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 Elite Veteran
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| I want to start bookkeeping from my house. I am a stay at home mom and would love to do this for extra income. I am technically a senior in college as an accounting major although I am not going to school right now. I need any advice on how to get started. How to find a company, how to technically keep books (school teaches how to do things by hand, but what do I do from step 1 in the real world?!?!?), how much to charge, etc.
I need ANY advice that anyone can offer on EVERYTHING about bookkeeping. Please and thank you!! |
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 Popped
Posts: 20421
Location: LuluLand~along I64 Indiana | i am a bookkeeper by trade and have sever non-profits i keep at home. my suggestion is by word of mouth. the bookkeeping nitch would be most utilized in my area by the guys who have businesses but no office staff such as plumbers or eq operators who do odd jobs for folks. they are usually way to busy to even pay their own bills. get a couple of them and word of mouth will spread. get quickbooks and set up their business on there. from that is just making sure the money keeps flowing for them and all will be happy. lol
figure out what you want per job or per hour and make your self indespensible. then you can make some money.  |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 696
| luluwhit - 2014-06-05 11:48 AM
i am a bookkeeper by trade and have sever non-profits i keep at home. my suggestion is by word of mouth. the bookkeeping nitch would be most utilized in my area by the guys who have businesses but no office staff such as plumbers or eq operators who do odd jobs for folks. they are usually way to busy to even pay their own bills. get a couple of them and word of mouth will spread. get quickbooks and set up their business on there. from that is just making sure the money keeps flowing for them and all will be happy. lol
figure out what you want per job or per hour and make your self indespensible. then you can make some money.
Thank you. My problem is i don't have hands on experience with quickbooks and I don't know what all a bookkeeper is responsible for if that makes any sense. Is there any online course or "bookkeeping for dummies" type training that will take me from step one of exactly what to do? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 696
| Anyone else have any advice? I need to start making money asap! |
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 I'm Here!!
Posts: 4583
Location: Is it Summer Yet? | Go pick up quickbooks and set youself up as a business in it, use your chequing account and cash you spend as transactions. This will be the easiest way to learn the software without ever having taken a class on it. Quickbooks is actually really user friendly.
Tasks you may do; just writing up the books, you may get a shoebox and you have to prepare stuff for the accountant. Go off the bank statements. Make sure you reconcile everything every month. You may be doing payroll. You may be delivering the cheques for them. Really you do whatever they want you to do.
Getting clients is word of mouth, you could try putting an add in a newspaper or something. I would go talk to an accountant. Lots of them are busy so they don't want to write up their clients books, so they might have a client or 2 they could refer to you. I personally would start small, because you are learning. Start with 1 or 2, get the feel for it, then add more. Make sure you are professional and do a good job and you will get referals.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 696
| is there a computer program or anything that i could get to learn from? what i mean is show me what all to do from step 1 when i get a new client? i'm probably way over thinking this and it is probably way more simple than i think but i don't have a clue what to do and i'm afraid to get a client and screw it up lol |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 941
Location: Kansas | You are getting good advice. Buy a QuickBooks program and use your "book" knowledge to setup an accounting system in the software. You have to build your accounts--assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses and enter beginning balances. As an accounting major, if you have taken intermediate accounting, you should be prepared to do this. There are QuickBooks classes and there probably is a QuickBooks for Dummies book available. Businesses want different services. Some need complete financials for their bank, others just need you to prepare payroll and the tax deposits, payroll reports etc. Some may just want you to write checks, record revenues and balance the bank accounts. QuickBooks is an intermediate program. Quicken and Money are(were) computer programs that operate like a checkbook. Larger companies use more complex and sophisticated programs where the different "journals" are different modules in the program. If you learn how transactions flow through the QuickBooks software, you will be able to translate that to more complex problems.
Contacting an area accountant is also an option. You need to prepare yourself so that you come across as knowledgeable and able to do any work he/she might refer to you. Good Luck.
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 999
Location: Sunny So Cal | everyone uses quickbooks these days so you need to learn that ASAP. I think I do more than just the books but I'm in charge of paying bills, sending out invoices, trying to collect from people who are over due, payroll. Made a list for receptionist so she knows who owes money and when they come in she can get it. Once it is organized it is easy.
Edited by Cowgirl Kat 2014-06-05 12:03 PM
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 Expert
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| I guess i'll be the odd man out but I really don't like quickbooks. It's pretty simple so I suggest it for people that have no accounting background and are wanting a system they can do themselves. I prefer MIP or Peachtree(sage50). Peachtree might be easier for you starting out. Getting started is typically by word of mouth unless you work for a bookkeeping service that is already established. They will usually make you sign a contract stating that you won't take any work from them, etc. Every company will have different expectations of what they need you to do. Some will need everything done except year end taxes, some will just need you to enter AR, AP, and reconcile accounts. If I were you I would learn quickbooks(even though I hate it I still can use it) and peachtree because those are the two most common accounting software's being used. Get familiar with how to use them. Pricing varies by location and how much you are doing for the company. I charge hourly and have a set amount of hours/x amount of work /month. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 696
| which is better... quickbooks online (roughly $25/month) or quickbooks desktop (roughly $250 one time) |
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 To the Left
Posts: 1865
Location: Florida | Get the Quickbooks Office Professional version, it has payroll and tax capabilities which you might need. Then just start using it. Quickbooks offers on-line courses as well as seminars, look for one of them. This program can be as simple or complicated as you want, just depends on how many features you are using. The amount of time it saves is amazing. If I want to pay the month Zephryhills Water Co bill, as soon as I type in a Z the whole check is automatically filled out correctly, hit save and new and you are done. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 696
| With quickbooks desktop, can you set up multiple companies? I know with the online you have to pay the $25 subscription per company. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 696
| another really important question... please help!!
I have someone that wants me to keep books for them from home. Do i need to go get a business license and operate as a busniess or anything? Or do they just add me to payroll like a regular employee? |
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anyone a bookkeeper? i need advice!