How to Hire an Asset, Not a Liability

How to Hire an Asset, Not a Liability

Finding the right employee to fill any position is important but it becomes even more critical when you are filling a bookkeeping position. This person is responsible for inputting & maintaining your valuable financial information. If it is not accurate, the repercussions could be devastating to your business! Not only could it cause problems with the IRS & State Government but also with vendors, customers, creditors, etc.

If you hire the wrong person, it can cost you nearly 3 times
that persons’ monthly salary to correct the mistake.
Source: American Management Association

Whether you are hiring a staff bookkeeper or a 3rd party bookkeeping service, you need someone in charge of your books who has the training and experience to get the job done right. But finding a quality bookkeeper can be a challenge – unless you know what to look for.

FIRST, they need the right qualifications (resume)

It’s important to understand that bookkeepers are not necessarily the same as accountants. An accountant’s job is to provide financial advice and prepare taxes ~ a bookkeeper’s job entails the day to day things like recording income & expenses, reconciling bank statements, processing invoices & administering payroll.

The qualifications to look for in a good bookkeeper include:

ACCOUNTING KNOWLEDGE - Many people think only an accountant needs accounting knowledge. The truth is anyone who has anything to do with your financial information needs an understanding of accounting and how the big picture all fits together. This will help to ensure that your records are accurate & it will save you a lot of money because your CPA won’t have to spend as much time “fixing” things before they do your taxes.

EXPERIENCE - Although education & training are important, there is no substitute for experience. A qualified bookkeeper may or may not have a degree in accounting - some of the best bookkeepers you’ll find don’t. In fact, hiring someone that has only completed a couple of bookkeeping courses and has no actual bookkeeping experience is a recipe for disaster.

TECHNOLOGICALLY COMPETENT - You want to keep your books on a computer, not by hand, so ensure that your bookkeeper is competent in using a computerized bookkeeping program like QuickBooks.

FAMILIAR WITH INDUSTRY - Having a bookkeeper that is familiar with your industry will shorten the learning curve & provide better details.


NEXT, they need the right personality (interview)

While it is important to make sure the applicant will “fit in” with the other members of your team, you also want to make sure they have a “bookkeeper” personality!


DETAIL ORIENTED - Bookkeepers live for details & accuracy. Therefore, it is vital for them to have detail-oriented personalities. If the person seems disorganized during the interview, that’s a good sign that they may not be the right person for the job.

INTEGRITY – Not only do you want someone who won’t steal from you but you also want someone who will make sure no one else is either! Also, someone with integrity will understand the importance of confidentiality and not discuss company financial information with ANYONE. If the applicant divulges private information during an interview about other companies they have worked for, you can be sure they will do the same with your company information.

PROBLEM SOLVER – Problems arise almost daily in any business. You want a bookkeeper who is a thinker and who is willing to help figure out solutions.

PROACTIVE – A good bookkeeper isn’t afraid to ask questions if they don’t understand – they don’t just “wing it” or code everything to “miscellaneous”. Also, a proactive bookkeeper may help anticipate financial issues before they arise - keeping “issues” from becoming “problems”.


FINALLY, you need to verify their qualifications & their personality!


There are 3 types of applicants:
Those that tell the truth about their job experience, those that exaggerate & those that lie!

Many businesses still make staffing decisions based on a resume & an interview. Although both are important to the hiring process, they are not enough to insure a proper fit. In addition to a work reference check, you may also want to verify academic credentials by calling their college. A credit history check and a criminal background check are good tools to help reduce the risk of embezzlement. Pre-employment testing is also a very valuable & under-utilized tool!

The best way to increase the chances of hiring the ideal employee
is to test the applicant for the required skills.
Source: American Management Association

Pre-employment tests include the cognitive ability test (predict future job performance), the personality test (evaluate social interaction skills), the aptitude test (assess basic academic knowledge), the integrity test and the specialized skills tests (QuickBooks or other software). You will probably not want to give an applicant all of these tests, but you should look at each of them to determine which would be most beneficial to your company.
• Most of these tests can be found at www.resourceassociates.com
• The American Management Association recommends the DISC test (a personality test), it can be found at www.internetassessments.com.
• A QuickBooks skills assessment exam can be found at www.qbtests.com. These exams are industry specific so the applicant is tested on the skills they will need for your business. Also, the feedback from the test isn’t just a test score; it’s an overview of what level of user they are & what duties they should be able to perform in QuickBooks.
(These websites are my personal favorites but there are other sites offering these services).


The expression “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” applies 10 fold when hiring a bookkeeper. If you don’t spend the time and money finding the right person to begin with ~ you will spend much more time and money cleaning up their mistakes and starting the hiring process all over again.


The bottom line is finding a qualified bookkeeper is PRICELESS!