You’ve been doing your own bookkeeping for a while. You know your chart of accounts. Which expenses belong where? You know them, too. That, and which transactions always need a second, a third look.
Yet you find yourself scrolling through pages about how to outsource bookkeeping in the US. Because you know you’re no longer able to keep the wheels turning and stay out of the weeds week after week. After week.
You’re already seeing the tangles, where you’re able to categorize transactions in that one or two hours you have after a day’s work as the owner or manager. All else, like reconciliations and financial reports, is pushed to the far end of the yard.
Then your CPA asks for them. Then you scramble to pull them up and organize them right at that moment.
But can you really outsource bookkeeping? Safely?
Is it safe to outsource bookkeeping?
Capterra’s 2023 Accounting Shortage Survey found that 71% of businesses outsource at least some finance and accounting work. 65% use full-service support. The data shows that outsourcing bookkeeping is not only safe, but is a secure and widely accepted practice across industries in the U.S.
This question’s probably nagging at the back of your head: How do you do it, bring in a remote bookkeeper without giving them control over your account?
Why Are You Still Doing Your Own Books?
There’s usually one person who knows the books best. The owner. You know why a particular expense has always been categorized a certain way. Which customer payments tend to come through late, and what that recurring charge is.
Bank statement not making sense? You still understand the inner workings of your books and business.
That’s why.
Then the rest of the business becomes road bumps to your bookkeeping anyway, not to business growth. Meetings and client work are now the majority blah of your day, so bookkeeping happens during your break. Even right before you head to bed.
Bookkeeping happens between meetings, after client work, or at the end of a long day. A few transactions get categorized. One account gets reconciled. The rest waits.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual wage for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks at $49,210, based on May 2024 data.
You may not need to hire someone full-time to handle your books. But the work itself is still a job, with hours attached to it. If you’re doing those hours yourself every week, they are coming out of the time you could be spending elsewhere in the business.
Is It Actually Safe to Hand Someone Your QuickBooks?
Yes. First things first, though, separate your QuickBooks access from your bank login.
Never give a bookkeeper, local or remote, your online banking username and password simply because they are handling your books. You never need to, nor ever have to.
How to Give Your Bookkeeper Access
QuickBooks Online lets you invite an accountant or accounting firm to your company file through their own Intuit account. You manage the users invited or connected to the account, and you can also remove access when someone no longer works with you, or when roles change in your accounting team.
Doing so lets your bookkeeper work within your books without picking at your personal QuickBooks credentials.
You keep your own administrator access.
They get their own user access.
You can control what kind of access they receive. And if the arrangement ends, you remove their access.
How to safely share bank transactions with a bookkeeper?
QuickBooks skips over the hurdle for you by pulling transactions from your connected bank and credit card accounts. At the moment, Intuit’s instructions say that the client has to connect the bank account themselves, and that’s your layer of protection.
Bookkeepers cannot connect bank accounts on your behalf. You make that connection between account and accountant, and your bookkeeper works with transactions that appear in QuickBooks.
Your bank password stays with you.
A gentle warning: If a prospective bookkeeper asks you to send your online banking credentials so they can connect the account, ask them why. Though you should already, by now, know you shouldn’t give those credentials away.
Two Simple Security Settings
Multi-factor authentication: Add another verification step to the accounts being used to access your financial records.
Audit log: QuickBooks Online keeps a record of changes made in the account, including the user responsible and details of the activity. That gives you somewhere to look if a transaction or setting has been changed.
You should also keep your own access to the account and know how to retrieve your financial records.
Compliance and Safeguards
The FTC Safeguards Rule is relevant to certain financial institutions, like some businesses that handle financial information. Businesses under its reach are expected to maintain an information security program, which includes requirements concerning service providers that handle customer information.
(This doesn’t apply to every small business that hires a bookkeeper.)
If your business is covered, ask the provider how it handles customer information and access controls. If not, still ask.
What Does a Remote Bookkeeper Handle?
Once you know how access will work, next up are the tasks you’re paying someone to do. For a small business, regular bookkeeping can include:
A bookkeeper can also keep an eye on accounts receivable and accounts payable, if this is part of the role’s scope.
Bills to approve and which ones, expenses that require questioning, cash flow, and sales moving where they’re supposed to; these are yours and require only your decisions.
What Stays With Your CPA
Your CPA handles tax preparation and tax advice, along with other accounting work that requires their professional expertise. The bookkeeper keeps the records current. By that logic, it follows that one cannot replace the other, as they have different responsibilities.
Instead of giving your CPA a pile of transactions that still need to be sorted, you can give them books that have already been maintained throughout the year.
What QuickBooks ProAdvisor Certification Actually Tells You
QuickBooks has its ProAdvisor Academy, where accounting professionals can take QuickBooks training and certification exams. Intuit currently offers certifications for QuickBooks Online, among other products and programs.
So yes, ask whether a prospective bookkeeper is certified.
Then keep asking questions. Try:
“Walk me through how you would handle a bank reconciliation that doesn’t balance.”
“What would you check before making an adjustment?”
“Have you worked with both cash and accrual accounting?”
“Have you cleaned up books that were several months behind?”
A certification can be part of the screening process, but the above questions are part of the screening process, too. Answers will tell you about how the person works, and if their work experience matches the job description you’re putting out.
Related Read: Here’s a take on how to Navigate Your Numbers for Bookkeeping Business.
