What does a bookkeeper do?
Historically a bookkeeper keeps the "books" updated and accurate. When we say "books" today, instead of paper records, we typically mean accounting software, like QuickBooks Online. These accounting records allow you to:
- Stay informed about the financial progress of your organization
- Produce financial statements for donors or lenders, or even a potential investor
- File a multitude of tax returns that may be required
Depending on what services are requested, a bookkeeper may also:
- Send customer invoices and collect payments (receivables)
- Pay bills
- Run payroll
- Track owner transactions
- Make custom journal entries for items like interest, insurance, or other complex items
What does this look like at Proact CFO?
Most clients tend to keep the customer invoicing and payment collection in-house. This usually makes sense considering the connection you have to customers and the ability to collect payment when needed. Invoicing can often require customization that requires the owner's contribution or a project manager.
Payables (bills) are more a preference as to who manages those. If you have an in-house receivables team member, they will often pay bills, or sometimes share that responsibility with us.
Proact can cover basic bookkeeping tasks as a base service and scale as your needs increase.
