Professional bookkeeping services means a bookkeeper who does this for a living, with a process, a review, and an engagement letter, as opposed to a relative with a spreadsheet. Within that there is a real choice: a bookkeeping firm with several staff and a reviewer, a sole practitioner who knows your business personally, or accounting bookkeepers inside an accounting practice who also see the year-end. This page explains what each offers, what a list of bookkeeping services offered should contain, and how to compare the three on your own scope using the sheets on this site.
A bookkeeping firm against an individual
A firm gives you cover when your bookkeeper is away, a second person reviewing the reconciliations, and a process that survives staff changes. An individual gives you continuity, a direct relationship, and usually a lower fee, with the risk that illness or a holiday means a month not closed. Neither is better in general. Ask a firm who does the monthly work and how many clients they carry; ask an individual who covers and where the ledger lives.
What accounting bookkeepers add, and what they cost
Bookkeepers inside an accounting practice keep the monthly books with the year-end in view: the chart of accounts is set up for the return, the questions are asked in the month rather than in the spring, and the accountant works from books they trust. The cost is that the monthly fee is sometimes set by the accountant's rate for work a bookkeeper does. Ask for the bookkeeping fee and the accounting fee separately, and check the monthly half against the pricing calculator on this site.
Reading a list of services offered
A list that says bookkeeping, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, reporting, and tax is a menu, not a scope. What you need is which of those are in the fee for your counts, what each extra costs, and what the month-end deliverable is. The scope sheet on this site turns your accounts, transactions, invoices and bills into the hours each line takes; hold the menu against that and the gaps show.
What professional should mean in the engagement letter
A named person, a scope by line, a handover schedule, a month-end deliverable and date, the rate for anything extra, your ownership of the ledger, and what happens on leaving. An engagement letter with those seven things is professional whatever the size of the provider; one without them is a handshake with a logo.
Questions people ask about professional bookkeeping services
Are bookkeepers licensed in the United States?
No. Bookkeeping is not a licensed profession, so certifications are voluntary. Experience with your ledger and with businesses of your shape matters more than a credential, and a client reference in your trade matters most.
Is a bookkeeping firm more expensive than an individual?
Usually, because the review and the cover are paid for. Whether it is worth it depends on how much a month not closed would cost you. Compare both quotes on the same counts with the pricing calculator on this site.
Should my accountant do the bookkeeping too?
It works well when the accounting practice has a bookkeeping team and prices it as bookkeeping. It works badly when the monthly work is priced at the accountant's rate or done in the spring. Ask who does the months.
What does a professional bookkeeper not do?
Give tax or accounting advice, prepare returns unless they are also a preparer, audit, or decide what a transaction was. That last one is yours, and an unanswered question is why books fall behind.