Running an electrical contracting business is a demanding endeavor. You likely spend most of your days on the road, traveling from one job to the next, while also working on quotes and estimates. With your clients requiring your complete attention, you probably have little time left at the end of the day for the meticulous task of bookkeeping.
Engaging a bookkeeper for your electrical contracting business is a great way to ensure your financial records are always current. It provides you with a professional who can maintain your accounts accurately, allowing you to dedicate more time to meeting your clients' needs.
When hiring a bookkeeper, consider these three key factors:
1. Expertise and familiarity with your industry
It's essential to hire a bookkeeper who understands the specific bookkeeping requirements of your electrical contracting business.
They must manage all standard bookkeeping tasks, including bank and credit card reconciliations, sales tax filings, transaction coding, and preparing financial reports. Additionally, they should assist in setting up your chart of accounts, enabling you to organize your finances effectively. It’s important to establish additional accounts specifically for job materials purchased and equipment rentals pertinent to electrical contractors.
Electricians depend on job costing to accurately assess the profitability of each project. It is essential to find a bookkeeper capable of handling this task and tracking the revenue and expenses for each job. The bookkeeper you choose should also ensure that your staff costs are allocated to the direct cost of goods sold rather than indirect management and office expenses.
This approach will provide you with a clearer understanding of your business's performance in terms of gross margin.
2. Proficiency in Payroll
Payroll involves much more than just calculating salaries. It includes deductions, vacation pay, worker's compensation, and other factors. A comprehensive understanding of these calculations and adherence to strict legislation are crucial for compliance. Not all bookkeepers are trained to manage payroll. To be fully qualified for these tasks, a bookkeeper should possess a payroll compliance certification.
Incorrect payroll processing can lead to significant disputes between employees and employers. To prevent such issues, it is vital to establish a payroll process where vacation time is accurately tracked, benefits are correctly reflected on employee pay stubs, and remittances are calculated and submitted accurately and promptly. Therefore, hiring a knowledgeable and fully certified bookkeeper to manage your payroll needs is highly beneficial.
3. Technology-Savvy
Recent advancements in accounting technology have greatly minimized the need for manual data entry and physical document storage.
You should hire a bookkeeper who can work efficiently and understands how to leverage these tools to create an effective bookkeeping process for your business. They should be fully certified and proficient in using a cloud-based accounting software platform.
They should also be knowledgeable about other tools like Dext for expense management and Plooto for streamlining vendor payments. It's important to ensure that your selected bookkeeper can provide comprehensive training for you and your team on how to use this technology, ensuring a smooth and seamless transition.
Engaging a bookkeeper ensures you have the financial data necessary for making well-informed business decisions. It also frees up your time, allowing you to focus on providing excellent service to your customers.
If you're considering outsourcing your bookkeeping, Bluemount Backoffice Solutions can assist. Our team of trained professionals can handle all your electrical contracting business's bookkeeping needs. Contact us now to learn how we can help streamline your bookkeeping process.
Our Process for Selecting and Evaluating Recommended Software
We conduct extensive research and testing on the apps we incorporate into our regular workflow for client bookkeeping services. After establishing evaluation criteria and researching the app, we test it thoroughly, noting its strengths and weaknesses. We use the app for a minimum of a few weeks to determine whether it meets our standards before recommending it to our readers. We ensure the software is used as intended for its specific tasks. For a comprehensive overview of our selection and evaluation process, please refer to the detailed description of our methodology.
Bluemount Backoffice Solutions does not receive any consideration or compensation from software publishers for featuring their software in our blog articles.