What Is Full Charge Bookkeeping?

Tracking revenue and expenses and preparing for tax time is a necessary business practice that every enterprise needs to maintain. Believe it or not, there are over 32 million established businesses in the US (one for every 10 people), all of which have to file taxes each year.

Fortunately, there are bookkeepers out there to help. However, you can’t just hire any bookkeeper to manage your ledger year-round. Here’s what you need to know about full-charge bookkeeping services and how they can help your business!

What Is Full-Charge Bookkeeping?

A traditional bookkeeper, well, “keeps the books.” They organize and maintain your company’s financial records to make them easier to access and review for tax time, financial statements, and more. However, their job is quite limited in this respect.

Conversely, a full-charge bookkeeper manages all of a company’s accounting needs, including the roles of a traditional bookkeeper. They then go on to help provide financial insights, analyses, and recommendations based on your finances.

On top of the typical task of maintaining the business ledger, full-charge bookkeepers offer other services. While it depends on your needs, common examples include:

• Preparing financial statements
• Preparing tax returns
• Recording complex transactions
• Processing payroll and time sheets

Again, they may offer other services depending on your needs. These are just the most common examples.

Does Your Business Need Full-Charge Bookkeeping?

Choosing between a traditional bookkeeper and a full-charge bookkeeper poses a challenge for many organizations. As you would expect, full-charge bookkeepers typically charge more.

Even so, the product that they offer is more valuable. This is especially true for certain businesses.

For example, small businesses looking to scale will need all of the financial services they can get. This is true even if (or especially if) they have a tight budget.

Also, the role of traditional bookkeepers has changed. In today’s world, everything is electronic. This makes it a lot easier for companies to record and maintain their ledgers.

Consequently, many businesses no longer need traditional bookkeepers. Unless they have a cash-intensive business, then they may need more thorough accounting services to make it worth it. Let’s talk about why it is worth it.

Benefits of Hiring a Full-Charge Bookkeeper

You may still be unsure whether your business needs a full-charge bookkeeper. Here are some of the key benefits of hiring one today!

Tax Assistance

While full-charge bookkeepers are not CPAs, they can help you prepare your tax returns. Whether you pay monthly, quarterly, or annually, a full-charge bookkeeper can lighten the load.

Moreover, they will have prepared your financial statements and records for tax time throughout the year. When tax time comes around, they can handle the preparation and filing. All you’ll have to do is review and sign!

Payroll Services

Most full-charge bookkeepers offer payroll services. Writing out a couple of checks and signing them is no big deal when you only have a few employees. However, as your business grows, payroll quickly becomes overwhelming.

With the right services, you can quickly set up a comprehensive payroll system to manage your employee and contractor-related expenses. The right services will also help issue W2s and 1099s to make it easier at tax time.

Preparing Financial Statements

The right bookkeeping services can also help you prepare financial statements for investors, government agencies, or internal use. This can help you make sound business decisions, comply with the law, and offer detailed reports to shareholders.

Expertise

Bookkeepers are very useful in any business. However, traditional bookkeepers don’t offer the same level of expertise as full-charge bookkeepers. With a full-charge bookkeeper, you’re essentially hiring an accountant at a discounted rate.

With the right bookkeeping services, you can have access to financial insight and expertise at any time. This can prove invaluable when you need to make important business decisions.

How to Find a Full-Charge Bookkeeper

Now that you know the key benefits of hiring a full-charge bookkeeper, let’s put their skills to use. You have three options for choosing a bookkeeper. You can hire a new employee, a contractor, or an agency.

An employee may cost the least per hour. However, while their salaries are lower, you still have to cover benefits and liability costs. For a full-time bookkeeper, this can add up.

A freelancer will almost certainly charge more per hour than an employee. You should expect to pay anywhere from $25 to $50 an hour, and even up to $100 per hour for a full-charge bookkeeper. For context, the average rate is $37 for a traditional bookkeeper.

Conversely, hiring a bookkeeping agency is a great way to save money without sacrificing quality. This is because you’ll have a full team of professional bookkeepers with various backgrounds and you will share the expenses with their other clients.

Moreover, this offers the ability to contact the agency whenever you have questions or need additional services, updates, or anything else. In most cases, a professional bookkeeping agency can manage your entire financial services for the lowest prices and with the highest efficiency.

Choose the Right Bookkeeping Services Today

Now that you know what a full-charge bookkeeping service offers, find one for your enterprise today. Full-charge bookkeepers can do so much more than any bookkeeping app or software, which can prove invaluable to your organization. Financial management is nobody’s favorite topic, so find the right help and lighten the load today!

Stay up to date with our latest tips for your business, and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or for help with your bookkeeping needs!