Choosing an Accountant or Bookkeeper: 12 Questions to Ask

Hiring the wrong bookkeeper is expensive twice — once in fees, once in untangling their mess.

Before you talk to anyone

• What software do you use today?
• How do you currently get bills and receipts to your bookkeeper?
• What reports do you actually look at each month?
• What’s broken about your current process?

The 12 questions

1. How many clients in my industry do you currently serve?
2. Are you certified in QuickBooks / Xero / both?
3. Will I have a dedicated point of contact, or rotating staff?
4. What is your monthly close timeline?
5. Do you offer fixed monthly pricing, or hourly?
6. What is included vs out of scope?
7. How do you handle clean-up of historical books before going live?
8. How do you secure my financial data?
9. What’s your communication SLA — emails, calls, monthly reviews?
10. Can I see a sample monthly report pack?
11. Will you talk to my tax accountant directly?
12. If I leave, do I keep all data and access?

Red flags

• Vague pricing.
• “We use our own portal — you don’t need access to QuickBooks/Xero.”
• No examples of monthly reports.
• Inability to answer industry-specific questions.

Have a chat with us — bring this list. We welcome it.