How to Start a Virtual Bookkeeping Business

You should get professional liability insurance to protect your business in case of errors or negligence. Professional liability insurance covers you for any damages that may be caused due to a mistake made while doing your job. • Low startup cost – You don’t need to purchase expensive equipment or software, allowing you to invest more money in marketing your business. If you opt for a sole proprietorship or general partnership, there’s no formal paperwork to file to legally create your entity—you just start selling your product or service. However, you will not have any liability protections or tax flexibility. Before you start marketing and branding your business, you’ll need to ensure your name is available.

You could also use online posting sites such as Craig’s List or LinkedIn and share that you are looking for bookkeeping clients. One thing that will help you is creating a niche that you want to become an expert in. Once you get into the network of piano teachers and learn that business really well, and, hopefully, your clients will suggest you to their friends for services. You can definitely build a practice, but you get out what you put into it – and you have to do it strategically.

It particularly depends on your style of client management. So, if you are a new company, you should focus on micro-businesses . The turnover is not that important, it is the number of transactions and the nature of those transactions that matter. A bookkeeper may be able to prepare some of the tax forms required by Income Tax Services. Even though the bookkeepers do not prepare tax returns, having books up-to-date can bring significant savings. Management of financial statements takes more than just calculating numbers, managing books, or keeping books.

A document-sharing program will allow you to share information—such as bank statements, copies of receipts, invoices, and accounting files—with your clients no matter where you’re working. If you don’t want the headache of dealing with payroll, check out our guide on the leading payroll services for small businesses. Getting a unique phone number for your business is incredibly easy and often free. You can get a free Google Voice number that includes a local area code, voicemail, texts, and unlimited calling. You can explore other options in our guide to the top-recommended business phone systems.

How to Start a Bookkeeping Business From Home

You can use a business formation service to help you decide which structure is appropriate for you and file all necessary paperwork with the state. And while certification is useful, it’s not necessary to get started, nor is a college degree in business or accounting. If you can help a business stay on top of their books and ahead of problems, they’re not going to care about the schools you went to.

Starting a virtual bookkeeping business from home has very low startup costs, with the potential to charge an excellent hourly rate depending on your experience. What’s more, you don’t need any experience or a university degree to start an online career as a bookkeeper. Although bookkeepers are often referred to as accountants, there are distinct differences between the two positions.

Your target customers will include small businesses and individuals who don’t need a permanent bookkeeper but require you to maintain their financial records. In just a few steps and without any experience, you can start a virtual bookkeeping business from home today that will provide you with a good income. Bookkeepers.com is currently the best available tool for getting your business off the ground. Their Launch program will walk you through setting up your business and teach you the tools to run it.

She is also the founder of Iconis Group, an Intuit Top 20 Firm of the Future, that supports small businesses all over the United States with their bookkeeping needs. She is a five-time recipient of the prestigious CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 Award, given annually to just 40 people nationwide. I use a ton of others now and have used even a ton more in the past. If you are ever looking for an app to help with your life, you can start by look at Apps.com. This is Intuit’s own website listing apps that integrate with QuickBooks Online and have gone through Intuit’s security testing and approval process.

Ask current clients to refer you

This is a trend that is completely changing how bookkeepers and accountants do business, so you must understand how it works since it will have a direct impact on your business. Whether you create your website yourself or hire a web developer, you’ll likely need to determine what you want on your website. Sometimes when you navigate to a website, you’re faced with a million links to click in the menu bar. Accountants are meant to be qualified individuals who can financially study and forecast the business. Generally, Bookkeepers are not certified with a degree or diploma.

The exact process will vary depending on how you plan on structuring your business and where you’re planning to do business. You’ll want to look up the exact rules for how to register your business with your secretary of state’s office. Choose your business name, make sure someone else isn’t already using it, lest clients get confused. Also, run the name by a few people to see the impression they get of it.

