Know a Good Bookkeeper in Melbourne?

[gniks]

Hi,

If you have used a good bookkeeping service in Melbourne for a smallish amount of work ie a few hours each month for family trust accounting and personal accounting could you pls provide contact details? Thanks in anticipation.

gniks

 

[keg75]

No, not in melbourne.

But if anyone's in Perth and wants a good book keeper i know of one.

Cheers keg75

 

[noddy]

Hi Keg,

I'm thinking of better using my time by "outsourcing" my bookwork.

Can you give us an idea of the costs involved, turnaround time, time saved and how simple/complex an it be.

I was thinking something like drop off Quickbooks/MYOB backup on first Friday of the month with small box of receipts and bank statement for previous month with the idea to get an updated file back on Monday morning with everything entered & Bank Statement reconciled.

I'd be guessing that someone who knows their stuff would be looking at 2-4 hours (is this realistic??) but have no idea on the rate.

Noddy

 

[keg75]

noddy where are you? blakcburn, victoria or have you moved to perth recently.

If you read my last post it was for bookeeper in perth not melbourne.

They are interested - if you interested - maybe a logistical issue though..

let me know what you want to do and i'll put you in contact with them

cheers keg75

 

[ani]

Hi Keg,

I'm thinking of better using my time by "outsourcing" my bookwork.

Can you give us an idea of the costs involved, turnaround time, time saved and how simple/complex an it be.

I was thinking something like drop off Quickbooks/MYOB backup on first Friday of the month with small box of receipts and bank statement for previous month with the idea to get an updated file back on Monday morning with everything entered & Bank Statement reconciled.

I'd be guessing that someone who knows their stuff would be looking at 2-4 hours (is this realistic??) but have no idea on the rate.

Noddy

Hi Noddy

Some general answers for you

Bookkeeping rates start from $15 an hour up to around $80. Average probably about $30. There is a big difference in knowledge levels amongst bookkeepers
so I would only go with someone recommended.

Hard to say if 2-4 hrs per mth is realistic (once accounts are set up initially). Depends on volume, how receipts are presented etc but the hours shouldn't be huge.

Accountants often have a pool of bookkeepers they recommend to clients so check with your acct.

Not too sure about this drop stuff off on Friday, pick up Monday Not to many I know want to work weekends

Also remember there is X amt of work to be done so it might be the 3rd or 4th wk when they get to your job.

cheers
ani

 

[Kristine..]

Hi,

If you have used a good bookkeeping service in Melbourne for a smallish amount of work ie a few hours each month for family trust accounting and personal accounting could you pls provide contact details? Thanks in anticipation.

gniks

Hi gniks

I know of a couple of savvy bookkeepers in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Going rate is $25 - $40 per hour. If you haven't got your books set up yet then you would have to get a quote for doing that. Even with Quickbooks it isn't magic, and Quickbooks has real trouble with more than one tax entity per Quickbooks Company.

So if you use one cheque book and write cheques then reconcile to a number of different tax entities Quickbooks can only do Balance Sheet, Tax Reports etc for the whole lot of entries (yes, yes, I know about Classes but Classes are still subordinate to the Entity issue).

Therefore, if you want Quickbooks the initial setup has to be to establish a Quickbooks Company for each tax entity and to make sure there is linking between the accounts for processing purposes. Not rocket science but time consuming and a bit fiddly.

At a reasonable estimate I would suggest you budget for at least 10 hours to establish the computer files (have you bought your program yet? Don't do that until you have spoken with your Accountant and determined which programs they are running. Of course, you could always just use E-Books which is free from the ATO and which will accommodate numerous tax entities).

I also know a Uni student who has previously worked as a bookkeeper using Quickbooks and (I think) MYOB. Remember, a bookkeeper is a processor, does not make decisions and does not give advice - that's what you pay your accountant $125 per hour for!!). The Uni student would be cheaper (probably about $20 per hour no GST) - her mother also works as a bookkeeper and they have just about every program known to Western civilisation loaded on to their computers.

Obviously, I can't hand out anyone's contact details but if outer east is OK for you email me and I can pass your contact details on to whoever you would like to talk to.

Cheers

Kristine

 

[noddy]

Hi all,

Thanks very much for the responses.

Keg: I am mostly Melbourne based but have property in Perth as well and may move my base over there once I finally get fed up of Melbournes chiily winters.

Ani: Thanks for the feedback. I don't have much involved and to do it myself would probably not take more than 4 or so hours, I just HATE bookwork with a vengence. I am sure I am not alone.

Kristine: That is exactly what I am looking for!!. I will send you an email for some contact details (outer east is fine).

In Summary:

I am about to start a fresh entity in the new financial year and plan to get everything set up and running in a streamlined manner as much as possible.

In setting up my "team" have looked at my strengths and weakness's and decided to get onboard or outsource those activities that I am weak in.

As noted by Kristine, I want the bookkeeper to do just that, keep the books exactly as asked. I want advice to come from my accountant and solicitor and the allocation in MYOB/Quickbooks decisions to be made by my accountant; which then get implemented into the bookkeeping process for the bookkeeper to enter.

I am reasonably familiar with Quickbooks, but would like to hear from others on the benefits on MYOB vs Quickbooks vs ????? when looking at multiple properties with trusts.

Noddy