Best Bookkeeping Companies for Startups

Bookkeeping is essential to providing an organized view of income and expenses—and it’s imperative that your startup has an established bookkeeping practice, no matter how early it is in its tenure. While the core of bookkeeping is keeping finances organized and books balanced, good bookkeeping can go a long way toward helping a startup grow, manage its finances and make the decisions to cater to its unique financial needs.

While startups can bring a basic bookkeeping professional in-house, it’s often more practical and affordable to work with a partner who knows what they’re doing and can tailor your services. Working with a qualified partner also helps ensure that you can stay compliant with any regulations.

So who can you work with? There’s a range of options, from leading companies like Graphite Financial to programs like Zeni to smaller, local CPA firms.

Why Bookkeeping Services Matter for Startups

Bookkeeping services help organize important financial data like income and expenses—and when your finances are properly organized, it allows leadership to make faster, better decisions about how to operate your startup. Bookkeeping also helps startups with a variety of other crucial tasks, such as:

• Cash flow management
• Regulatory compliance
• Financial forecasting
• And more

While startups can always bring a financial professional on as a full-time employee, that’s usually not the best means for getting the expertise you need at a cost that you can afford. That’s where it can make sense to work with a qualified partner—you’ll save money versus hiring a full-time employee and still have access to the expertise of the financial professional you partner with. An experienced partner can also help take any guesswork out of managing your startup’s books, reducing errors and streamlining efficiency.

Top Bookkeeping Companies for Startups

From leading companies and big name accounting firms to small, local CPAs, startups have options when it comes to selecting a bookkeeping company. Here’s a look at some of the top bookkeeping companies for startups:

1. Graphite Financial

With a specialty in helping startups, Graphite’s expertise is in financial modeling, revenue recognition and fractional CFO services. When you partner with Graphite, your startup will be assigned a dedicated accountant with experience in your specific industry to best suit your needs. Graphite uses cutting edge bookkeeping and accounting solutions and can tailor its services specific to your startup and scale with it as it grows.

2. Zeni

Zeni is an AI bookkeeping software that’s specifically catered to startups. It offers advanced automation and comes complete with real-time dashboards so business leaders always have a beat on their financial picture. Zeni is also particularly well-known for its ability to handle complex and more advanced financial operations seamlessly.

3. LocalCPAs

The other main option that startups have is their local CPA firm, which often provides tailored bookkeeping and consulting services. Some of the key advantages of working with a local CPA are industry knowledge, a more personalized approach and local community involvement.

How to Choose the Right Bookkeeping Company

Selecting the right bookkeeping company isn’t much different from selecting any partner—you need to weigh the level of expertise that you’re receiving with various intangibles. For instance, some of the key factors that you’re going to want to weigh include industry expertise, experience, pricing and software integration. Additionally, as a startup, you want to work with a partner that can scale and grow along with your business.

Aside from the basics, there are various intangibles you’ll want to consider. For instance, what’s the preferred method of communication with your bookkeeping partner? How easy or difficult is it to get a hold of them when you need something? Does their company culture and core values match that of your startup? Make sure you weigh more than just professional services, but other factors that will define the working relationship as well.

Benefits of Hiring a Bookkeeping Company in New York

New York has various tax laws and other compliance requirements that may be difficult for a startup to manage on its own. That’s another big benefit of working with a bookkeeping company in New York – you’ll have access to more than just high-quality financial services, but the know-how of managing the various intangibles that come with doing business in the region as well.

Working with a New York bookkeeping company also means more personalized service and in-person meetings simply based on proximity.

Key Services Offered by Bookkeeping Companies

Bookkeeping companies do a lot more than just manage a startup’s financials. They ensure that financial transactions, such as income, expenses, and payments, are accurately recorded and organized. Some other key services that also stem from bookkeeping include:

• Financial reports
• Payroll services and management
• Tax services and preparation
• Financial management and forecasting
• Revenue recognition
• Cash flow management
• Accounting automation
• And more

What’s more is that the services offered by a qualified bookkeeping company are easily able to scale to reflect the startup’s varying needs as it hits different stages of growth.

Choose the Right Bookkeeping Partner

Choosing the right bookkeeping partner with online bookkeeping services is an important decision for startups that are looking to outsource this duty. Perhaps the most important consideration is choosing a partner who’s not just highly qualified but has the industry-specific experience and accounting expertise that a startup may lack. That’s one of the biggest value propositions to working with Graphite, as it specifically caters its services to startups and growth-stage companies.

Partner with Graphite to Elevate Your Startup

For more information on Graphite’s leading bookkeeping and startup accounting services, contact us today to schedule a free consultation. We’re standing by and ready to help your startup flourish. Contact us today to learn more.

FAQs

What services do bookkeeping companies offer?

Bookkeeping services help organize income and expenses. Some of the key services they provide include cash flow management, regulatory compliance, financial forecasting, tax filing services/preparation, and payroll management, among others.

How much do bookkeeping services typically cost?

Cost depends on various factors such as the type of service you need, the complexity of your startup’s financials, the size of your startup and more. Generally, outsourced bookkeeping costs between $500 and $2,500 per month.

What’s the difference between bookkeeping and accounting?

Bookkeeping involves recording and organizing income and expenses. Accounting tends to take the information from bookkeeping and make further sense of it.

Should I choose a local CPA or a larger firm for my startup?

The partner that you select depends on a variety of factors, which may include industry expertise, the ability to scale with your business, price range and other factors. There’s also personal preference and various intangibles to consider. To determine whether a local CPA or larger firm would be best for your startup, carefully weigh all the various factors against what you’re looking for in an ideal partner.

How do I know if outsourcing bookkeeping is right for my company?

For a startup, outsourcing is the right move if you either know you cannot afford to hire a bookkeeper full-time or if you want to ensure the experience and expertise matches the level of service that you’re looking for. In most cases, an external partner will be able to check both of these boxes.

Can bookkeeping companies handle taxes and payroll?

In most cases, a bookkeeper can handle payroll. They may also be able to handle taxes, but this service is often performed by a separate professional.