Accounting/payroll software for small businesses?

EugeneTheTJ said:
For those of you that own your own small business or work at a small business - if you don't mind me asking, how much do you all pay for outsourced bookkeeping/CPA services?

I am a CPA, former Big 4 Manager, and currently work in the small to mid-market transaction world. Given the nature of my work, I see a lot of companies likely similar to those you know and work for. A lot of them do outsource their accounting function and it has been a consideration of mine to leave and start my own shop providing these services.

Just curious, setting up my own shop has certainly been a consideration and wondering how feasible it would be.
Click to expand...

I've done it and I do currently outsource it. Once the QB parameters and mapping is set up, it's ridiculously easy. Monthly bookkeeping is generally a scanned receipts or access directly to a business bank account. The latter is preferred because you can typically map recurring vendors to a designated account and then you won't have to do anything but review. I've done/seen it as low as $100/month and as high as $300/month. Then, annual taxes are somewhere in the $2500-5000/range...more if there are multiple locations. Then usually $500-1000 for any documentation maintenance. Quarterly filings, are usually the same $500-1000. There is definitely money to be made there, I just hate that kind of work. I'm more of an FP&A finance guy than I am a CPA finance guy.
 
Another vote for QuickBooks here. In my Public Accounting days it was the leader in the small companies. Lots of support and pretty user friendly
 
As a small business owner with no business experience I started using Square for credit card payments then learned they offer so much more. I use it for everything to run my business (small local coffee shop). They offer payroll which my employees clock in and clock out using the app and it keeps track of hours and payroll including monthly and quarterly filings along with end of year filings and W-2's sent to employees. The cost for payroll services is $40 month and all I have to do is "run payroll" every two weeks (you choose how you pay weekly, biweekly or monthly).
 
We were in the same boat as you about 3 years ago when our 95 year old accountant decided he was finally going to retire. We started using quickbooks and have not looked back. It has saved us a lot of money and time. All of the information you need is right there at the click of a button as well. We are a completely different business, but it seems to be very adaptable. It went from taking us a couple of hours to do payroll during our busy season when we had a bunch of employees to a few minutes now. I think you would like it and regret not making the change sooner.
 
Back
Top