Bookkeeper???

[mylady]

OK, this may be a stupid question, but what exactly does a bookeeper do? And does anyone here use one? Do you just give them all of your reciepts? How does it work? I'm just toying with the idea.

Stephen: Excellent question. Most don't realize that while you are to keep receipts, you are supposed to follow "generally accepted principles of accounting" according to the IRS and that means having a "general ledger" set of books. Well you may never need those until you want to sell your business and get a great price, or you are asked for that by the IRS, and no, they don't always at an audit. I have experience with HUNDREDS of audits, and most did focus on receipts, both the receipts you hand out to customers (oh you don't) or the receipts for expenses. So a bookkeeper absolutely always creats a G/L, and better yet, let's you know when to make ESTIMATED TAX PAYMENTS quarterly (you don't have to have staff to be liable) or especially to help you make payroll 941 payments, and that's when you really don't want to make a penny error and is related to staff. So they are a preventative measure and well worth it unless you know it all about small business bookkeeping and estimated tax for self employed persons, and have a G/L. Hope this makes sense, good question.

[gluergirl]

With the program I am on through EI I have to have a bookkeeper. Also in case I get audited, I will use an accountant as well so if I need help, I will have 2 people that I can rely on to help me out. My bookkeeper is freelance and charges $20.00 and hour, and figure It will be 4 hours the first month and about 2 hours every month there after. The accountant will do my taxes, and if I get audited, they will help me out with the process. In my opinion it is one less thing for me to worry about, but I am going to take a course , bookkeeping for dummies and the workbook through community school, so eventually I will be able to do my own books, and in the meantime I can check the work and make sure I know whee the money is and where it goes!
Lisa
AKA Gluergirl / Little_Critters on e-groomer

[Briarpatch]

My bookkeepper works for my CPA. I do everything except for the end of year stuff. I give it all to her and she issues the w2's and end of year stuff. She enters my tax info and then it goes to the CPA. Whenever I have a question about ANYTHING money related, I call the bookkeepper and she checks with the CPA if she doesn't know the answer. She also calls me quarterly to make sure I've filed the quarterly 941 forms or if I need help. Keeps me on track.

[groomingfool]

One of the first (and best) things we did was hire an accountant. We send them all our reciepts, and they do all that work for us. They figure out all the taxes and when what needs to be paid. They send a girl at least once a month to collect our reciepts and bank statements so we don't even have to leave the shop. They come to us. How sweet is that! Well worth the money.

[odette]

I couldn't live witout my accountant! The i.r.s. and the guys in the white coats woulda been fighting over who got to haul me off long ago without him! I hand him everything, he makes sence of it. He asked me to stop doing anything, it's easier this way. me no get no #s!

[RPS]

Although my husband handles all the 'books'... we use quickbooks to keep track of everything. Because we accept credit cards, he enters 2 deposits in the quickbooks at the end of the day... one for check/cash, one for credit cards. When he prints out the forms at the end of the year for the accountant.. it is simple to see everything. Our accountant also has a great offer. Each week, we print out the totals for each staff person, bring it over, they send back printed sheets to include what goes to state, govt, fica etc...

it is a great benefit. IF anything is EVER wrong... our accountant is the one who handles it. We dont pay much for this service either.. it is a simple thing for the accountant to have one of his staff run it through his pc.. print it out.. done. So worth it to me and if your interested.. ask your accountant? cant hurt to ask right? who knows.. you may end up with a better deal than we did!