Answer a few questions about what matters to your business and we’ll recommend the right fit. If you have employees or contractors, try applying the hourly rate of the one whose time costs the most. Equivity is a good choice if you want an administrative assistant that goes beyond bookkeeping.

Make sure you use the same accounting software

Its bookkeeping packages include certified virtual bookkeepers and a dedicated accountant for your business. IgniteSpot is best for small businesses that are looking to grow. QuickBooks Live is an online bookkeeping service that connects small businesses with trusted, QuickBooks-certified virtual bookkeepers. Your bookkeeper takes the lead on your bookkeeping and runs essential reports so you can focus on your business. Every business, from the biggest corporations to pre-revenue startups, benefits from bookkeeping.

QuickBooks Live

In more traditional bookkeeping services, it was more of a process to get reports out. Someone had to be there to run the report, save it in the right format and send it out. In this age of cloud accounting and virtual bookkeeping services, they should be able to have reports sent to you on a schedule.

Unlike most other outsourced bookkeepers on our list, Merritt Bookkeeping doesn’t offer any in-house add-ons for payroll and tax services. If you were hoping for a one-stop shop that can tackle all of your financial needs, Merritt might not be the right choice for you. But there’s more than one virtual accounting company in the world, and solutions range from on-demand CFO services to simple pay-by-the-hour book balancing. Below, we review the best virtual and outsourced accounting services for small-business owners like you. Customize plans to include other services like accounts receivable processing, inventory reconciliation and payroll support. The Bench platform gives you monthly financial statements and expense overviews to keep you in control of your money.

This bookkeeping solution focuses on startups and growth-stage companies. If you invoke the guarantee, QuickBooks will conduct a full n evaluation of the Live bookkeeper’s work. Next, your bookkeeper will take on the monthly management of your books. First, a bookkeeper reviews your chart of accounts and past transactions to bring your books up to date. With QuickBooks Live Expert Full-Service Bookkeeping, a dedicated bookkeeper will get to know your business, bring your past books up to date, and do your book for you, start to finish. Because bookkeeping is going to cost you no matter how you take care of it.

Get your books done right

A bookkeeping service can help you stay organized and on top of your finances. For additional features, these were elements that fell into the “nice-to-have” category that not all software providers offered, either as part of their regular plan or as a paid add-on. Both kinds of features combined to account for 60% of our total score. For pricing, we considered whether a service offers a free trial or a free version of its software as well as the affordability of its lowest and highest price tiers. FinancePal is best for small businesses that need bookkeeping assistance, including catch-up bookkeeping, entity formation and tax filing.

With Live Expert Full-Service Bookkeeping we pair you with a dedicated bookkeeper who will bring your books up to date and then manage your monthly books for you, so you can focus on your business. Or let a tax expert powered by TurboTax do your taxes for you, start to finish. With Live Expert Full-Service Bookkeeping, your dedicated bookkeeper will work with you to get to know your business, bring your past books up to date, and manage your bookkeeping for you, start to finish. Sign up today and we’ll do one prior month of your bookkeeping and prepare a set of financial statements for free.

1. Many of the operations are automated in the software, making it easy to get accurate debits and credits entered.
2. A bookkeeping service can manage your accounting software for you, which takes a lot of administrative work off your to-do list.
3. Billy/Sunrise also got some bad reps for its choices regarding customer loyalty when it was acquired.
4. If a virtual bookkeeper has no website, no online profile, and no social media, that may be a sign they’re inexperienced or unreliable.
5. In contrast, outsourced bookkeeping and accounting nearly always refers to accountants with an accounting firm who handle your books from their own office.
6. You’re limited to one scheduled appointment at a time and appointments have to work within your bookkeeper’s schedule.

Thousands of businesses use QuickBooks Live1

Some companies charge by the number of accounts you need them to manage, while other companies charge based on your company’s accounting explained with brief history and modern job requirements monthly expenses. Typically, the lower your expenses (and the fewer your accounting needs), the less you’ll be charged. Ignite Spot Accounting delivers heftier reports than many other cloud accounting providers we checked out for this piece.