How to Hire a Bookkeeper Questions to Ask:

Will they work with your QuickBooks file or do your bookkeeping on their own software?

In a prior post, I listed the 10 questions you should ask on how to hire a bookkeeper. In this post, I’ll discuss the fourth question – will they work with your QuickBooks file?

Be aware of something that is very common in the accounting world – especially among older accountants and bookkeepers. They may not use QuickBooks or they only use one version of QuickBooks. In order to do your bookkeeping, they take your numbers and input them into their own bookeeping software or into another version of QuickBooks. In fact, I recently worked with a client who was using QuickBooks Online but his bookkeeper was using QuickBooks Pro. My client entered all of their data into QuickBooks Online and each month they would gather all of their records and send them to the bookkeeper to be manually entered into QuickBooks Pro. My client’s QuickBooks never reflected all of the adjustments and reconciliations that the bookkeeper did. As a result, my client’s books became useless to him. He could never get any timely and meaningful data out of QuickBooks Online to run his business. I had to do some “QuickBooks surgery” to fix his QuickBooks Online so that it would reflect his bookkeeper’s adjustments.

Here is a list of questions to ask to find out whether they will work with your version of QuickBooks:

• Will you work on my QuickBooks software?
• If so, how will you gain access to my QuickBooks file?
• If not, how will my QuickBooks reflect your adjustments and reconciliations?

Did you know that QuickBooks Online allows you to add up to two (2) accountants as users to your QuickBooks Online data file? That’s an additional 2 users in addition to the 3 (Essentials version) or 5 (Plus version) you already get. You can easily do that by going to the Settings menu (click on your company name on the upper right hand corner). Then select Manage Users. Then go to the section “Accounting Firms” and click on “Invite Accountant“. It’s that simple . When you add your bookkeeper or accountant as a user to QuickBooks Online, they are able to work on your bookkeeping directly. That’s extremely convenient for you and your accountant.

I can’t tell you how easy it is for me, as a QuickBooks Online accountant and consultant, to be able to collaborate with clients all throughout the USA on their QuickBooks Online. When they have a question, I can easily log in with my accountant login and I can quickly get back to them with an answer. That’s what modern bookkeeping and QuickBooks Online allows you to do.

So remember, don’t let your accountant or bookkeeper work on their own version of QuickBooks. You should retain control of your accounting data at all times to ensure that it’s meaningful and updated on a timely basis. QuickBooks Online makes it so much easier to collaborate with your accountant no matter where you are located.

Here’s an infographic for you to save and download:

In my next post on How to hire a bookkeeper, I will cover the fifth question to ask when hiring a bookkeeper or accountant. Will they have time for you?