[Question] Bookkeeping Duties

[CustomVA]

I have seen some post here where VAs are offering "light bookkeeping" as a service. I myself have considered this based on what I believe "light bookkeeping" to consist of.

I am proficient in QB with inputting vendor/customer information, accounts payable and accounts receivable, banking, running reports, and other non-accountant duties. I am confident in my ability to adapt to new task in QB that do not require accountant skills and knowledge.

I did all the QB bookkeeping for a construction company for about 5 years and would hand over the file to an outside accountant/bookkeeper to do all of the general ledger, year end tax, end of the year reporting.

Is this what is considered "light"?

Thank you.

[kdlents63]

Hi Anita,

I do all the same things you mentioned in bookkeeping for a client with 2 companies and my accountant calls it "basic" bookkeeping. She explained that when you include payroll and taxes it is considered more advanced bookkeeping.
I hope that helps, I would consider "light" and "basic" the same in this instance.

[CustomVA]

Thank you for the response, I think I like the use of "basic" instead "light" better. I was a little concerned about offering this service because of the "limited" scope, but I get the impression that it is something that a lot of small businesses need.

I will definitely add it to my list of services.

[Malaika]

Anita,
Thanks for posting this question as I was contemplating this service as well. I am currently working for a mobile communications company where I do the payables and receivables in QB. It is very basic though, I can set up vendors/customers, run reports, enter bills, receive payments, print cheques etc., but I don't do the bank reconciliations and general ledges and all that other stuff. But QB is so easy to work around that I know I can learn it if I had to. When I started this job I had never worked with QB and I was shocked to see how easy it was and how quickly you can learn to use it.
I guess I will consider adding it to my services as well.

[kdlents63]

Malaika and Anita,

I am so glad you posted this question also, as I am reading Malaika's response it made me think about all that I do. I can do all the things you mentioned plus I do all 5 bank account reconciliations. I know I could do payroll since I went through a QuickBooks training class and passed the Intuit QuickBooks Certified User Exam but my clients have a payroll company so I don't do that. I just advertise as "Virtual Bookkeeper", I don't add the word "basic". At least not yet - LOL!

Thanks,
Kate

[bbSquire]

I offer Basic and Full-cycle. Payroll and taxes on the side only if they have full.

Basic bookkeeping (as defined by my course books(Accounting Principles)) includes everything up to and including trial balance. So, entering transactions and account reconciliation. And at end of year any adjustments their Accountant says to make.

Full-cycle is everything up to and including Financial Statements. So, basic stuff, Amort schedules and adjustments. Cash flow, income, balance and any other statements or reports they would like.

Payroll is always an option because they may not have any employees (if they're sole-proprietor) or may have a payroll service that does all that.

Taxes can be done for any company (they don't have to have you do the bookkeeping) providing they can supply copies of Income, Balance, Equity and Amortization statements.

This is from a Canadian Certified Bookkeeping course so I'm not sure if this differs from what American courses teach.

If they have an accountant you usually only have to do the data entry stuff because the accountant is responsible for statements and amort schedules.


Kim.

[CustomVA]

Hi Maliaka and Kate, I'm glad my question helped clarify things for you. I am pretty comfortable with QB as well and am also a Certified QB User (2007), I just wanted to be sure that I didn't falsely advertise a service that I couldn't completely provide. That is my concern in advertising as a "Virtual Bookkeeper", I don't want to mislead PCs into believing that I am a full-charge bookkeeping service. For now I think I will stick with the use of "Basic Bookkeeping" in my list of services offered.

Kim, thank you for the clarification. I know how to reconcile and run reports in QB, but amortization schedules, adjustments, payroll, etc., these are areas I am not comfortable doing; however, I'd definitely like to learn. I know with the right training and education I can eventually grow to offer more extensive bookkeeping services. I am considering the AIPB coursework to expand my knowledge.

Thanks.

[Malaika]

Anita, this is the same reason I didn't think much about providing it as a service. Because I know my knowledge in QB is very limited and if I offer it and the client wants something that I'm not comfortable doing, it would be very unprofessional on my part. I am just starting to launch my business so I think I'm going to hold off in offering the service right now.

[hazel]

Hi all,
I too have basic knowledge of bookkeeping but was not sure wether to offer this service since Ithought it would be too little but I guess it all depends with the client needs and wether or not they can afford an outside accountant
thanks
hazel

[MsMnVA]

I just got my 1st VA Bookkeeping project and need to get QB-Accountant's edition. I also would like to update my QB's certification. Any suggestions on how to go about purchasing these items?