, preventing you from concentrating on the other areas which also need attention at this volatile time. So what gives? Well, the trick is to secure a reliable bookkeeper. Whilst it does some combing through, patience is a virtue in this instance, and you are sure to find one provided you look.

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Accounting Experience

Whilst yes everybody has to start somewhere, as a start-up business owner you cannot really leave things up to chance. So employing a bookkeeper without much experience is a big no-no. You might as well do the accounts yourself in that case. You must look for significant experience. How long have the bookkeepers been doing what they do? Are they able to understand your business’s needs? Have they worked with multinational corporate or small businesses mainly? These are all important questions to consider.

Industry Experience

Once this is out of the way, you then need to look at how much industry experience your bookkeeper has. Say for example you are looking for bookkeeping Narre Warren and you come across five bookkeepers in total within the area. You now need to know the backgrounds of each of these five bookkeepers to help you make a decision. Industry experience means the specific experience they have that is related to your industry. So if you are in textiles, then most preferably you should look for someone who has experience in the textiles industry. This makes things easier because when problems crop up, your bookkeeper will know how to tackle them effectively.

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Tech Savvy

This is the 21^st-century after all, and gone are the days of manual bookkeeping. Your bookkeeper needs to be tech savvy, at least with bookkeeping software even if nothing else. You cannot really do much anymore today without a computer backing your every move. This is especially true of businesses. Computers simply make our lives more convenient and training your bookkeeper if need be is a must. This is, of course, assuming your bookkeeper is your final decision, and you want to help them fit in as best as possible with as much support as you can provide.

Trust

Bookkeepers handle a huge responsibility within the company, which makes them one of the most integral cogs in the company’s engine. Without them, it is difficult to carry out your operations smoothly. Hence, it is important that your bookkeeper is above all, trustworthy. You want to be sure that they can be entrusted with anything, and that they will be honest in all their work. If they are hiding records from your accounts, not only could you lose out money, but you will also end up in big trouble down the line. So basic traits are just as important as experience, bear that in mind.