Gold Coast Bookkeeping Rates – What’s Reasonable?

Owning and operating a small business on the Gold Coast has its challenges. With each quarter bringing a new set of issues – along with reporting duties that need to be fulfilled – you need to stay on top of all of the various aspects of your business if you want to stay ahead. You want to have your bookkeeping well arranged for when the ATO comes around, so having a qualified and experienced bookkeeper is a great investment.

There is one issue that remains somewhat sticky when it comes to bookkeepers. That issue revolves around the hourly rate for services. Hourly rates can be difficult to determine and can be difficult to wrap one’s head around. There are various factors and services to consider when choosing a bookkeeper that fits your business’ needs. In this article, we’ll examine a few of those factors and try to zero in on just what constitutes a reasonable rate for bookkeeping on the Gold Coast.

 

Factors for Determining Rates

There are a few different levels of bookkeeping that business owners need to know and understand. You’ll need to know just who you’re hiring in order to be sure they’re the right fit for what your business needs at the moment. Here are some of the levels that you may need:

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Data Entry Only

This level is self-explanatory. If you only need someone to enter your figures, then you’ll only need someone on the lowest level in your organisation.

 

Daily Transactions

This level of bookkeeping is a little more involved. In order to hire someone for this bookkeeping, you’ll need to have someone that has a more in-depth knowledge of your business’s inner workings. This person will probably have to follow up on accounts receivable and handle the creation of invoices and purchases.

 

End of Period

When you need a bookkeeper to handle end of period you will need someone who you can trust with sensitive company data. This bookkeeper could perform payroll functions as well as journal entries for depreciation. They could also be tasked with taking care of intercompany transfers and other more complicated bookkeeping tasks.

 

Registered BAS Agent

This bookkeeper can do any and all bookkeeping for your business. They are certified professionals and will have the knowledge necessary to take care of whatever tasks they are given. If you need a true professional, a Gold Coast BAS Agent is the right choice.

 

Services to Consider and What They Would Cost

As mentioned above, with each level of bookkeeper there can be different services that each are able to provide. Here is a list of some of the services that a great bookkeeper should be able to provide with no issue:

 

Bookkeeping Setup

Whatever system your small business uses, a good bookkeeper will be able to adapt and properly set up the accounting system so that it’s easy to use for the bookkeeper and easy to view for the owner.

 

Data Entry

This is a time consuming task for business owners but is vital to the success of the business. Properly arranging the data is essential to keeping sound books – you wouldn’t want the payroll figures to fall into accounts payable, for example. A proper bookkeeper will be able to sift through the figures and properly organise the data.

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Accounts Receivable

Accounts receivable is also a difficult set of books to track since it can sometimes mean literally tracking down the people or entities who have yet to pay for services rendered. With a good bookkeeper on staff, you’ll be able to sort out invoices and get paid.

 

End of Period Reconciliation

With a good bookkeeper on hand, ensuring the entered data and the bank statements match up is a breeze. Incorrect amounts can be easily discovered, reconciled BAS reports are handled easily, unreconciled transactions are taken care of, and even a pre-submission audit of sorts can be performed by a proper bookkeeper.

 

Payroll

You want to keep your staff happy and paid up, so having a bookkeeper keeping an eye on the payroll side of things is another great use of their abilities.

 

BAS Preparation

As long as your bookkeeper has skilfully entered the data correctly, the BAS preparation won’t take very long. It’s still an essential part of the bookkeeping process for small business owners, so you’ll want this handled with as much care as the rest of the bookkeeping duties.

 

So….What’s a Reasonable Price for Bookkeeping?

 

Considering all the factors mentioned above, you will want to decide just what you need a bookkeeper to take care of within your business. If you only need data entry or daily transactions to be handled, you will be more likely to be able to negotiate a better service rate for a bookkeeper. If you need end of period reconciliation or BAS preparations made in addition to the data entry, you could be looking at anywhere between $50 – $90 an hour on the Gold Coast on average.

In the end, it comes down to the quality of work you want to pay for. For instance, would you pay someone $20 an hour for an unqualified bookkeeper to spend 4 hours on a job or pay $50 or more an hour for a professional bookkeeper to handle the task in half the time? It’s a value for money question that small business owners make every day.

If you want a truly affordable bookkeeping firm to take care of your books for you, then give Darcy Bookkeeping a ring. Our services start at $33/hour for qualified and experienced bookkeeping experts. Our team is proficient with most accounting software packages and will be able to provide you with excellent bookkeeping at a price that’s more than fair.