Why You Should Hire a Filipino Bookkeeper
MISTY WILLIAMS
Founder, Marketect Media
One of the biggest headaches I’ve dealt with as a business owner is keeping up with the financial responsibilities of managing a business. Tasks like invoicing, payroll, paying bills, monitoring cash flow, making sales tax or income tax payments and more just suck my life force.
And I’m not alone in that … U.S. Bank study found that a staggering 82% of small businesses fail due to poor cash flow management.
I’d bet if a follow-up study were done, you’d see that in a lot of small businesses, the owner was the one doing the cash flow management and s/he gets an F (that was me).
Paying for a part-time or full-time bookkeeper as a direct response business used to seem like a luxury that I couldn’t justify spending margin on …
And yet, it turns out that one of the best things I’ve done to lower the noise and stress of growing a business is to hire a part-time (who became full-time) bookkeeper from the Philippines. In fact, I will never, ever try to run a business without one again.
The cost for a part-time (20 hours weekly) bookkeeper from the Philippines is similar to what you’ll pay a bookkeeper who does month-end bank account / credit card reconciliation and reporting in the United States. You’ll get the reconciliation and reporting that you’re used to, plus a top-notch bookkeeper will:
- Manage cash flow and budgets for the company to make sure you have accurate financial info to make business decisions
- Pay bills and maintain updated records of invoices and receipts
- Manage invoicing and collections; ensure invoices are paid on time or processed to cards on file
- File tax forms and payments, like quarterly tax payments and monthly sales tax payments
- Manage daily, weekly and monthly reporting on important financial KPIs to support the team in running the business profitably
- Manage the personal books of the business owner to ensure their bills are paid, personal accounts reconciled and personal budgets managed
And because this bookkeeper is involved in the day-to-day of the business, they more readily notice account discrepancies that need to be investigated and find fraudulent activity.
Hiring from the Philippines (or anywhere offshore) does not mean lowering your standards for skills and competency.
There is an excellent pool of very qualified bookkeepers in the Philippines with 4-year degrees in accounting or similar fields, adept at GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and experienced working with Western companies in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, etc.
I’ve even placed Controllers for US companies from the Philippines … the talent is really robust.
I recommend you keep a CPA to handle your taxes, and some clients have had good experiences working with their Filipino bookkeepers on the tax front, too.
Why Consider Offshore Bookkeeping?
When you hire a bookkeeper in the Philippines, you’re tapping into skilled professionals who are skilled in GAAP and are trained in accounting best practices.
All our placements pass a Quickbooks software test to ensure they are skilled in this popular accounting program that almost all our clients use for their books.
Many of our clients need intermediate or advanced Excel skills, so we test for that too.
There’s a reason so many Fortune 1000 companies outsource entire departments to the Philippines … as a former US territory, the Philippines has a well-established reputation as a leading outsourcing destination for the Western world.
As a population, Filipinos’ English proficiency is high, they are familiar with American culture and they have an educated populace that can fill professional roles.
I have always been able to source bookkeepers for my clients and me on a schedule that will overlap with US work schedules … don’t sacrifice collaboration! The schedules we place the most are 3 am to noon CST, 3 pm to 12 am CST, or straight US hours: 9 am to 6 pm CST.
The 9 am to 6 pm CST schedule can be harder to source because it’s a straight overnight shift for the Philippines, but if you offer a higher rate, you can find great talent who will do it with pleasure.
The Ultimate Win-Win
One of my favorite things about working with Filipinos is the dedication and joy that many Filipino professionals bring to their work. This enthusiasm often translates into excellent collaboration and a strong work ethic. My bookkeeper manages my entire life: three businesses and our personal books too.
And we’ve placed many bookkeepers, and have a really solid track record of success!
I loved working with Misty and her team! They made it super easy for me to find an Executive Assistant/Bookkeeper. I ended up hiring one of the first two she sent me and I am still working with the girl 5 months later. Using her as a recruiting service is the best way to find exactly what you are looking for and quickly.
Marketect was introduced by a good friend of mine, her experience with you was excellent, and I opted to try hiring from you guys for our hiring needs.
Needless to say, our experience is great! We already have 2 hires from you, Nico's doing great, even in the early days of his employment. We're excited to start the training for Mark this 19th, and really looking forward to hiring another person from your team!
Thank you, Marketect!
Our clients trust Marketect Media to source talent to help them grow and scale their businesses because we know how to vet candidates well and manage the nitty-gritty details of the hiring process.
- Our recruiting process is thorough. We start with understanding the unique needs of your company to ensure we tailor the search specifically to your requirements.
- We vet candidates’ skills, English proficiency, work ethic and cultural fit. For a bookkeeping role, our candidates have to pass an English test, typing test and Quickbooks test, and some clients choose to give candidates a paid test project to further assess their skills.
- Our candidates must have adequate processing speeds and internet download speeds. We test to make sure each candidate has adequate processing speeds and storage on their computer and good internet download speeds.
- Our candidates take robust personality tests so our clients know what they’re getting in their new hire.
- Our background checking is robust. We do skip tracing and reach out to recent references to learn more about their experiences with the candidates. If our clients prefer, we can also do a paid background check that searches police records, performs a credit check and other robust investigating to ensure you’re hiring an excellent candidate who has integrity.
- Our process boasts a 95% placement success rate, giving you confidence that we’ll find the perfect fit for your team.
We take pride in offering an affordable solution that taps into the talented Filipino workforce, helping direct response businesses scale affordably with top-performing talent!
My best tips for successfully working with an offshore bookkeeper from the Philippines:
- Take the time to map workflows and create an intention onboarding plan with good training to hedge for success
- Have a collaborative communication space like Slack where the team collaborates in real time
- Have the team work a schedule that overlaps with yours to ensure great collaboration
- Use a time tracking tool like Time Doctor that can monitor login / logout times, allows billing to various projects so you can audit productivity as needed, and reveals low activity times where someone may be logged in but not working.
- Schedule weekly 1:1 meetings between your team members and their supervisor to give them the opportunity to get support, collaborate, and ensure they’re focused on your top priorities.
Reach out if you’re interested in hiring from the Philippines for your business!