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Using online bookkeeping software: How bookkeepers & accountants differ

By 10th December 2014April 1st, 2022No Comments

 

If you’re a small business just starting out, you may be asking yourself, ‘do I need an accountant? do I need a bookkeeper?’ What’s the difference between them? Especially if they both use the same online bookkeeping software.

Whether you need both an accountant and a bookkeeper depends upon how confident and competent you are running your books with online bookkeeping software. It also matters whether you have any of the most valuable currency to business owners, time. Time spent preparing your own accounts can take away from other areas of your business.

Bookkeepers perform an indispensable function of accounting. They use online bookkeeping software to accurately prepare your financial records on a day to day basis. Having accurate records is a must for accountants to perform their work and any issues with your books will need to be corrected, perhaps costing you more in accounting fees. Therefore if you’re not sure how to prepare your accounts or how to use online bookkeeping software, you may consider using a bookkeeper.

An accountant’s job is to decide how certain figures such as your profits are to be measured, prepare tax returns and offer business advice. Working from the records in your online bookkeeping software they complete reports and records that need to be submitted to revenue. They can also offer you as the owner insights into your business performance, using critical information from your accounts. Some accounting practices will also offer bookkeeping services as part of a full service offering.

If you are confident in your ability to prepare your own accounts and are willing to, online bookkeeping software can make your life easy with automated double entry, simple invoicing and transaction entry.

However, if you decide that using a bookkeeper, accountant or both is the way to go for your small business, online bookkeeping software will allow you set them up with their own accounts. Now they can remotely manage your records, at no extra cost, saving you time and money.

Set your business up for success, get your hands on an online bookkeeping software package.

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Find out more about Big Red Cloud, the simple online bookkeeping software for start ups and small businesses alike.

Marc O'Dwyer

Marc O'Dwyer

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc’s impressive sales career began at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic where he received numerous Irish and European sales performance awards and consistently exceeded targets and expectations. In 1992, Marc’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to set up his own business, Irish International Sales (IIS). Initially, this company was a reseller for Take 5 Accounts and Payroll software. Within four years, IIS became the largest reseller of Take 5 in Ireland, acquiring four other Take 5 resellers. He also found time to set up two mobile phone shops under the Cellular World brand and a web design company offering website design services for small businesses. In 2001, he bought the majority share in a small Irish software business, Big Red Book. At that time, the company was losing money. The company became profitable within two months, and Marc then acquired a payroll company to compliment Big Red Books Accounting products. In 2003, IIS were appointed as Channel Partners with SAP for their new SME product, SAP Business One. Marc sold his Take 5 business and concentrated on developing this new market for SAP As a result, by 2007, IIS was recognised as the largest Channel Partner for SAP in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). In 2008, the IIS Sales Manager bought the Company from Marc in an MBO. He launched Big red cloud in June 2012, the online version of big red book, to date the company successfully converts 59% of trials into sales and the number of customers is growing rapidly. Marc continues to run both Big Red Book and Big Red Cloud which now support 75,000 businesses. He is a very keen sportsman, having played rugby for 20 years, represented Leinster at under 16 and under 20 levels, and league squash with Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club for 10 years. Marc has competed in 11 Marathons, including the London and Boston Marathons, and has completed several Triathlons and Half Ironman races. He has also completed six Ironman Races in Austria(x2), Frankfurt (Germany), Nice (France) , Mallorca (Spain) and Copenhagen (Denmark)