21 Questions to Ask Accounting & Bookkeeping Clients + Onboarding Checklist & Template

Make sure you research the company before the interview to learn any key facts that show you are familiar with the business. Your book-keeper must have an eye on the pulse of your business, which is monthly financials, for reporting as well as for tax submissions. Make sure that you use your book-keeping quite well as to make various business decisions, whether in present or future. When you have a set of customized financial reports on regular intervals, for example, on a daily basis, then, you can have the knowledge of identifying issues and opportunities. Speak up with your book-keeper as how you can extract new information from a financial report, as per your say.

If you find out some additional tasks your bookkeeper wants to take on, you will know what direction to push them. An employee who is challenged and happy will be a productive long-term asset. You can gain valuable insight into how to get the most out of your bookkeeper with this series of questions.

Outside of accounting, do you advise on how we can improve our business or save money? For example, helping us find new vendors or negotiate better prices with existing vendors, advising us on how to reduce our expenses, etc. Book-keeping is the same as a business in decision-making as a mast to a boat in the sea. A myriad of business decisions can be taken with the assistance of book-keeping. A book-keeper must look out for new and efficient ways to build the fort of book-keeping.

What is the biggest challenge in their business right now & what else do they need from me?

This is an important consideration if your team is working from home or in a hybrid environment. Answers should cover not only the failure in an accounting project but also offer a view into the mind of the candidate and how he or she might have learned something substantive as a result. Here, you’d be gauging an applicant’s ability to think through a scenario like one that might be faced in a more senior finance role. Candidate answers should not be vague here; either they have direct experience with an ERP system or not. Candidates should describe the brand or system they used, which tends to vary depending on company size. One of the last questions I ask is if there is anything else that they are looking for from me that we haven’t discussed already in the initial interview.

Launched in 2019 by Lewis Keegan, we have helped 100,000’s of readers find the right courses and learning platforms for their needs. The difference between this question and the previous is that the ideal schedule is your preference, whereas your availability is simply the times and days you could potentially work if needed. Two main methods of reporting are used in business, and showing that you understand them will highlight your proficiency as a bookkeeper. You may be required to communicate with clients and vendors in this role, so share your experience with this, if you have any. If you do not have any familiarity with the company, this will not look good in the interview.

To show your worth to a potential client and attract more leads, here’s your accounting or bookkeeping checklist for prospective and new clients. When trying to attract new clients and onboard them, it’s important for accounting firms to break down preconceptions about their role in the company and demonstrate all. Whatever the reason, when the time comes to hire a bookkeeper for your business, you must choose carefully. The interview process is critical to making the right hiring decision for your business — and the right bookkeeper interview questions will ensure the success of this process.

Do you have payroll?

If you’re an accounting firm looking to enhance your client acquisition, Titan Web Agency offers specialized marketing for accounting firms to help you stand out from the competition. Dig deeper into your potential client’s relationship with their previous firm. A client’s business structure will affect every aspect of accounting and bookkeeping.

This is one of the most common bookkeeper interview questions, so being prepared for it will help you stand out. If you run a small business, it can be difficult to find a good bookkeeper when you have an open position. Many other small business owners find themselves in the same predicament as you. One of the ways that you can help yourself find the right bookkeeper to help with your basic accounting and clerical tasks is to go into the interview process with a game plan.

One common problem with both lead nurturing and on-boarding is that there’s too much talking and not enough listening. With the right questions, it’s possible to collect the information you need to close the deal with prospective clients and demonstrate your value to new clients. Look for answers to this interview question that include actual situations the accountant handled.

Bookkeeper interview questions and answers

The right questions will pave the way for closing a deal with prospective clients. It’s unlikely that accountants will find many jobs they enjoy more than solving problems. Complete your accounting firm’s checklist for new clients without asking about problem-solving.

If your bookkeeping candidate gives you this answer, then they understand very well how the financial statements work together and how to review and check their own work. Adding this question to your accounting and bookkeeping checklist will help you build a personal connection and make you more memorable than other accountants who just stick to the basics. Answers should include specifics about how candidates were involved in business metrics, such as helping to determine and monitor a business’s gross margin or the cost of finding new customers.

