Finding a bookkeeper is a good move as these professionals will help you maintain your accounts and thus reduce a lot of your stress. However, you may end up with a mess hiring the wrong person.
They not only make it difficult understanding your financial records, but may also hide their mistakes and leave you 
to handle consequences. So here are some tips to help you at finding a bookkeeper for your company.
§ As bookkeeping practices vary among industries, choose one with industry-specific bookkeeping experience for your related business. A bookkeeper experienced at managing a boutique will not have the experience to handle your job for an electronics company. This is why the candidate’s relevant experience is more important than its duration.
§ Hire a bookkeeper with the skills and knowledge to perform essential bookkeeping tasks like posting and updating of journal entries, reconciling of bank statements and processing payroll and accounts payable and receivable. They should also be methodical and organized with their work, and have strong problem-solving skills to resolve discrepancies.
They should also have people skills as they will interact with your customers, vendors, and suppliers. It’s also better if you hire a bookkeeper experienced at handling the financial software application your organization uses.
§ While US bookkeepers don’t legally need a license, they can participate in various voluntary certification programs that ensure their skills and knowledge are up to date.
§ As bookkeepers need to pass a membership criteria to join professional organizations, professional membership is also an indicator of your candidate’s professional status and career commitment. Moreover, active professional memberships ensure your bookkeeper keeps current with trends, news, and practices.
§ Transparency and accountability are also important in your bookkeeper. They should be able to keep your books clean and easy for you to review the entries. Don’t hire bookkeepers you can’t trust and who leave your books in shambles. Ask for references from accountants who have worked with your bookkeeping candidates.
§ It’s always better if you interview your bookkeeper for added assurance. This way you get an idea of who the honest and reliable candidates are. Some questions you should ask during the interview are if anyone has claimed credit for work done by the bookkeeper and what the bookkeeper did about this. Also, ask if their trustworthiness has always been challenged, and if yes, how they had handled the situation.
All these tips, questions, and answers should give you an idea of how the candidate thinks and if they can face challenging scenarios in a professional environment, making finding a bookkeeper so much easier to you!