Bench Bookkeeping

Pros

Bench was critical in helping me with catch up books for tax time. Being able to upload reports easily from my bank and various credit card processors made things so much easier, and the bookkeepers learned quickly how to categorize the transactions. I'm not sure when I would have caught up on my historical books without Bench.

Going forward from there has been very easy as well. I've been able to link the reports to my card processing software and bank, and get updates as they have questions. So simple!

I find the monthly reports easy to understand and its given me a much clearer picture of my numbers.

Cons

The only challenging initial integration was with Paypal- myself and the Bench team member had a hard time linking everything. We resolved it and I didn't have that issue with other accounts.

I do wish that this software integrated with my invoicing system, so I could easily see where the profits were coming from. However, I use that system's reports to get a good idea of what's bringing in income.

Pros

It was great to see a breakdown of all three financial statements for our business, both from a macro and micro perspective. Being able to pull up accounts and see specific transactions from desktop and on the go through mobile was indispensable in running a healthy business and planning for the future. The messaging system was prompt and efficient for keeping in touch with our book keepers and account manager with any pressing questions. They were always very professional and did high quality work. Any questions or concerns with categorization and interpreting information were answered well.

Cons

I think it would be helpful to expand the software to allow for the dropping of all receipts into our account in order to have a one stop location for accessing and printing receipts for accounting and tax purposes. We were informed that only high ticket items needed receipts, and so we ended up using other third party software to track mileage and keep track of receipts.

Pros

Bench is easy to use and navigate. In the beginning, they were fantastic at answering questions I had to help understand how my bookkeeping was being handled. That's about the only good thing I have to say.

Cons

I spent more time dealing with Bench all year long than when I was doing my own bookkeeping on a simple spreadsheet. I expected a learning curve in the beginning. They promised it would get easier "as we learn about your business and transactions," but I found month after month that the same transactions got flagged needing my input. Then, when I did thorough checks on my books, I found several transactions not in the right category. The other thing I didn't like was that my bank constantly needed to be reconnected. I truly felt like I spent more time handling Bench than I would've spend just doing my own bookkeeping.

Pros

What we like most about Bench is their level of customer service. From setup to now, the team has been here with us and is extremely easy to reach out to. Beyond this, the interface is very clean, quick to load.

Cons

There are some accounts that can't be automated, but we understand this. That aside, we would like to see Bench expand and offer more all-in-one service beyond book-keeping and tax returns or make any partners more accessible (virtual CFO, CPAs would be great).

Pros

Having all the data to see my business stats has been really helpful. They call it the "Pulse" which shows you the health of your business with a way to visualize how you're doing over time. I like that a lot. Bookkeeping is really easy for me now and I'm thankful I outsourced it. I just connect my accounts and drag and drop invoices and receipts that I scan or receive into the documents section and they take care of things. They also provide a nice, clean, easy to understand summary at the end of each year so my accountant can do my taxes easily. I have no regrets going with Bench. It definitely saves me a lot of time and stress.

Cons

I wish there are some nice comparable summaries like percentage growth or changes month to month, by quarter, and YoY. Prices still feel a little high to me and I wish there was an option for invoicing and receiving payments into my checking accounts.