What should a Troy business owner ask a bookkeeper first?
Ask who will do the work. The person who sells you the service isn't always the person who keeps your books, so get a straight answer on who touches your accounts each month and how you reach them when a number looks wrong.
After that, ask what you'll get and when. A good bookkeeper can describe the monthly routine in plain words, without a sales pitch. If the answer stays vague after two tries, that tells you something too. Another firm's guide to the five questions to ask before hiring a bookkeeper gives you a second checklist for testing the answer.
Troy has a busy mix of businesses. Wikipedia's Troy entry describes it as a business center for the automotive and financial sectors, and it's home to Somerset Collection and Oakland Mall. A shop near one of those malls and a two-person consulting firm need different things from a bookkeeper, which is why the state of your own books should drive the conversation.
Which situation are you in right now?
Find the row that sounds like your business. The first question in each row is the one worth asking before anything else.
| Your situation | Start with | First question to ask | A good answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Books are current and you want them kept that way | Monthly bookkeeping | What will I get from you each month? | Reconciled accounts and a set of monthly statements |
| Books are months behind or never matched to the bank | Catch-up and clean-up | Where do you start on old records? | Bank statements first, then each past period matched in turn |
| New to QuickBooks or unhappy with the current setup | QuickBooks setup | How will you set up my chart of accounts? | Accounts that match how your business earns and spends |
| You collect Michigan sales tax on what you sell | Monthly bookkeeping with sales tax tracking | Do you track sales tax as part of the books? | Sales tax totals tied to the sales records each month |
If two rows fit, the catch-up row wins. Monthly work on top of a broken history just carries the old mistakes forward.
What questions should you ask any bookkeeper before hiring?
Take this list into the first call. You don't need to ask them in order, and a good bookkeeper will answer most of them before you get there.
- Ask who will do your books each month and how you contact that person.
- Ask what you'll receive each month and by what date.
- Ask how they reconcile your bank and credit card accounts.
- Ask how they handle bills you owe and invoices customers owe you.
- Ask what they need from you each month, and in what form.
- Ask how they'd deal with a month or a year that's already a mess.
- Ask which version of QuickBooks they work in and whether they can set it up.
- Ask who owns the books and records if you part ways.
- Ask how they hand the year's records to your tax professional.
Who does the work, and can you call them?
This matters more than people expect. When a deposit is missing in March, you want to talk to the person who saw the bank statement, rather than wait for a message to be passed along.
What should land in your inbox each month?
Push for specifics. Reconciled accounts mean every bank and card balance in the books matches the statement. Monthly statements usually means a profit and loss report and a balance sheet. Ask to see a sample with the numbers blanked out, so you know what you're buying.
How do they handle books that are behind?
Most bookkeepers have a set way into a mess, and you should hear it. A sensible answer starts with the bank and card statements, works through old periods one at a time, and fixes the errors it finds along the way. If your records have drifted, our catch-up and clean-up bookkeeping page shows what that work covers.
Who keeps the records, and for how long?
Your records belong to your business, so make sure you can get them back. On timing, the IRS page on how long to keep records says to keep them for three years in the general case, with longer periods in some situations. The IRS recordkeeping page adds that employment tax records should be kept for at least four years.
Have a question about your own books?
Call TrustBooks Bookkeeping in Warren for a free consultation.
What won't a bookkeeper do for you?
A bookkeeper keeps the records. Your tax professional uses them to prepare the return. Some people do both jobs and many don't, so ask plainly which one you're hiring and how the year-end handoff works.
The IRS recordkeeping page also says that, except in a few cases, the law doesn't require any special kind of records, and you can use any system that clearly shows your income and expenses. In our view that means no single program is the only right one. What counts is that the books match the bank and somebody checks them every month.
How does TrustBooks answer these questions?
TrustBooks Bookkeeping is based in Warren, in Macomb County, and Troy is one of the towns we serve. Our bookkeeping page for Troy lists what that covers. Vince Gonzales owns and runs the business, and clients get direct access to their bookkeeper.
Our monthly bookkeeping covers categorizing and recording transactions, reconciling bank and credit card accounts, managing bills and invoices, tracking expenses and sales tax, and monthly financial statements. We also set up QuickBooks Online or Desktop and help with books that need catching up.
Our hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Send a note through the contact page and we'll get back to you within 24 hours.
Talk it through before you hire anyone
Book a free consultation and bring this list of questions.