How to Start a Thriving Virtual Accounting Firm

Merritt Bookkeeping automates some of the most time-consuming bookkeeping tasks — for instance, reconciling accounts, balancing books, and updating financial reports — so you can focus on running your business. It also starts at $190 a month, which is less than nearly every other provider on our list. A cloud-based solution that makes it easy for accounting firms to manage client work, collaborate with staff, and hit their deadlines. The stars may never align to show you it’s time to go virtual. Nobody was ready until COVID-19 came, and suddenly, progressive accounting firms made the switch overnight.

• Ideally, you want a working environment that is free of distractions, and that lets you concentrate and be able to speak to your clients over the phone or an online video call.
• Think about your current clients and team members too and what you like and dislike about working with them.
• For just $129 a month, clients receive a dedicated accountant and a detailed monthly reports.

Here are 5 of the main benefits that we think they bring to an organization. Because going paperless is arguably the most time consuming part of switching to a virtual accounting firm, your system for digitizing documents should be planned out beforehand. The second tip for managing your virtual firm, related to using cloud-based software, is going paperless. Store and manage all of your files, documents, and records in the cloud for easy access.

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Once your account is set up, you have secure access to your assigned accountant via messaging, phone, email, or chat. You also can add bookkeeping, priority support, and financial reports with the Enterprise plan for $375. Want to learn more about bookkeeping before you sign up for a virtual provider? Our article on business bookkeeping basics gives you more information on how to do bookkeeping and why. “I’ve found working remotely emphasizes more respect for people’s time and, without the functional side of communication, it’s really hard to replicate and delegate processes as you grow,” Davis added. Once the pandemic ends, 81% of firms expected an increase or a significant increase in remote working among their employees, the survey said.

• You have to enter more information about your needs to get a quote—which is useful if you want truly customized services but unhelpful if you’d rather choose a basic plan out of a lineup.
• Your “remote working office” can be your backyard or a table in your favorite café.
• This is why it’s important to learn and train others on the importance of cyber security.
• We also provide back office support and tax services in conjunction with these higher level advisory services.
• If you already work with an accountant or CPA, chances are good they prefer to work with QuickBooks rather than with proprietary software like Bench.
• A third software to consider looking into is video chat software.

With the help of specific software, such as video conferencing and cloud accounting software, virtual accountants can serve their clients from anywhere and from any device. It means that your virtual bookkeeping service has missed the biggest boat of all when it comes to being a “cloud-based” bookkeeping service. They must offer flat rate pricing — a monthly fee in exchange for a well-defined set of deliverables. At my company, one of the specific things we teach accountants and bookkeepers who want to run a virtual bookkeeping service is that they should specialize in a few industries. This is true of any bookkeeper — in person or virtual — that you would hire.

You might benefit from Bookkeeper360’s hourly bookkeeping service. Expect that noises — children, dogs, or the weed-whacking gardener — can occur when you’re working remotely, but be truthful about other things that could impact a video or phone chat. “If I had bad Wi-Fi, I will tell [clients] what I’m doing and not try to hide it, and normally it creates a more positive spin on the conversation,” Davis said. “Embrace technology and learn how to be effective,” Bhargava said. When the pandemic started, he watched YouTube videos about lighting and setting up a professional home studio and soon after upped his video quality, which helped his business tremendously. Eight years later, LiveCA is thriving, employing about 80 people, and handling both Canadian and American clients.

Hire the Right People (Plus, Make Work Engaging and Collaborative for Them)

While inDinero’s base plan may be a little pricier than other firms, its all-in-one accounting services still will save fledgling businesses time and money. It also comes with a mobile app and a dedicated account manager. The Essential plan is designed for startups and smaller businesses that use cash basis accounting.

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If necessary, you can change permission settings so that not everyone has access to the same information. Since what is carrying value in accounting operate online, it really doesn’t matter where you’re working from. Your “remote working office” can be your backyard or a table in your favorite café. In fact, I will likely never meet most of my clients in person. Online accounting firms use sophisticated data-encryption and communications technology to link clients to their services via an online platform. Source documents and data can be uploaded to cloud storage where they can be accessed from any remote location.

If your prospective virtual bookkeeping service understands the value of adding to the conversation, then it is a good sign that they will be genuinely helpful to your business. We are virtual CPAs offering outsourced CFO and Controller services for service-based businesses. We also provide back office support and tax services in conjunction with these higher level advisory services.

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➔ Workflow Filters to find information by client, assignee, and work type. ➔ Recurrences to automatically recreate client work that your firm performs with any sense of regularity. The same thing applies to all other business functions at your firm.

Make sure you use the same accounting software

As you’ll find with some of the firms in this review, billing methods can vary beyond a monthly fee, such as an hourly, pay-for-performance fee, or rates based on the number of monthly transactions. In all cases, it’s important to crunch the numbers to see what rate or form of billing makes sense for your business. If you already are using an accounting or bookkeeping software program, it would be ideal to work with a firm that utilizes the same software. If you don’t already use a software program, the accounting firm will recommend a package. If your budget is a concern, you can consider low-cost options, such as 1-800Accountant or Bench Accounting.

What is a virtual accountant?

They have been a true partner and source of guidance in our business decisions and financial planning and we highly recommend it. Some firm owners believe you can hire for character and train for skills. Others believe you should hire for skills and find ways to manage character defects.

In traditional accounting, employees have to be at the office to access work files and programs. If they need to work late hours, they will spend that time in the office—alone and away from their loved ones. This reduces their concentration, work quality, and work-life balance.