That Bookkeeper

Small Business, Simplified

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Why Bookkeepers Should Go Back To School: (Part 2 – The Software)

Welcome to Week 2 of our Back to School month. Last week we talked about how to improve your core bookkeeping skills. This week I’d like to focus on the tools we use to get our work done. More specifically, how to get some app-specific training so you can get the most out of the […]

Why Bookkeepers Should Go Back To School: (Part 1 – The Core)

September is back to school season here in Canada. All of those minds that were drowned in Slurpees and baked in the sun are now dragged back into class to slowly repair themselves.

I think this is a great time for us bookkeepers to do the same. Why should the kids get all the fun, right? How many of you have used the line “I wish I could go back to school” or “you have no idea how easy you’ve got it at school” on your kids when they were complaining about 15 minutes of homework while you were finishing up another 12 hour day? Yep…me too! Well, then let’s put our money (and time) where our mouths are and do this.

How to Help Your Bookkeeping Client Find an Accountant

As a bookkeeper it’s hard finding clients. Clients who will work with you year after year. It can take a long time to build up trust. After all, we are dealing with their business and their money. Often we’re moving their life savings to and from their accounts each month. If you take on a client who is just getting started, they will often come to you for your advice. It makes sense. Most people work with one or two accountants in their life, if any. Most bookkeepers work with dozens over their career.

This can be tricky. An accountant is a critical position to fill. A really good accountant can be a big factor in your success. A really bad one can cost you a lot of money and steer you in the wrong direction.

A few good bookkeeping links

When I’m not bookkeeping or writing, I’m often reading. When I was younger it was Stephen King books. Why a 5th grader submitting books reports on Carrie or The Dead Zone didn’t raise any red flags is beyond me. Nowadays it’s not nearly as many books as it used to be; and almost nothing fiction. […]

3 Things I Don’t Know About Cloud Bookkeeping

I’m not an idiot, but I play one on TV…as long as by TV we mean business. Generally speaking, I’ve got bookkeeping software figured out. No, I’m not an expert at everything out there, but you can throw me in front of any bookkeeping app and I’ll figure out how to get my job done. […]

How Are You Going To Get Paid?

Getting paid used to be pretty simple. You’d send your client an invoice, and they’d eventually send you back a cheque (sorry…check). Once in a while they’d forget, so you wouldn’t get paid for months. Other times the cheque would bounce. Look, I didn’t say it was better…just simple. So you want to start an […]

7 Tips to Prevent Sync Issues in FreshBooks

The term synchronize seems too technical to inspire a lot of emotions. But tell someone that they just lost their data due to a “synchronization error” and all sorts of emotions begin to emerge. Sync (or is it synch?) has been one of those features that you love and hate. Everyone wants their app to […]

Making the Move to Harvest

After I just talked about making a big move last month, it looks like I’m doing it again. Last month I talked about a client who I was moving from QuickBooks desktop to QuickBooks Online. I’ll be writing more about that in the future, but now I’m facing another move. One of my clients is […]

One on One: Xero

One on One is a series of reviews. Instead of a long-winded breakdown, I give you a quick summary along with one positive and one negative. So far my One on One reviews have covered 2 of the 5 main bookkeeping apps I use. Today we’re going to do a quick review of Xero. If […]