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Do Cheap Bookkeepers Save Money?

Written by: John Stewart

Article Overview: As with any service today, there's always potential clients surfing the internet to find the cheapest bookkeeper. The short answer is that the cheapest bookkeeper is probably one who is straight out of college and has got a piece of paper to say that they can do bookkeeping. The cheapest bookkeeper may have recently completed a MYOB, Quickbooks or other accounting software course. But are they ready to start their own bookkeeping business, and more importantly would you feel comfortable exposing all your financial to their level of inexperience?

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Do Cheap Bookkeepers Save Money?

It seems that these days you can get a bookkeeper from $15 / hour upwards. There are also bookkeepers offering "fixed-price" packages. Maybe they are the like the "Two Dollar Stores" of this world. They hope to be able to do a large number of clients' books quickly at a low cost, and make a living based on turnover

It begs the question : Is a cheap bookkeeper is cheap because they themselves do not value their work/worth?

Maybe the cheapest bookkeeper is just "starting a bookkeeping business" and does not feel confident in "charging too much".

Maybe the cheapest bookkeeper is a mother / wife / partner / father of a business owner, who's being doing the bookwork for the family business for a few years and reckons that s/he could start his/her own bookkeeping business. S/he's attracted to the idea of being able to drop the kids off at school, do a few hours bookkeeping, then pick the kids up from school.

Maybe the cheapest bookkeeper has recently left fulltime employment having worked in the accounts department of a large company and reckons that it can't be that hard to run their own bookkeeping business.

Even though they've never had to set up any bookkeeping systems, only done certain aspects of accounting, and always been able to go and ask the financial controller how to do something when there's been a problem.

If you have little regard for your small business, then maybe a cheap bookkeeping service is just right for your business

Why does a cheap bookkeeper cost you money?
The same as a cheap motor mechanic can cost you money, or a cheap carpenter, plumber, builder or lawyer. (Yes, we fell for that, using a cheap lawyer to do our conveyancing - it cost us a lot of money in the long run)

How do you know if your cheap bookkeeper is doing the right thing? There's a checklist that you can use, see another article by the author: "Want to Check up on Your Bookkeeper?"

Do you value your business at all? Is your business just "a job" of which you are the boss and employee at the same time? We've talked about this before, and still we get calls from business owners shopping around for bookkeepers based on price.

How can I explain this: A cheap bookkeeper is cheap because they do not themselves value their work / worth. How would you feel knowing that the bookkeeper that you are contracting does not feel that s/he is competant enough to charge you a rate worthy of a good bookkeeper. How do you think that reflects on your business.

A cheap bookkeeper running the cheapest bookkeeping service may have cut their bookkeeping rates because they cannot find any work.

Have you thought that they cannot find any work because maybe they cannot get any referrals? Or they can pick up contracts and then after a few weeks they have to be let go.

Is the cheapest bookkeeeping service cheap because the bookkeeper has only little experience?
How would you feel to discover that you are paying for the training of your bookkeeper? You’ve made the choice to contract out your bookkeeping services and are being charged for a junior bookkeeper to do your bookkeeping!

Cheap bookkeepers are fantastic for our business.
Why is that? Because we get so many clients coming to us because their cheap bookkeeper has stuffed up the books. The problem with bookwork is that it’s not always possible to see where the mistakes have been made after the event. A simple mistake that might take two minutes, can result in detective work that takes three hours to rectify.

So your cheap bookkeeper has not only cost you their time, and then our time to correct their errors, but how much have you lost through other incorrect allocations.

We’ve had clients choose to take their bookkeeping to other bookkeepers only to come back to us because whilst our fees may have been higher, we actually showed them that they could get a bigger refund from the IRS, or they were not due to pay such a large amount of tax to your Governement's Taxation Office. Contact us for more details

NOt all cheap bookkeepers are lousy bookkeepers
We are not saying that all bookkeepers who do not charge accordingly for their services are cheap bookkeepers. However, you need to consider the true value of your business and ponder about the economics of saving a few dollars on bookkeeping fees. If you have a cheap bookkeeper who is very good, then you need to considering increasing their hourly rates, and see what a difference it will make to your business.

A word of warning: You've been in business long enough to understand that cheapest is rarely bestest, and cheap bookkeepers can end up costing you a lot of money long term.

Related Articles

Sometimes, price is an attitude

Bookkeeping: Are All Clients Liars?

What Sort Of Business Uses A Bookkeeping Bureau?

Why Outsource Bookkeeping?

Bookkeeping Services, Watch the Financial Books of your Business

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Article Tags: accounting, accounts department, bookkeeper, bookkeeping service, bookkeeping systems, bookwork, boss, business owner, carpenter, conveyancing, doing the right thing, dollar stores, family business, financial controller, lawyer, motor mechanic, plumber, regard, starting a bookkeeping business, turnover

About the Author: John Stewart
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Why Are You Wasting Money On Bookkeeping Fees? Download our Free report HERE John Stewart has been helping small business owners keep track of their finances for a number of years. As manager of a bookkeeping business, John understands that smart business owners keep their finger on the pulse of their business - cash. Your accountant normally sees figures that are over twelve months old Bookkeeping should be an essential investment in your business. For more articles about bookkeeping see his website www.Bookkeepingteam.Com.au

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