An Inside Look at How Bench Does Your Bookkeeping

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The truth is more ordinary: we’re a bunch of real people together in one big (beautiful) office, crunching numbers, staring at receipts, doing your bookkeeping. With the help of some powerful software.

We have over 100 full-time bookkeepers, and they all work in teams here at our headquarters. Once you sign up for Bench, you get matched with one of our teams through the Bench app, which looks like this:

Before coming to Bench, every small business owner does their books a little differently.

Some are ex-accountants (or current accountants!), while some don’t know what the term “bookkeeping” means exactly.

So we always start off with a phone call to get to know you and your business. This helps us understand how to categorize your transactions properly, and how to tailor your bookkeeping to your industry in a helpful way.

How we do your books

Bench isn’t just a bookkeeping company, we’re also a tech company. Which means we employ tech wizardry like API integrations and machine learning to do your books flawlessly, and fast.

Getting your expenses

In the good old days, a bookkeeper had to come to your office and pick up a shoebox of receipts to start putting all your transactions into a ledger. Well, I guess it’s still “the good old days” for most bookkeepers.

But at Bench, we go straight to the source by integrating with your bank (if they have an integration), merchant processor, and credit card company, so that all your income and expenses are pulled automatically into Bench. Oh, and we use bank-grade security and encryption. Slightly more secure than carrying receipts in a messenger bag.

So don’t worry about mailing us your receipts. Unless you made a cash transaction and only have a physical receipt to prove it. In that case, you can snap a picture and upload it to the Bench web app.

How we talk with you

Your ideal work week probably doesn’t include long meandering phone chats with your bookkeeper. So we try to stay out of your way as much as possible.

But we can’t read minds. So when we need some more info about a transaction, we message you through the Bench app. From there, you can quickly categorize the transactions we’re not sure about.

It’s also a two-way street: if you ever have a question about your financial statements or anything related to your books, shoot us a question through the app, and we’ll respond within one business day.

You can also book a call with your bookkeeper whenever you’d like. We’re always happy to nerd out about bookkeeping and your financial statements.

What you get with Bench

Here’s the tangible “stuff” your bookkeeping team is working on here at Bench.

• Your monthly financial statements: Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Top 10 Expenses Report
• Helpful visual reports that show your revenue, expenses, and profit over time
• A digital Year End Financial Package you can send to your accountant at tax time. This includes:
• Income Statement
• Balance Sheet
• Trial Balance
• Journal Entry Summary
• General Ledger

…And a lot of other things too. You can check out our Bench Features page for all the details of what you get with Bench.

How we connect with your accountant

Tax season is the worst, we get it.

The good news is, bookkeeping and getting your financial records together is the hardest part, and we do most of that for you.

After we’ve put together the Year End Financial Package your accountant needs, we’ll notify you so all you have to do is send them an email with the attachment. If your accountant has questions about how we’ve done your books or if something is missing, we can handle it, or at least send you a summary of what we couldn’t track down for you.

We can even give your accountant a login to your Bench account so they can view all your financials, and message your Bench bookkeeper directly if they have questions.

Having Bench do your taxes

With the introduction of Bench Tax, we can handle your finances all the way through to the finishing line. From the first day of joining, you get access to year-round tax advisory support with tips and tricks to minimize your tax bill. a

Once tax season comes around, a coordinator will collect all the necessary documents to complete your tax return. They ensure we have everything we need to wrap up your finances and answer any outstanding questions.

By having us take care of the books, you’re guaranteeing that you hit every deadline with seamless communication between your bookkeeper and tax professional.