All You Need To Know About Bookkeeping Virtual Assistants
Virtual assistant bookkeepers are professionals who provide bookkeeping services to businesses and individuals remotely, typically through online platforms or software. Bookkeeping is a critical function for any business as it involves recording, organizing, and managing financial transactions and ensuring accurate financial records. Virtual bookkeepers perform these tasks remotely, offering a flexible and cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Let’s delve into the world of virtual bookkeeping and understand what it entails before we explore the tools, benefits and tasks that they can handle for you. Unlike in-house bookkeepers who work from a physical office, virtual bookkeeping is a remote financial management service that utilizes cloud-based accounting software. Virtual bookkeepers, also known as online bookkeeping professionals or accounting virtual assistants, assist business owners with various financial management tasks, such as tracking transactions, managing expenses, and generating financial reports, all done remotely.
Research shows that in-house employees are only productive for about 2 hours and 23 minutes out of an 8-hour workday, with the rest of the time spent on unproductive activities like social media, gossip, smoke breaks, eating, and news reading. This highlights the challenge of ensuring optimal productivity without micromanagement. In contrast, virtual bookkeeping offers a solution that allows businesses to leverage the expertise of remote professionals without the need for constant supervision.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Now that you have a little understanding of what a virtual assistant for bookkeeping is, let’s now dive into the benefits, tasks and tools that bookkeeping virtual assistants can do for you.
5 Benefits of Having a Virtual Assistant for Bookkeeping:
Improved Finances
Entrepreneurs can benefit greatly from having a virtual bookkeeping assistant who can handle financial tasks. With 86% of small business owners trusting their bookkeepers and accountants, these assistants can provide accurate financial reports, cash flow management, and identify areas for improvement. This valuable support enables informed decision-making and mitigates potential financial challenges.
Save Money
Hiring an online bookkeeper is a cost-effective solution for entrepreneurs. They assist in expense tracking, identify areas for cost-cutting, and increase profitability by reducing unnecessary costs. With a base salary starting at $40,000 per year as on 2021, they provide valuable financial management expertise.
Better Cash Flow
Collaborating with a virtual bookkeeping assistant is a strategic approach to enhance cash flow. They efficiently handle accounts payable and receivable, manage invoicing, and ensure timely payments from clients. By avoiding cash flow issues that can potentially harm your business in the long run, online bookkeepers provide crucial financial support to optimize your cash flow management.
Financial Transparency
Opting for a virtual accounting assistant is a smart choice for gaining clarity in your finances. These assistants provide in-depth financial insights and detailed reports, allowing real estate business owners to effectively track spending and identify areas for improvement.
With their expertise, virtual accounting assistants offer valuable support for entrepreneurs to optimize their financial management and make informed decisions to enhance their overall financial health.
Equipped With The Proper Skills
Virtual bookkeeping professionals bring their specialized expertise to assist entrepreneurs in effective financial management. From offering tax-related advice to facilitating tax filing, they provide valuable support to optimize financial processes. With their expert knowledge, virtual bookkeeping professionals can help entrepreneurs effectively manage their finances and make informed decisions for their business.
Now that you know how beneficial virtual assistants for bookkeeping are, let’s now move on to the tasks that they can efficiently do for you without the need for your supervision.
5 Tasks of a Virtual Assistant for Bookkeeping:
Document Procurement
Financial statements such as balance sheets, trial balances, and profit/loss statements are crucial documents for running a business smoothly. A bookkeeping expert can create and archive these records, making them easily accessible for examination and use. These statements are significant for tax rebates and can also facilitate funding by providing necessary financial records. Yearly financial statements are essential for business owners, and bookkeeping experts play a vital role in ensuring their accuracy and usefulness.
Invoice Preparation
An invoice preparation service is a vital requirement for all businesses, as it provides legal proof of a transaction. However, entrepreneurs often lack the time or expertise to include essential details such as quantity, price, and date. In cases where bulk invoice preparation is necessary, entrepreneurs can face significant time constraints. Fortunately, virtual assistant accounting providers can handle both regular and bulk invoice preparation, utilizing various invoice tools to simplify the task and provide valuable support to business owners.
