A great bookkeeper has many valuable qualities that will benefit you and your business, but what are the top five qualities to look for in a bookkeeper?
If you’re searching for a bookkeeper in Melbourne to fuel your small business success, you’ll need to consider what qualities are important to you in a tax professional. Here at On The Money Bookkeeping, we pride ourselves on demonstrating what we feel are the top five qualities a business owner needs in a bookkeeper.
The Top 5 Qualities of an Excellent Bookkeeper
- Trustworthiness – this implies honesty, transparency, dependability, reliability, confidentiality and taking responsibility. These are all qualities you want in any accounting professional you engage on behalf of your business.
- Attention to detail and consistency – your bookkeeper must stick to consistent systems and methods within the account-keeping. This way, you’ll know your financial reports are always accurate and coherent.
- Analytical skills and troubleshooting – your bookkeeper needs to spot problems in your financial reports, understand the possible causes, find the issues and fix them. They need to be able to take the initiative and be proactive in keeping financial accounts in good health.
- Good advice – this may sound a bit dull – but the reality is that a business owner relies on the bookkeeper for all sorts of guidance, from tech to payroll to ATO compliance to managing money well. Your bookkeeper should be able to give you useful advice that is relevant to you and your business, not generic solutions or systems that don’t benefit you.
- Open communication – you want to know what your bookkeeper has done for you and what’s coming up. You want to be able to ask questions of them at any time and to have your financial situation explained to you in a way you can understand. Communication is so important to any relationship that involves trust and taking responsibility.
Other Important Attributes
You obviously want your bookkeeper to be efficient and spend time on the most important aspects of the accounts. You need to establish what’s required for compliance and what your business needs from the bookkeeper. The bookkeeper must then find the balance between attending to crucial details, producing relevant reports for the business owner, and completing work on time. You want someone effective and productive in the way they manage their tasks, projects and workflow.
Your bookkeeper isn’t your IT consultant, but nevertheless, they must have good proficiency with the technology related to bookkeeping, accounting and business systems.
Continuous learning in the ever-changing world of business and compliance requirements is essential. Your bookkeeper needs to be connected to industry associations to stay abreast of the changes to laws and regulations and maintain professional development and education.
The ability to organise, prioritise, meet deadlines and look after multiple tasks is part of being an efficient professional.
Talk to Us About Business Keeping
That’s right – business keeping! We offer the next level of integrated and holistic bookkeeping dedicated to helping your business thrive. Bookkeeping needs to support how you choose to do business, and the bookkeeper needs to support you as the business owner, adapting as your business grows and changes.
We’d love to work with you! Talk to us at OTM Bookkeepers Melbourne to discuss how our team of professional bookkeepers can support your small business success.
PS – Check out some of our other articles on related topics to help you refine your search for a great bookkeeper: Why High-Quality Bookkeeping and Accounting are Keys to Business Success; Elevate your Success; and 10 Clues it’s Time to Upgrade your Bookkeeping.
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