More than a third of current Bench customers have made the same switch from QuickBooks. Here are some of the most common questions we’ve heard over the years from small business owners thinking of making the switch from DIY to done-for-you.
I’ve been using QuickBooks for a long time. I’m worried that my books won’t look the same anymore and I won’t be able to customize.
We get it. Everybody’s business is different and what works with one set of books may not work for another. Bench uses standardized ledgers in line with IRS guidelines, which means that for every expense that is tax deductible, we have a ledger for it. This makes it super easy for you or your CPA to determine what can be included on your tax return at year-end.
However, we’re happy to help you create exactly what you want to see. Even though we’re doing the bookkeeping for you, these are still your books. Need a custom ledger specific to your ecommerce business? Want certain transactions to be tagged to help you differentiate expenses between partners? No problem. Your bookkeeping team is always a message or phone call away and can help you set up your books exactly the way you want.
"Bench helped me replace QuickBooks, and save about 6 hours per month of horrible accounting work, which is priceless."
Chris Ronzio, CEO, Trainual
I want to try Bench but I’m nervous that if I don’t like it, I won’t be able to transfer my bookkeeping back to QuickBooks. Will I be locked in?
Short answer: No, you won’t be locked in.
Bench offers everyone a free trial month—no credit card or contract required. In this trial, we give you a rundown of how Bench works and do one month of historical bookkeeping for you. Once we’re done, we walk you through the Bench platform and show you your shiny new financial statements.
If you’ve been with Bench for a few months and still don’t think it’s for you, that’s okay too. We never delete your account, so you can log in and access your reports whenever you need them (when you cancel your QuickBooks Online subscription, you have read-only access to your data for one year only).
We'll also provide you with a financial export of your books so that you can use the data for any future bookkeeping solution.
I use QuickBooks for multiple things, like payroll and invoicing. Does Bench do that?
Bench specializes in bookkeeping. It’s hard to be the best in the world at two things.
But we do integrate and partner with other companies who we think are the best in the world at what they do.
If you have a payroll or invoicing setup you like (even if it’s QuickBooks), you can keep on using it when you switch to Bench.
If you’re looking for Bench to guide you on the payroll, invoicing, and payments path, we will happily connect you with one of our partners who integrate really well with Bench.
Some of our featured partnerships include:
- Stripe
- Square
- MindBody
- Shopify
- Gusto
- FreshBooks
"Bench is a slick service and they integrate into everything I do automatically–Amazon, eBay, PayPal, Stripe, Square, banks, and payroll."
Jon Smejkal, Owner, OCD Tronic
I’m concerned my CPA won’t trust Bench. Isn’t QuickBooks the industry standard?
CPAs want accurate, clean books. The form it comes in matters much less to them.
At Bench, your bookkeeper works directly with your CPA and provides them with exactly what they need at tax time. Your CPA can message your bookkeeper directly with questions or log in to your account to download reports that they need without taking time from your busy schedule.
Even though Bench uses cash basis accounting, if your accountant requests accrual adjustments, we can do that too via the modified cash basis method.
"Clients using Bench won’t need to do anything. We can sign in to their Bench portal ourselves and pull everything we need. We love it when our clients have professional bookkeeping."
Why is Bench more expensive than QuickBooks?
Bench and QuickBooks offer two different services. QuickBooks is a software that you use to do your own bookkeeping. Bench is a service that does your bookkeeping for you.
Why is QuickBooks so cheap? You’re paying yourself to be your own bookkeeper.
As a small business owner, you know how valuable your time is. If you spend 10 hours a month bookkeeping, that’s 10 hours of administrative work that could be spent on revenue-generating activities. That adds up to a lot of hours (and lost revenue) in a year.
