One of the biggest pitfalls of running a business is sloppy accounting and being completely clueless about bookkeeping. We all know how important it is to stay on top of your books and transactions, especially during tax time to avoid fines. Unfortunately running a business is like having all hands on deck, you just don’t have the time for number crunching. Since the start of COVID-19, Bench has helped secure over $130 million in relief funding for small business owners, and has answered over 10,000 questions for their clients, including myself.
If you’re like most entrepreneurs, the complicated tax code is hard to keep up with. If professionally trained accountants have a tough time understanding it what then about a small business that has other, more pressing, concerns? This is where Bench Accounting comes in. It’s an online service that seamlessly turns your data into tax statements.
Your bookkeeper from Bench will sort your transactions, prepare financial statements, and reconcile your bank accounts on your behalf. Bench also provides you with a wealth of insight into your company’s financial health and helps you make informed decisions.
Introducing Bench Accounting, Bookkeeping, and Tax Services
Bench Accounting has grown into one of the largest bookkeeping services for small business owners and entrepreneurs. They started out in 2012 and have over 300 in-house accountants to handle bookkeeping for many business clients. They don’t relegate your important financial data to a mindless AI and have actual professionals taking care of your sensitive information. They do bookkeeping once a month.
Signing up is easy. You simply have to connect your financial accounts to your Bench account, this includes any bank accounts, merchant processors (like Stripe and PayPal), and credit cards. Your Bench bookkeepers are made up of three people, each performing three separate tasks: reconciling your bank accounts, preparing financial statements for each month by the 15th business day of the following month, and categorizing your transactions.
Once your bookkeeping is done for the month, you will receive a message. At this point, you can view your financial statements and account information online. The best part about Bench is that you get access to an extremely helpful support staff round the clock. For any questions, simply send them an email and if you’re hard-pressed for time, send them a call.
Over the course of a few days, your new bookkeeping team will get to learn all there is to know about your company’s finances, and things will be smooth sailing from here on out. Get started with Bench using this link here, and Bench will do an entire month of your bookkeeping and provide you with a set of financial statements completely free. If you decide to stick with Bench, they will give you another month free. That’s 2 free months upfront, meaning even if you decide not to move forward, you still get two months of the service free of charge. It’s a no brainer – try it out!
Fast Services That Save You Time
The biggest advantage with Bench is the amount of time they can save you from bookkeeping tasks. You really won’t have to manually send them any documents since all your essential information is linked to the Bench account. The team will complete your bookkeeping in only 15 days. For example, your books for March will be ready about halfway through April.
If your bookkeeping team has any questions to ask about something, they will get in touch with you. Responding is as easy as replying to an email or sending a file.
Their Employees are True Experts
Their biggest selling point is that every single one of their bookkeepers is their employee. They receive regular in-house training and set up regular phone calls to understand your business’s finances. Your company will receive three bookkeepers. If you’re like us, you would rather go about your business and let someone else take care of the finances. Nor do you want to hire someone who does all this work offline.
Since we’re talking about sensitive information related to your business, Bench is extremely transparent with their services. You know exactly what your bookkeepers are doing with your data. Plus you get real-time updates about your business round the clock at any given time through the dashboard. Bench shows you whether you’re spending too much, or too little, your profits, and your loss each month.
Tax Support
To opt for their tax-specific service, you’ll have to pay extra. Bench does not file taxes directly but run it through partner CPA firms. They can connect you with a trusted provider if you need one. The best part is that they prepare tax-ready financial statements at the end of each month; this work is included in all their default plans at no additional charge.
Bench Tax, which is an add-on service, gives you access to a licensed tax expert. This person will handle all your tax processes from start to end, including filings. The service is available in three pricing plans and starts at $600 per year. If you’re running behind on your books and haven’t done so for the whole year and have tax deadlines approaching, you can avail Catch-up Bookkeeping to finish everything in just a few weeks.
The Customer Support Staff is Easy to Get in Touch With
If you want to reach their customer support team, simply message them from the dashboard on your computer or app at any time. Give your bookkeeper around one business day to reply. It is possible to set up an appointment with your bookkeeper who will call you without charging you extra. They are not available round the clock though.
You can catch them Monday through Friday during regular business hours.
Highly Affordable
Compared to other bookkeeping services, Bench is much more affordable. Other virtual bookkeeping companies charge you based on the number of accounts. In contrast, Bench will base their prices on their monthly expenses. Every Bench plan allows up to 15 financial accounts; these include bank accounts, merchant processors, and credit cards. Other companies will give you just a few accounts in their entry-level plans. But even the most basic Bench plan gives you a much better value.
Is it Worth Using?
After using them for quite some time, we feel that Bench is not just a service – you are actually assigned a team. They will give you important advice on things you may have to change. These are real people who are working virtually for you and offer a dedicated chat channel for use at your convenience when you have questions or inquirers.
Bench also has a nice little app that lets you check your accounts on the go and forward important correspondence directly to the Bench accounting team to handle. If you’re not happy with their service, you can cancel at any time with no strings attached.
Get started with Bench using this link here, and Bench will do an entire month of your bookkeeping and provide you with a set of financial statements completely free. If you decide to stick with Bench, they will give you another month free. That’s 2 free months upfront, meaning even if you decide not to move forward, you still get two months of the service free of charge. It’s a no brainer – try it out!
