![]() A longer membership plan has added benefits than a shorter membership plan. Membership comes in three tiers: $60 for one year, $120 for two years, and $180 for three years. As an AIPB member, you’ll get access to personal help regarding bookkeeping and payroll, and membership discounts. This certification is ideal if you don’t have any formal education in the bookkeeping and accounting field. Once certified, you’ll earn the right to put the letters CB (stands for Certified Bookkeeper) behind your name and display this on your resume and business cards, which will give you an edge with potential clients. American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB): To become AIPB-certified, you must meet the 3,000-hour work experience requirement and pass a certification exam, which costs $574 for members and $734 for non-members. ![]() There are two top professional bookkeeper organizations that we recommend you certify with: ![]() Unlike CPAs, these certifications aren’t regulated by the state, so be sure to choose a large, reputable organization so that the certification is meaningful and respected. If you’re a certified public accountant (CPA), you probably won’t benefit from becoming a certified bookkeeper, but you still might consider becoming certified in whatever accounting software you choose to use.Įven if you don’t have formal education in accounting or bookkeeping, you can become a certified bookkeeper before starting your own bookkeeping business. ![]() One of the fastest ways to gain credibility with potential clients is to prove that you have the knowledge necessary to do bookkeeping, payroll, and perhaps tax returns. If you do decide to prepare tax returns, be sure to get professional liability insurance. It’s not difficult to learn how to fill out tax forms, but there’s much more to know to adequately advise your clients. Tax returns: Only provide tax return preparation to your clients if you have tax expertise.Be sure to pick a client software package that can easily be expanded to include payroll. Payroll: If your bookkeeping business provides payroll services, you’ll need to not only issue payments to your client’s employees but also track and pay payroll taxes.You can submit payments to their vendors or simply provide a list of bills that need to be paid. Bill payment: You can provide value to your clients by tracking their unpaid bills.Even if you don’t prepare and mail the invoices, you can collect, deposit, and track customer payments. Invoicing: Some bookkeeping businesses will prepare and mail invoices to their client’s customers.The result is typically a basic set of financial statements at the end of each month. Basic bookkeeping: Basic bookkeeping usually includes entering banking transactions, classifying payments, and reconciling bank statements.Here are some of the common services offered by bookkeeping businesses: You might add more later, but knowing your initial offerings are important so that you can choose the right certifications and software. You should decide what services your bookkeeping business will initially offer. While choosing a niche will greatly reduce your available client base, it makes it much easier to gain expertise and distinguish yourself from your competitors. For example, construction companies compute their profit by project, truck drivers have special tax rules for computing travel expenses, and restaurants have a very high volume of relatively low-value inventory items to track. The best niches to consider are those that have unique bookkeeping challenges. It’s much easier to become an expert in accounting for a particular business niche than for all businesses in general. The next decision is whether to focus on a particular small business niche or offer services to all small businesses. You should plan on paying for help with online advertising, web design, search engine optimization (SEO), and website content management. While it’s tempting to offer your services online to a worldwide audience, it adds a lot of complexity to your operations. You should first decide whether your target market will be limited to your surrounding area, or if you’ll offer online services.
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