There are a good number of opinions when it is about choosing between a good and efficient Bookkeeper and doing it all on your own. Bookkeepers not only file your income tax returns but they also maintain your income records. You may employ a tax accountant or tax preparer to arrange your income tax return files but a missing record or incorrect data will end up in erroneous files and massive penalties by the government.

There are various ways to maintain business records. Some people prefer cloud storage services for safekeeping their data. Some people choose in-house bookkeeping services by hiring a bookkeeper to take care of bookkeeping digitally or by making use of conventional methods of organizing paper files.

There are a few basic characteristics that a good bookkeeper possesses. Furthermore, you can closely analyze the performance of a bookkeeper and mold it in accordance to your own business needs. If you are a business owner and you have decided to choose a bookkeeper for handling the financial accounts of your business, the following are the 8 essential characteristics present in a good and efficient bookkeeper:

 Trustworthy and Competent:

Seeing that you are going to hand over all your business record matters to him, it is important for your bookkeeper to be trustworthy and competent. Bookkeepers do not have to hold CPA accreditation but they should have a degree in accounting & finance from a reputed university or institute. The professional competence of a bookkeeper can also be calculated by estimating their passion and interest in bookkeeping. As a ground reality, it is a boring job and people in this field for a few years might start losing interest. A job that is done without interest results in imperfection.

 Good Communicator

Poor communication between the team manager and the bookkeeper may end up in chaos. It is extremely important for a bookkeeper to be a good communicator so that he not only establishes a free flow of information but also becomes a team player. Assessing the communication skills of a person is not that difficult. Apart from language, expression, and tone also closely look at and analyze the body language of that person.

 Computer & Software Expert

Bookkeeping services are shifting from the paper files to a computer-based information system. There is a good number of small business accounting software programs that people use to keep business records. A good bookkeeper is not just an expert in software and computer but also willing to take on the advanced and modern technology. Even if you secure the records in paper libraries, there are pretty good chances to move them to computer-generated bookkeeping programs in the years to come.

 Resourcefulness

Your bookkeeper must be resourceful and should pretty well know the tactics of resolving issues related to finance. A good bookkeeper is one who sees light even in the dark times of its customer. He is a wastebasket of the customer’s issues or headaches and should treat each one of them as a challenge and not a headache. For accounting and taxing concerns, your bookkeeper should on top of the situation to provide you with informative advice. It might not always possess the best answers straight away all the time, but should learn how to obtain the options in a timely fashion. There could be a whole lot of ways to know them and might consume time, but a resourceful bookkeeper could do it the best manner in a timely way. The bookkeeper should be honest enough to admit that he doesn’t have the answer at hand and will get back to you in some time.

 Updated

Reliable and successful bookkeepers keep themselves updated and well-informed. They keep a note about changes in bookkeeping & taxation laws.

 Honest

An honest bookkeeper is one who keeps you well-informed about financial complexities. Since you aren’t as much aware of bookkeeping as they are, bookkeepers must inform you about financial problems, complications and chances to resolve them. Alarm bells should ring if they show you – I can do everything attitude.

 Professionally & Industrially Active

Do is not afraid if your bookkeepers maintain and keep contacts within the industry. Fear might not stop them from leaving your company but it will definitely prevent them from updating their information and knowledge. A professionally and industrially active bookkeeper is one who maintains very good relations with his colleagues and keeps you informed and updated about his work or any upcoming financial issue or crisis.

 Client & Work Focused

There are 2 types of bookkeepers. The first kind is of those who are focused on pleasing the customers irrespective of profits & losses and the second kind is of those who maintain a proper balance between customer and work. If you plan to take your business higher by investing in a good and efficient bookkeeper prefer those bookkeepers who maintain a balance between customer happiness and their work. They should keep suggesting brand new ideas to the customers and mention the possible drawbacks or pitfalls of a decision made by the customer. In other words, if we put it more bluntly, a good bookkeeper is one who is dedicated.

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