What This Actually Costs: Local Hire vs. Freelancer vs. Dedicated Remote Bookkeeper
The BLS median wage for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks was $49,210 a year in May 2024. People in the lowest-paid 10% earned less than $34,600. At the other end, the highest-paid 10% earned more than $72,660.
However, these numbers aren’t the complete cost of employing one, especially locally.
Upwork’s current figures are based on freelancers on its platform and are therefore better treated as marketplace pricing rather than a measure of the entire US bookkeeping market.
Where Each Pricing Model Can Get Complicated
In house: The salary is only the beginning. You have payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, software, recruitment, and the time required to get a new employee familiar with your business.
Freelancer: You can hire for the amount of work you have. For a cleanup project or a smaller bookkeeping workload, that can be useful. The person may also be working with several other clients, so you need to ask about availability and what happens if they become unavailable.
Dedicated remote bookkeeper: You have one person regularly working on your books rather than hiring for individual tasks as they come up. The arrangement can be full time, part time or project based, depending on what the business needs.
The price comparison is easier once you know how much work there actually is.
What To Do When You Hire a Bookkeeper: Access, Onboarding, and the First 30 Days
Spend a little time figuring out what condition your books are in, before handing them over to your new bookkeeper.
1. Look at what you have
How many bank accounts? How many credit cards? Transactions each month? Are there months that have not been reconciled? Is the chart of accounts still organized the way the business operates?
If catch-up work is needed before maintenance, say so. And mention how many months behind.
2. Set up the account properly
Create the bookkeeper’s QuickBooks access using their own email address.
Keep your administrator access, and turn on multi-factor authentication. Then, connect the bank accounts yourself. Intuit’s current guidance puts that step with you, the client.
Be sure to keep your online banking credentials out of the arrangement.
3. Give them a month to work through
Instead of asking someone whether they are “good with QuickBooks,” give them something real to work on, like a bank reconciliation. That way, you can watch what they check first, and ask why they make particular decisions.
You’re looking at their bookkeeping judgment as much as their ability to use the software.
4. Set a reporting date
Pick the date when you want the monthly books ready. Whatever works for your business. Your bookkeeper should know when the month is considered finished, and you should know when the reports will be ready for review.
Related Read: Here’s everything you need to know about Online Bookkeeping Services.
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Have questions? Drop our team a line anytime.
Where Remote Staff Fits In
If you want a dedicated remote bookkeeper rather than someone taking individual bookkeeping jobs from several clients, Remote Staff is one option to consider.
Remote Staff has placed bookkeeping and accounting professionals with US businesses for years, with candidates screened for actual experience with the work and platforms businesses use.
The arrangement can be full time, part time or project based, depending on what you need handled.
For a business that wants one person becoming familiar with its accounts, vendors, transaction patterns, and monthly reporting, that can be a different experience from finding a new freelancer every time the books need attention.
FAQs
Is it safe to give a remote bookkeeper access to my QuickBooks?
QuickBooks Online lets you give accountants and other users their own access rather than sharing your own login. You retain your administrator access and can remove users later. In doing so, choosing remote bookkeeping is safe. Your online banking password should remain with you. Intuit’s current guidance says the client connects the bank or credit card account themselves before the transactions are brought into QuickBooks.
Should I hire a freelancer or a full time dedicated bookkeeper?
Look at the workload first. A freelancer can work well for a smaller number of hours, a cleanup project, or bookkeeping that does not require regular attention. A dedicated bookkeeper is more suitable when someone needs to be working on the books consistently throughout the month.
What’s the difference between QuickBooks setup and ongoing bookkeeping maintenance?
Setup is basically getting the account ready, from reviewing the chart of accounts to setting up user access. Ongoing bookkeeping happens after, so that transactions are categorized. Accounts are reconciled, invoices and bills are recorded, along with financial reports. If the books are already behind, ask for the cleanup to be scoped separately.
How many hours a week does a small business actually need?
There is no single number. Transaction volume is one of the biggest factors. So are the number of bank and credit card accounts, payroll, inventory, sales tax requirements, and the type of business. A company with a few dozen transactions each month is a very different bookkeeping job from a company processing hundreds of transactions across several accounts. Start with the actual workload rather than choosing an arbitrary number of hours.
Can a remote bookkeeper handle catch up or cleanup work?
Yes. Cleanup can be handled as a separate project before regular monthly bookkeeping begins. If your books are several months behind, have the bookkeeper review the accounts first. They can then tell you how many months need work, which accounts need reconciliation, and whether there are existing errors that need to be corrected.
Safety, Location, and Who Really Has Access
Safety isn’t directly linked to location when it comes to bookkeeping. The word you’re after is “access.”
Who can get into the account? What can they change? Can you see the activity? Can you still get to your records if the relationship ends?
QuickBooks gives you ways to separate your bookkeeper’s access from your own and keep your online banking credentials to yourself.
You can hand over the bookkeeping without handing over the keys to your bank account.
If you’re looking for a dedicated remote bookkeeper, call Remote Staff or Request a Callback.
Vaune Everis Cura has always been a writer in the truest sense, drawn to the art both as a personal creative pursuit and as a profession. Her experience penning content across digital marketing spaces and collaborating with business owners and market shapers has broadened her craft to include strategic direction and SEO insight. Having spent years with the InterContinental Hotels Group before stepping boldly into freelancing, she understands that at the centre of it all are genuine, meaningful brand–customer relationships built on purposeful, human content.
