But So-and-So is cheaper!

I’ll bet they are. There are more freelance bookkeepers than ever these days. Online “coaches” are telling people “anybody can start a bookkeeping business” and “you don’t need to know anything to be a bookkeeper.” Online freelancing platforms are connecting business owners to “cheap” off-shore labor that knows literally nothing about the U.S. tax code or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). It’s a disaster for small businesses. I have lost count of the number of business owners who have come to me frustrated after they realize their “bookkeeper” doesn’t understand basic accounting tasks and principals. The business owner is in the the dark about the financial status of their business, checks are bouncing all over the place, and they are facing a clean-up bill to correct work they already paid an amateur to do. A “cheap” bookkeeper is a very expensive mistake. A knowledgeable, trustworthy bookkeeper is worth way more than she ever charges you.