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But doing it through an online platform, well, it’s fair to say it feels like an even bigger security risk. Bench’s app is its online platform that you’ll be using to communicate with your bookkeeper and monitor overall accounting progress. Bench is best suited to a small business owner having trouble managing their financial accounts. However, businesses up to enterprise-level can avail of Bench.co’s services on some level.

Your Bench bookkeeper will share a link where you can book time to meet on his or her calendar. This link can also be found in the top right corner of the messaging tab. Bench bookkeepers communicate through email, phone, and via the inbox. We use a rigorous software review process to create our unbiased, in-depth research. I haven’t been audited since I transitioned to Bench and hired a real CPA to file my taxes. This has actually saved me a lot of money in the past due to charges that weren’t approved.

Unlimited customer support

Someone who sees it as an exciting task rather than a burden that pulls you away from your passion project. Katelyn is a Junior Research Analyst at SoftwarePundit, where she conducts in-depth analyses of technology markets & products and writes software-related content. She graduated summa cum laude with degrees in English and Psychology. Her main areas of interest are content creation, user experience, and search engine optimization.

You can also add tax filing and advisory services for $99 per month. If during the process the bookkeeper needs any more information from you, they’ll get in touch with you. https://www.bookstime.com/ Upon enrollment, you’ll be paired with your own dedicated bookkeeper. If you need to contact your bookkeeper, you can book a call or message them directly through the app.

Why Getting a Professional Bookkeeper Was Crucial to Growing My Agency

Bench Accounting is a virtual accounting service provider that offers bookkeeping and tax support for businesses and individuals. Prices range from $299 to $499 per month, depending on whether you need tax services. When you sign up, you’ll be matched with a dedicated bookkeeper who is backed by a team of in-house accountants. Your bookkeeper will categorize transactions, reconcile accounts, and prepare reports on your behalf.

• Bench.co doesn’t go backwards with your books unless you pay extra, so it’s ideal to start using Bench at the start of your tax year.
• Now, I’m here with other online business owners buying, testing, and evaluating the best digital tools, services, and software we can find – for every stage of the business.
• You’ll be pleased to know you won’t have to contact your bookkeeper every time you want a status report of your financials.
• With all systems in place, the monthly process is straightforward and simple.

Bench matches you with your own personal bookkeeper who personally manages all of your bookkeeping needs. And most importantly for us – Remnids your of what you need to do and when. It’s generally the same experience you would get from your friendly local bookkeeper, except all communication is managed online through their software, which includes a real-time chat feature. Bench costs anywhere from $139 to- $299 per month when billed annually. However, it costs $83 more to avail of specialized bookkeeping.

Bench Accounting Features

Also, should you choose to avail of sole prop filing, business filing and business/personal filing you’ll be paying $600-$1,320 extra. The income statement and balance sheet completed by Bench are useful for people struggling through excel files wondering if they’re turning over a profit. These documents clarify whether you’re doing the right things, or need to switch it up and try something new. Once your books are complete, your bookkeeper will update the status of the task on Bench’s platform to acknowledge that fact.

• Furthermore, it guarantees you have tax ready financials in case of an audit.
• With this in mind, you’ll be able to plan better and decide what expenses you can afford.
• There is no one doing it for you, you are doing it yourself.I thought my ‘bookkeeper’ would be doing that for me, nope.
• If your bookkeeper sees a charge that they don’t recognize, you’re provided with a simple widget to make notes about what the purchase was.

If you’re behind on your books for more than two years, Bench offers a special program called BenchRetro. Retro Bookkeeping is for businesses that are two years or more overdue. In these cases, a Bench advisor will prepare you to file back taxes and answer any questions you might have about your options. Pricing for this service is slightly more than the price of the other two bookkeeping services, as shown below. Your company’s pricing tier will be decided based on your company’s operating expenses and capital expenditures. For example, if your company’s average monthly expenses are between $3,000 and $20,000, you’ll likely pay $219 per month.

What is Bench?

However, as a freelancer or a small business that only has a few accounts, Bench may just be the perfect option for your bookkeeping needs. Once you’ve calculated your average monthly expenses, you can look at the plans that Bench offers. https://www.bookstime.com/articles/bench-accounting With Bench you have access to your financial information at any time, no matter where you are. You can see your business’s finances through the Bench app or on your computer, which makes it easy to budget, plan, and make better decisions.

In addition to these penalties, you’ll also be liable for mistake penalties where, for example, you calculated your taxes too low. Here, if you substantially underestimated how much tax you owe or the IRS finds that you were negligent in calculating your taxes, you’ll face a 20 to 40% increase in your taxes owed. The Bench Pulse Dashboard enables you to track every transaction, account, and business trend without going from platform to platform to get the information you want. As you’ve probably realized by now Bench takes the pain out of your bookkeeping and saves you time and money in the process.

Bookkeeper 360

It also doesn’t make sense if you have two or three companies nested together, since you’d have to pay the base rate for each one even if one or two of them have virtually no activity. Before deciding which service is the best fit for your business, there are five things to know about each that may help you decide. Bench.co has come a long way in a short time in the world of small business bookkeeping. They raised a lot of money from investors and built their own bookkeeping platform from the ground up and are now serving thousands upon thousands of small businesses. In the interests of transparency, Bench offers a $150 referral fee.

• If you need to contact your bookkeeper, you can book a call or message them directly through the app.
• BenchTax will take over your entire filing process from start to finish, which should save you a great deal of time and energy.
• Bookkeeper said he didn’t know how to complete my books and I probably have one of the simplest businesses to do books for with literally one bank account.
• A huge part of saving money for business owners is ensuring that you’re paying your taxes correctly.
• I finally I was done with this feeling, and I needed a better organization plan for my books.

The amount of time and effort we have been able to re-direct into other areas of our business thanks to their efficiency and intuitiveness, has made their monthly fee feel like a tremendous value. All in all, we cannot recommend Bench’s services highly enough and strongly advise checking them out for yourself. Each month, your bookkeeper will import all of your business transactions and categorize them, then reconcile your bank accounts and prepare financial statements. If your bookkeeper has any questions about a particular transaction, they’ll send you an in-app message. When your bookkeeping has been completed for the month, you’ll receive a message inviting you to view your financial statements and account information online. This software is unique because rather than offering customers a do-it-yourself option, Bench is a service-only company where their team of bookkeepers will handle your company’s financials.

Bookkeeping Only vs Full Range of Services (Including CPA / Advisory / Payroll)

Here, we’ll look at Bench Bookkeeping that gives you a team of bookkeepers who do all your bookkeeping for you. There are many of these platforms available online that you can choose from with the promise of making your bookkeeping easier. You just enter your transactions in the system and categorize them yourself. The software then separates the transactions into different sections and can automatically generate financial reports for you.