Frequently Asked Questions
Once you have made the important decision to hire someone to look after your financial transactions, it can sometimes be a bit of a challenge to navigate the terminology to find the best fit for you and your business.
The following are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions to help you with your decision making process.
What exactly does a bookkeeper do?
In general, a bookkeeper takes care of the day to day financial transactions in your business and helps to keep you organized. This can include things like: recording sales and invoices, paying bills, processing payments, following up on accounts receivable, and can include processing payroll and government remittances, as well as credit card and bank reconciliations. Bookkeepers do not provide financial advice to businesses.
Bookkeeper vs Accountant
At Financial Freedom Bookkeeping we believe that there is no "vs" between bookkeepers and accountants. We work as a team with accountants to ensure that your books accurately reflect your company's finances. While bookkeepers take care of the day to day transactions, accountants take the financial data recorded by bookkeepers and interpret it to help companies make financial decisions. They specialize more in consultation, analysis, and advice (especially when it comes to tax matters). Sometimes bookkeeper and accountant roles overlap a bit, so it's important to determine at the outset what services your bookkeeper offers and what services will need to be handled by an accountant.
Is it worth having a bookkeeper?
Bookkeepers can take care of your books so that you have more time to take care of your business, as well as have more time for family/friends and leisure activities! Even though an accounting firm can look after your bookkeeping transactions, retaining a bookkeeper can save your company money on financial fees. This is because a bookkeeper costs less per hour than an accountant. When a bookkeeper does your books with accuracy and integrity, your accountant will need to spend less time preparing and interpreting that data.