How to Create and Manage your Bookkeeping Workflows

You can develop services that address their specific needs. Each industry has its own financial challenges to focus on. Business plans can be more or less detailed, depending on what future virtual bookkeepers decide to disclose in them. Deciding what to charge your clients is often a difficult process. You will want to do your research before pricing your services, and you will also want to maintain some level of flexibility to adjust your rates in the future.

In the U.S., most small business owners prefer the liability protection and tax benefits an LLC offers. But if you don’t want to incorporate, you could opt for a sole proprietorship – a more straightforward business formation. If you are ready to start a virtual bookkeeping business from home, it’s critical to begin it correctly by creating a business plan. Every company needs to manage their finances, but you may want to narrow down your clientele to a specific audience. For example, do you want to work with big or small businesses? Is there a specific business niche that interests you (e.g. retail, automotive, or manufacturing)?

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In most states, you can file these forms online or download a paper form from the state’s website. Assuming you own a reliable laptop, start up costs will be minimal. However, if you need to purchase a new computer, it will cost a minimum of $1000. If you’re serving a niche industry, consider joining its industry association and connecting both online and in person.

There opens up a massive market of potential customers who need bookkeeping services. Discuss your experience and what you can do to help the business. The challenge, of course, is finding enough clients to earn the type of salary that you need.

Fill guests in on your experience in the industry and they want to work with your company. Clients will prefer to work with an accredited professional bookkeeper– stating your certification and training could be useful. Reference your initial business plan — what type of clientele are you aiming to serve? The key to time management is creating an effortless bookkeeping accounting system. You can gain certifications in bookkeeping itself as well as in the accounting software you plan to use to serve your clients. I think these are some of the most important decisions when you start a virtual bookkeeping business.

Stay Up To Date to Grow Your Business

As long as you have a space to work and a way to keep things organized, full charge bookkeeper good to go. You don’t need to give your bookkeeper a 1099 if their payment is below the minimum reporting threshold which is $600 for most types of transactions. A bookkeeper is generally less expensive than hiring a full-fledged accountant, as their primary responsibilities differ. It sorts out everything in balance sheets and income statements, thus enabling you to make informed business finance decisions. It also helps make things less stressful during tax season. Learn how to setup a US PayPal account as an international founder.

It’s also important to have reasonable expectations of the salary you can expect and what licenses you need to start your business. Consequently, there’s a good deal of job security among virtual bookkeepers, and your salary can be quite high if you know what you’re doing. Think about various ways you can reach out to potential clients or get your business in front of them.

One of the most rewarding parts of building your own business is that whatever you put into it, you will see the outcome and reap the benefits. As you move along in your business plan, you get to decide how much time, energy, and motivation you have to give to your endeavor. Business owners alike know that the more you put in, the more you’ll get out. This step may be the most important aspect of beginning a successful bookkeeping business. As a small business owner, you get to decide how many clients you want to take on, how much money you want to make, and how many hours you want to work during the day.

How to Start a Virtual Bookkeeping Business in 5 Simple Steps

Here are a few tips to “stay in the loop” on what’s going on in the bookkeeping/accounting industry. Also, don’t forget to take those home office tax deductions. You can deduct repairs and maintenance to the area used for business and a portion of utilities, real estate taxes, and insurance on your home.

You likely will only need to make small adjustments in your reporting. Plus, both sets of regulations have started to converge in recent years. Don’t wait until the last minute to add a new team member. If you suspect you’re getting close to expanding, start looking!

• Working with an online bookkeeping company will take all of this stress away.
• You may not require a degree to become a bookkeeper, but having some required skills and experience will be beneficial.
• Since you are starting a bookkeeping business, I’m sure that you have already given some thought on which accounting software to use for your business.

Start with two or three affordable strategies and work your way up to more expensive ones. Track your results from each carefully, so you know what’s working and what isn’t. This is a situation where it might be worth paying an attorney for legal advice and to help draw up the paperwork needed to register as an LLC if you decide to go that route. Errors and omissions insurance is a good investment regardless, but it’s especially important if you choose to work as a sole proprietor. The two best-known certifications are the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers and the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers .