Insights and considerations when hiring a bookkeeper

Hiring a bookkeeper can have it’s challenges. Firstly there a lack of bookkeepers in general, particularly those with experience. Secondly people are often confused and misinformed as to what the role of a bookkeeper is. In our blog we’ll do our best to answer your questions and hopefully point you in the right direction.

What is Bookkeeping?

Let’s start with the basics.

Bookkeeping is part of the accounting process and involves the recording and organising of transactions to calculate and analyse a business’s finances. The role of a bookkeeper is generally to:

• Organise financial paperwork such as receipts, invoices and bank statements
• Ensure liabilities are recorded and balanced to external bodies
• Process bank transactions and reconcile bank accounts
• Digitise paperwork
• Process payroll and submit to HMRC and pension provider
• Provide access to accurate financial reports such as debtors and creditors, profit margins, and forecasting.
• Perform forensic bookkeeping, if needed, in cases of monies missing etc.
• Calculate and submit VAT returns

There are other related responsibilities that may fall under bookkeeping depending on the speciality of the individual, for example credit control.

It’s important to understand that Bookkeepers and Accountants perform different duties.

Some individuals may be qualified as both a Bookkeeper and an Accountant but most of the time people are either one or the other. To learn the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant read our blog here.

Things to consider when choosing a bookkeeper

Anti-money laundering laws

It is a legal requirement for all Bookkeepers to be supervised by an official body for anti-money laundering. If they are self-employed, they must be registered individually, if they are an employee of an accounting or bookkeeping firm, then the company must be registered and the employee is covered by the company’s supervising body. For bookkeepers working in industry (as opposed to Practice), there is no requirement for bookkeepers employed under an employment contract to register.

Examples of awarding bodies for anti-money laundering include:

• ICB (Institute of Certified Bookkeepers)
• IAB (Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers)
• HMRC (His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs)
• AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians)

If a bookkeeper registered under anti-money laundering supervision suspects their client is money laundering, they must, by law, report it to their supervising body. Risk assessments and ID checks have to be performed and lodged with the relevant supervisory authority.

We highly recommend you only consider a bookkeeper who is supervised for anti-money laundering. Non-registered bookkeepers are working illegally.

Experience level

Qualifications aren’t everything. It’s important to have hands-on experience, so look out for that on CV’s.

Sadly, many bookkeeping qualifications are still taught in an outdated way which involves heavy theory and lacks experience opportunities with software and data. This can leave many bookkeepers struggling to find a job and can leave clients feeling disappointed with their lack of experience.

We have always strived to support bookkeepers and give them that much needed experience. Our support stretches to clients as well as our bookkeepers – whether they be self-employed or employed, they know they can contact us with queries and that no question is a stupid one.

Software considerations, be open to change

The tech industry is huge and there’s a rabbit hole of accounting related apps out there these days. Most bookkeepers tend to have a favourite accounting software (usually Xero, QuickBooks or Sage) so this may be a consideration. If you’re already using accounting software, ask your prospective bookkeeper if they have any experience with it but also keep in mind that they might have a software solution for you that might be better suited to your firm. Heed their advice and be open to change.

On the back of our software advice, we’ve managed to save many of our clients hours and hours of work. We appreciate that this isn’t always the case; you may be chained to a particular system because it connects to other systems you use within your business. In that case, maybe the bookkeeper can recommend a few processes to make things more efficient. After all “You don’t know what you don’t know” and you should be able to count on your bookkeeper to fill in those gaps.

Be clear about expectations

Communication is key. Make a clear plan with your bookkeeper about what you are expected to do (i.e. scan your receipts into an app) and what they are expected to do. The only way to have an efficient and accurate set of accounts is to work together. It’s in your interest to do your side of the bargain. Working as a team means you’ll be able to easily access your historical history and learn from it. Use this information to create predictions and forecasting and ultimately plan for the future of your business

Ready to talk bookkeeping?

If you’d like more advice on hiring a bookkeeping, contact us for a no obligation chat about your bookkeeping pain points. Book your appointment via the button below.