Who Pays For Bookkeeping Software

(Victoria, British Columbia)

I am hoping someone can help me out. I have only ever worked as a bookkeeper, hired as an employee... working from the businesses own office.

I am now home as my husband has started a home business and I will be doing his books.

My former employer would like me to do their books as a contracted bookkeeper. (And I will probably take on other contracted bookkeeping positions as time goes on).

My question is... how do I go about being a contracted bookkeeper instead of an employee. Who pays for the software? (I was just quoted by Sage, that with the payroll option, I will have to pay $100 a month!)

My husband doesn't need the payroll option, but my former employer does.

Thanks for any help.

Welcome to being your own boss! It's very different from being an employee. Things are more expensive, as you are finding out, because your employer is no longer paying all the expenses. This means you need to charge more for your services than you did as an employee ... so you can pay your business expenses.

That said, I believe Sage has an Accountants Network that you can join to receive the software at a discount along with other benefits. It works out to a lot less than $100 per month. They have different packages ... one of which provides the opportunity to include Microsoft Office.

Intuit also has ProAdvisor Programs - the QBO ProAdvisor Program is free to join ... and the other ProAdvisor Program is subscription based and provides access to desktop software at discounted prices as well as QBO.

If you are just starting out and wanting to grow your business, I recommend you take a look at Gabrielle Fontaine's Virtual Bookkeeper's Guide that teaches you how to setup your internal business systems for your office.

You also want to be sure you have the proper security in place, so Brook Duncan from Document Snap (Vancouver based) has an affordable guide to help you out ... Paperless Security Guide.

You may also want to consider joining the Institute of Professional Bookkeepers of Canada (IPBC).

Good luck with your new venture ... and please take the time to ensure you know CRA's rules so you don't get your clients into trouble.