While that may be true in some cases, your restaurant bookkeeping will probably have a lot of interaction with employees, contractors, vendors, and you. You want someone you can work with easily and trust that he won’t damage relationships with your key customers when they forget to pay on time. He owns his own accounting and tax firm that services individuals, small businesses, real estate associations, and more. Glenn is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is a former writer for The Balance and The Balance Small Business.

If they work with a third-party service, you’ll need to work with their system. As with the previous interview question, the answers to this inquiry will give you a hint as to the candidate’s critical thinking skills. Accounting professionals, particularly those who have managed ledgers or had jobs as full-charge bookkeepers for more than a couple of years, should be able to speculate on this scenario. A candidate with more formal training specific to auditing or fraud analysis will likely explain this thoroughly and be able to provide examples.

How to Conduct an Interview: 6 Ways Managers Can Prepare

Digging into their business challenges — the problems that keep them up at night — will help you build rapport and find more ways to provide value and deliver the results they want. Before discussing anything else, you need to have an idea of what kind of business your prospective client has. Your new accounting client checklist should start with this open-ended question. Perhaps the candidate has designed methods to check for bookkeeping errors or quality control in the data entry process. What you’re looking for are answers that help you evaluate attention to detail and accuracy. If you’re interviewing recent graduates, you’re looking to see how well they paid attention in class, rather than a deep level of expertise.

Answer in a way where you are very specific about the number of hours you wish to work per week, as well as any specific days/times that you need or desire off. An ideal candidate would have a clear way of approaching this issue and could explain it to the hiring manager in a clear way. Create a list of all software, programs, and systems that you have used in the past or have learned how to use and remember to reference these when asked. For this question, you will need to share a little about your past roles in the companies you worked for, your responsibilities, how long you worked there, and why you left.

• The hiring manager will look for your specific experience and what mode of reporting was used, since they may have a specific preference for reporting.
• If they have any particularities, those are what you’ll want to note, and it’s helpful to know them from the beginning because it will save you quite a bit of effort in the long run.
• You want to hire someone with numerical abilities but not necessarily a mathematician.
• In order to connect with prospective clients and demonstrate your expertise, you’ll need a firm understanding of their accounts payable and receivable.
• And the financial health must be comparable to a time period with a time period – on monthly, quarterly or annual period.

Taxes are subject to change, and few business owners know everything there is. One common problem with the lead nurturing and onboarding process is that there’s too much talking. Bookkeeping firms should be aware of how their clients handle their taxes, as it can have an impact on the scope of bookkeeping services. You will want to ask follow up questions to validate their information based on the answers they provide. For example, on the question about “how familiar are you with my industry” a good follow up on this could be as simple as “tell me more” or “what are the challenges you experienced with this industry?

This accounting firm question is needed to comprehend their market size. Also, you can offer solutions to strategies for challenges clients are facing with their workforce. Prospective clients may be surprised by the range of services, products, and resources an accounting firm offers. Once you’re done collecting basic information from a new client, engage them on a more personal level.

More likely than not, they also have a PayPal account, bank loans, equipment leases, and other accounts that will need to be reconciled. You’ll need to have a handle on their accounts payable and receivable, so you can work with their account and bank statements to ultimately help their small business flourish. Of all the hard and soft skills you interview for, adaptability and a willingness to embrace new challenges may be two of the most critical ingredients for an accounting professional’s success. Use this question to explore a candidate’s knowledge of ledgers and as a launch pad for further discussion of skills related to the available position.

It would be a mistake to complete your accountants’ checklist for new clients without asking about problem-solving. In addition to their financial statements, you can help them keep track of their capital asset activity, vehicle log, and other important documents for reporting sales tax. Also, make them aware of certain deductions they might qualify for, such as mortgage interest and home office expenses.

Ask bookkeeping vendors to share references of similar businesses they have worked for. Also, double-check expertise by asking bookkeepers to give examples of common bookkeeping issues concerning your industry and what practices and techniques they will use to resolve them. Being the only bookkeeper at the company I previously worked for, I was keeping all records. This included managing documents for inventory, sales and expense accounts, loans and accounts payable, payroll sheets, accounts receivable, and cash records. Hiring managers want to get a clear idea of why you entered this field, and whether you have a passion or interest to continue to grow as a bookkeeper. Many people think that accountants and bookkeepers just crunch numbers from 9 a.m.