If you are considering outsourcing some of your accounting tasks, hiring bookkeeping virtual assistant services is the way to go. Digital bookkeeping is a must in any organization now, albeit its size or mode of operation. Virtual assistants can help you with your accounts remotely. This saves your business money as well as it removes the burden of micromanaging your employees.
Digital bookkeeping assistants are supposed to be qualified with the various facets of the job. Also, you must be aware of your business’ exact requirements – the pain points that only online bookkeeping services can resolve.
Like any other remote service, bookkeeping virtual assistant services have to be evaluated by you, the client. Whether your business even needs business bookkeeping services, is also a question that arises.
To begin with the topic at hand, let us discuss how accounting virtual assistants can boost your business and make things easier for you.
Where bookkeeping virtual assistant services can help you
Your remote accounting expert can help you with the following:
- Maintaining and organizing financial records and ledger.
- Recurring bill payments.
- Estimates, purchase order, pro forma invoice, and invoice generation.
- Payroll management and human resource financial support.
- Designing financial statements and translating them to business jargon.
- Preparing tax returns and paying taxes.
- Helping with administrative tasks such as buying office supplies.
- Management and filing of complete fiscal and assessment year transactions.
- Developing and creating balance sheets and profit and expenditure documents.
- Dealing with vendors and suppliers and taking care of the financial aspects in this domain.
You might have caught the drift by now. Virtual accounting assistants can help you with everything related to bookkeeping at your business.
When exactly you should hire a virtual accountant
It is paramount to understand when exactly you or your business requires a virtual assistant. Why can’t you simply go ahead and get your regular accounting guys to do the job for you. One of the biggest benefits of hiring online bookkeeping services is the accessibility and the cost factor. While your employees are on a monthly payroll, virtual accountants can be hired for the job and let off as you please.
Anyway, as a business owner or manager, it is on you to know when to pull the trigger. Here are some signs that indicate that you need remote accounting support:
- If you are a senior member of the business and are in charge of the accounts, this is for you. If you are finding it hard to find time for your personal life or for a much needed vacation, you might need to outsource some of your burden to the virtual assistant.
- You might need digital bookkeeping services if you or your team does not have the required skill set to pull off accounting tasks.
- If you are overwhelmed by pending tasks and 24 hours aren’t enough for you, go ahead and hire a remote accountant.
- You feel like your business is ready to scale up and reach out to more people. This is a crucial phase of any business. Before making any moves to scale up, a business should be ready with adequate resources, one of them might just be support from business bookkeeping services.
Points to consider when hiring bookkeeping virtual assistant services
The topics discussed above somewhat explain what you need to do before going for remote assistance. However, we feel like a more detailed explanation is required.
Understand your requirements
One of the most important things is that you have clarity about your requirements. If you fail to explain what you really need, there will be issues with productivity. This can also lead to financial losses for your company. When exactly you should hire business bookkeeping services is one thing, however, what comes next is equally important. When you approach a virtual assistant or any organization that offers these services, ensure that:
- You are well prepared with the job role and what exactly your business needs at the moment.
- You are clear about the direction in which you want to scale your company and where virtual assistants can support you.
- You are clear about the budget allocated to this particular requirement.
- You communicate your requirements as they are to the digital bookkeeper.
- You understand when you need to lay off or add more virtual assistants so that there are no issues with efficiency.
Interview the virtual assistant
Another thing that many people forget to do is to interview the remote accountant allocated to them. Most bookkeeping virtual assistant services allocate a certain individual(s) based on your requirements. It is your job to speak to the allocated assistant before you hire him/her. You should be prepared with a set of questions that are both relevant and easy to understand. The purpose of this is to find out whether the remote accountant is up to the challenge, is competent, understands the industry jargon, and is efficient.
As the demand for virtual bookkeepers increases, so does the number of players in the market. With this increased supply, it becomes hard to weed out bad quality. Underqualified remote accountants can be a thorn on your side. What seemed to be an advantage can soon turn into a disadvantage. The remote nature of work can become annoying instead of being convenient. Under qualification is one thing that needs to be picked on as soon as you start interviewing.
It is easy though – looking out for missing skills in an individual. However, mis-qualification is another issue. The candidate may seem to know a lot about accounting but your exact requirements might be challenging for them. Therefore, ask them questions that are relevant to your company and your market.
Don’t be restrictive with tools
The world of accounting is pretty simple if you look at it this way. There is the money that is debited. Then there are credited sums. That’s it, right? The intricacies may be there but the overall picture is quite clear to the keen eye. Good virtual assistants understand the basics of accounts and can help you boost your operations.
However, it is your job to be flexible with them as well. Online bookkeeping services can be pulled off using any number of tools. If your company uses QuickBooks, but your virtual assistant is more comfortable with another tool, let him/her use that.
The final outcome should be meaningful and productive. That’s all that needs to be considered. Just ensure that the logistics involved with migration to different tools aren’t complicated.
Communication barriers
The best of the best bookkeepers will not be able to help your business if there is a communication gap. Communication barriers are not limited to language. There are things like presentation, accessibility, flexibility with timing, etc. that also play an important role.
Communication gaps can come both from your end or from the assistant’s end. However, it is your primary job to nip these in the bud, so to speak. Once you hire bookkeeping virtual assistant services, ensure that you get your message across clearly.
Make sure that your demands are met. It is your job to explain what you want exactly the way it is. Then only can you go ahead and take that much needed break. And still get the job done!