Client Follow-Up
Following up with customers is essential in both pre-and post-sale scenarios, especially for products and services that require personalized attention. Price negotiation with customers over a call is also a common occurrence. While personal follow-up is manageable for smaller client bases, it can quickly become overwhelming as the number of clients increases. In such cases, a virtual assistant can help ensure that customer relationships are never compromised due to a lack of time, allowing entrepreneurs to focus on other critical aspects of their business.
Updating Financial Data
Maintaining a yearly record of your finances is crucial for tracking your company’s growth and progress over time. It is vital to keep this record up-to-date and organized to have a clear overview of your financial status. A virtual bookkeeping assistant can help you manage your financial data in the software of your choice, ensuring that it is recorded in a format that is easy to understand and analyze.
Data Entry
Managing the vast amount of financial data involved in running a business can be challenging. A virtual bookkeeping specialist can help you by accurately calculating, organizing and recording this information in an easy-to-use format. Moreover, data entry can be time-consuming and overwhelming, especially for small businesses with a large amount of financial information.
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Tools For Remote Bookkeeping Assistants
Document Sharing
Google Drive is a cloud-based storage platform that lets you store, sync, and access files from multiple devices. It is part of the G Suite, and integrates seamlessly with other Google applications such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Drawings.
With the personal plan, Google Drive offers 15GB of free storage space which can be utilized for Gmail and Google Photos in addition to file storage. Google Drive provides software downloads for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android operating systems. However, the free version of Google Drive may not be enough for large storage needs.
Accounting Software
QuickBooks, created and marketed by Intuit, is an accounting software package designed for small and medium-sized businesses. With its introduction in 1983, QuickBooks provides on-premises accounting applications and cloud-based versions that handle business payments, bill management, and payroll functions.
QuickBooks offers features such as inventory tracking, invoicing, bank transaction management, and financial reporting. Users can also connect their bank and credit card accounts for automatic transaction syncing, and the software’s user-friendly interface makes it easy for businesses to manage their financial data. Additionally, QuickBooks has a vast community of users who share their experiences, insights, and knowledge through online forums and support groups.
Time Tracking
TimeClock Plus is an automated time and attendance software system for businesses of all sizes. It is designed to help businesses save time and money by tracking employee hours accurately and efficiently. The software is easy to use and offers features such as real-time reporting, employee scheduling, job costing, and more.
It is a comprehensive solution for managing employee time and attendance, and it helps businesses ensure compliance with labor laws and regulations. TimeClock Plus is designed to be reliable, secure, and simple to use, making it an ideal solution for businesses of any size.
Communication
Microsoft Teams is an Office 365 communication hub designed for team collaboration, integrating workplace chat, video conferencing, cloud storage, and app integration.
The free version of Microsoft Teams provides unlimited chat, built-in group and one-on-one audio or video calling, 10GB of team file storage, and 2GB of personal file storage per user. If your business is licensed for Office 365, you can access Microsoft Teams without any additional cost.
Scheduling
Setmore is a scheduling platform that helps you manage your calendar, client base, booking page and team profiles. It allows you to access your appointments from anywhere, and customers can reschedule or cancel bookings through their inboxes.
The free version of Setmore provides access for up to four staff members with their own logins and calendars, along with automated notifications and reminders. You can use Setmore to book appointments online and integrate it with other platforms like Facebook, Mailchimp, Zendesk and Zapier.
These assistants can perform a wide range of bookkeeping tasks, such as maintaining accurate financial records, preparing financial statements, managing accounts payable and receivable, and reconciling bank statements. They can also provide guidance on tax-related issues, ensure that all financial transactions are recorded accurately, and help businesses track their expenses and income.
Remote bookkeeping assistants are cost-effective and provide flexibility to businesses. They eliminate the need for office space, equipment, and other expenses associated with hiring a full-time bookkeeper. They also offer businesses the ability to scale their bookkeeping needs as per their requirement. Remote bookkeeping assistants allow entrepreneurs to focus on growing their business while leaving the financial tasks to the experts.
Bookkeeping Made Easy with REVA Global Virtual Assistants
As you can see, virtual assistants can be a great asset for real estate agents, investors and brokers not just in the year 2023, but beyond. They can help you save time and effort, freeing up your daily schedule to focus on more income generating tasks that will enable you to take your business to where you want it to go!
At REVA Global, we have cost-effective, outsourced solutions for all your redundant real estate tasks. Schedule your free strategy session today if you want to know more!
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