Verify the Background When Hiring a Bookkeeper

The Story

I was contracted to cover for a bookkeeper who was going on maternity leave. She had set up the clients’ QuickBooks account, been using it for approximately 16 months, and had just turned it over to the tax accountant right before I started work.

The tax accountant contacted my client and told them to fire the bookkeeper! When she was hired, she had represented that she was ‘knowledgeable’ in QuickBooks but actually had very little experience in either QuickBooks or accounting.

It took a considerable amount of time (and cost the client a lot of money) for me to ‘clean up’ the prior year’s QuickBooks file and re-set the accounts properly while maintaining the ongoing bookkeeping.

Lessons Learned

Always follow your gut instinct:-if something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t!

Always verify the background and skills of anyone you hire to handle your books before they begin work.

Thanks to:

Lily Chambers, CPS CQU
info@virtualofficepoddess.com
www.virtualofficepoddess.com

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