Tips for Hiring the Right Bookkeeper in Toronto

The Covid-19 pandemic has amplified the need for highly skilled bookkeepers who can help companies maintain pace with the critical process of bookkeeping during this challenging period.

A bookkeeper in Toronto can be one of the most important hires your company ever makes. A talented bookkeeper can balance you on straight and narrow and a bad one can take you off the rails.

You need to know your business needs before you can go looking for a bookkeeper. Once you know your requirements you can begin searching for a bookkeeper who will be an ideal fit for your business.

To narrow down your choices following are some tips for selecting a talented bookkeeper or a dependable bookkeeping and accounting agency in Toronto or anywhere else. The one who can support your business during this rough patch and beyond.

1) Education and Training

At a minimum, your candidate should be educated and trained and have a high degree of business acumen. It is vital to hire someone who possesses up-to-date knowledge and skills. Proof of this professionalism and industry-standard capabilities can be assured through certifications from the Institute of Professional Bookkeepers of Canada (IPBC) or any qualified university or college program across Canada.

Remember, some bookkeepers are specialists while others are more generalists. When hiring, you need to determine the specific requirements of your business to ensure that whoever you hire can manage the workload. If there are more challenging aspects to your bookkeeping, you will desire a more specialized bookkeeper on your payroll.

Education will ensure that the bookkeeper understands the foundational aspects of bookkeeping, but the training aspect determines how up-to-date the bookkeeper is with the latest technology and how well he keeps himself abreast with the changes to accounting rules and procedures that directly impact his role. Remember a good bookkeeper processes transactions accurately, but a talented bookkeeper can go back and review his own work to identify and rectify the errors.

2) Experience

The right bookkeeper is someone who has sufficient knowledge and experience in bookkeeping and he is a little bit of accountant himself for an organization of similar size and complexity as yours, so he/she can digest your information and transactions accurately. An experienced bookkeeper has the ability to give useful advice on how to improve your operations and make your business successful. He should have experience with your industry and understand its unique bookkeeping requirements. So, depending on your business style, this is another thing you have to keep in mind. It never hurts to dig into the bookkeeper’s expertise and work experience to find out where his/her strengths and weaknesses lie.

3) Aptitude for Technology

Cloud is totally altering the bookkeeping and accounting sector. So, there is a need for a bookkeeper who adopts the geared-up changes in technology. Finance-related intelligence is essential which can be practiced only by the bookkeeper with the mindset of learning continuously for applying the best practices in bookkeeping.

4) Attention to Detail

A skillful bookkeeper does not let things fall through the cracks and follows up on every single line item. The bookkeeper you hire has to be a hawk – he/she must be obsessed over every single financial line item, must fuss about being able to account for everything accurately. Must possess the ability to identify errors and balance accounts on the fly. The bookkeeper must be competent enough to generate timely and correct financial reports that are transparent and concise.

5) Credit and Cash Flow Management Experience

Cash Flow management is critical, now more than ever, to the survival of Canadian businesses. The unexpected economic disruption and downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic have hit the business world hard, particularly small, and medium-sized businesses which are the heart of the Canadian economy. Hence an expert bookkeeper is required to spend a lot of time helping clients to develop cash flow strategies, projections, and forecasts. 

A good keeper 

• Is proactive to take advantage of subsidies, insurance, and tax credits.
• Track and try to reduce expenses to keep the cash flow in a positive direction.
• Manage debt and credit as best as possible, especially during periods when cash flow is low.
• Keep up with billings and payments.
• Secure additional financing.

  6) Tax Preparation and Planning.

Running a business in Canada can mean that there is a lot of red tape to manage. There are so many government requirements to keep up with. An expert bookkeeper in Toronto will be able to help you manage all of these requirements. Like the laws, tax deadlines are quite strict as well. Doing the books is usually never the priority for many small businesses, so deadlines can slip under the radar. A good bookkeeper will make sure your records are accurate, so you are always prepared for tax season. He/she will assist in tax filing by communicating account details to tax preparers for accurate and timely tax filing.

Bottom Line

Keeping your bookkeeping up to date can feel overwhelming, especially if you don’t have any experience from an accounting firm. It is often best to entrust this task to a reliable bookkeeper or bookkeeping agency so you can have more time for your business. A good bookkeeper would have proper knowledge and information regarding a company’s business and would have sufficient experience in the related industry. 

Choosing a bookkeeper who you could trust would offer peace of mind. Our highly skilled bookkeepers can work remotely from anywhere in Canada. We have a large talent pool to draw from. Let us handle your bookkeeping to help your business stay on top of receipts, invoices, expenses, and more during the hectic period of business activity. Feel free to reach out to Filing Taxes at 416-479-8532. Schedule an NTR engagement appointment with us and take the first step towards proper management of your finances.

Disclaimer: The information provided on this page is intended to provide general information. The information does not consider your personal situation and is not intended to be used without consultation from accounting and financial professionals. Salman Rundhawa and Filing Taxes will not be held liable for any problems that arise from the usage of the information provided on this page.