Your Guide to Starting a Bookkeeping Business

This free, online tool helps small business owners navigate the process of picking the right business structure for their new business. Hence, ensure that you put in your best whenever you have the opportunity to handle every of your clients accounts. Look for a company that offers office space for rent as needed instead of a traditional lease. Ask friends who are business owners if they have extra space for rent, and if that fails, look at traditional office space. Also, you need to summarize the financial situation of your practice. As a professional bookkeeper, you are a part of external management for your clients; however, as a business owner, you need to have external management as mentioned above.

While you don’t actually need experience to be a bookkeeper, you should definitely do some training courses and learn how to use accounting software. There are certain liability insurances that are important for bookkeepers to get, in case you make a mistake on your client’s books. Bookkeeper insurance typically starts with professional liability insurance and can cost between $500 to $1,000 a year. Be sure to check for any state, county, and federal business insurance requirements.

Develop Strategies to Boost Brand Awareness and Create a Corporate Identity

They will also often help businesses produce crucial financial statements such as the profit and loss statement and balance sheet. Think about using a password-saving program like LastPass or Keeper to keep clients’ passwords safe and secure and keep yourself organized. This is just protecting you in case something goes wrong with one of your clients, and they want to sue you for a mistake. The chances of that happening are probably slim, but it’s best to be protected in the case that it does.

• Do not start to take up any assignment before you complete the legal process.
• You should not start a bookkeeping services firm without first completing market research because doing so is essential to the business’s success.
• You can get certified in each of these programs, which can not only help you become a power user but can also help you market yourself as an expert.
• There is a better way to start your successful bookkeeping and tax practice than purchasing a franchise.
• There are major differences between the three types of bookkeepers and what each can offer your business.

I recommend using QuickBooks Online Accountant, which is free for you as a bookkeeper. When you start taking on clients, either you or your client will need to pay the monthly fee for QuickBooks Online. If you are trying to start your bookkeeping business for as cheap as possible, you can definitely pass that subscription fee onto your client.

Design your service menu

Local colleges may offer bookkeeping courses, and there are plenty of options online. LinkedIn offers online courses and access to expert-led tutorials for $19.99/month-following a 14-day free trial. Simply put, a bookkeeping business maintains the daily finances of its clients’ companies.

• The AIPB and the NACPB are the top two associations for bookkeepers.
• As a virtual bookkeeping firm, you’ll need to determine a reasonable rate for your clients, even if they’re located in other areas.
• Once you have your finalists, run the names through your secretary of state’s business name database to make sure it’s available.
• If your clients will be sending you things such as receipts or statements, you might want to consider the tool that you’ll use to share files.
• Is there a specific business niche that interests you (e.g. retail, automotive, or manufacturing)?

However, like any other business, there are startup costs involved in getting your business off the ground. In this article, we will discuss how much it costs to start a bookkeeping business, as well as ways to save on these costs from the beginning. You can accept payments for your bookkeeping business via physical checks or online. You can set up a Pay Virtual Terminal, send Pay Links, or request payments with Pay Checkout.

Legally Form Your Bookkeeping Business

You can get certified by a reputable organization, like AIPB or NACPB, or take courses through your local community college. You’ll also spend much of your time using it, so it should be software https://www.bookstime.com/articles/is-unearned-revenue-a-current-liability that you like. The right software for your business will depend on what services you offer. Quickbooks, FreshBooks, and Xero are popular among bookkeeping and accounting businesses.

Now let’s look at some common marketing channels you can use to promote your business. Your bookkeeping business will be up, running, and raking in the big bucks. There are several necessary insurance policies for bookkeepers. Each of them ensures that you are protected from various issues that may arise during your time in business.

Create a Business Plan

Communications with Easy Doc Filing, LLC are not protected by attorney-client privilege in any way. Any individual who needs legal assistance must contact an attorney or law firm licensed in his or her jurisdiction. First and foremost is that you’re self employed, so you set your own hours and can work from home.

• Networking could mean physically going to conferences and joining relevant Meetups, or it could mean meeting people through social media.
• However, I’m sure you really want to know how much you can make when doing this sort of work.
• Think about what you and your client need out of a pricing structure.
• Also, consider a filing cabinet, desk, and great chair for your dedicated workspace.
• The best niches to consider are those that have unique bookkeeping challenges.
• A virtual bookkeeping firm can’t rely on signs outside an office building to advertise itself.

For a bookkeeping business, you may also want to include information regarding your niche and any certifications that you have as well. Professional associations also offer certifications so that you can hone your skills and market yourself as a professional bookkeeper. For instance, both the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB) and the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers (NACPB) offer certification programs. One of my really how to start a bookkeeping business old videos showed exactly how many dollars I spent when I started my bookkeeping business and my grand total was $419. I bought the QuickBooks Desktop version and also took a QuickBooks class at my local community college for $150, which you probably don’t need anymore if you use QuickBooks Online. Professional liability insurance, commercial general liability insurance, and cyber liability insurance will all help to protect a bookkeeping business.