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Originally Posted by GH85Carrera
That is a pretty wide open question. Do you need a full blown CPA to do payroll & taxes for 40 people and do all the cash flow or just someone to enter some invoice and into QuickBoolks?
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Just be aware that anyone can call themselves a bookkeeper. I frequently get brought in to clean up messes made when a business owner tries to save money by hiring someone off of Craigslist for $12/hour to take care of the books. Some of the stories I've heard have been shocking.
The worst case being an attorney whose bookkeeper stole $100K in the course of a year. Their CPA asked me to help them out when the Craigslist bookkeeper was out sick a couple of years ago. My first impression was that the bookkeeper was charging the attorney a huge amount for the work she was doing and even though my hourly rate was higher that he would save money by using me. But, the attorney was loyal to his old contractor and kept using her. Admirable for sure, but 2 years and $100K later he's regretting that decision. I'm doing his bookkeeping now and it's costing him about 1/6 what he was paying her (and I'm not writing myself those "extra" checks like the previous bookkeeper).
I've seen "bookkeepers" with rates of $8/hour all the way up to $80/hour. At the low end you may have someone who learned a little about accounting at a previous job. At the high end you may have someone with an accounting degree who's been in the industry for many years. I tend to be between the two in both experience and hourly rate. Your best bet is to call a CPA office and ask who they would recommend. The CPAs have to deal with results of the bookkeeper's work. They won't recommend someone who creates a lot of issues/clean up work (at CPA rates!) for their clients.