Do It Yourself Bookkeeping vs Remote Bookkeeping
A Big 4 audit firm is now a player in the subscription-based bookkeeping business and is positioned to take on Intuit's QuickBooks Live Full-Service Bookkeeping. This change will replace the need for keeping bookkeepers on the payroll. Who would ever think KPMG would enter into the subscription based bookkeeping business. With a stellar KPMG brand and thousands of employees in the USA and around the world, subscription based bookkeeping services can be easily offered to their nonattest clients(basically nonaudit) and prospective clients and makes sense( and hopefully dollars) as a new business line for them. What a great idea, as long as they can deliver what they promise. Both Intuit and KPMG have great branding and the human resources to deliver virtual bookkeeping services. KPMG has a formidable catch up, but if they assign the resources and make the commitment along with the correct leadership, they are a respectable alternative to Intuit. While Inuit may have upset many loyal accountants who have been loyal QuickBooks proponents for years, and now with Intuit's entry into the subscription based bookkeeping, may have hurt their brand and relationship with some accountants who provide local bookkeeping services.
Analysis
Like any other business, these two accounting icons are trying new ways to increase their revenue streams, the newest of which, is subscription based bookkeeping. Both QuickBooks and KPMG Spark provide bookkeeping software and subscription based bookkeeping provided by qualified individuals. Currently, most businesses hire a full time bookkeeper(s) or part time bookkeeper(s) to do the daily bookkeeping, now the subscription business model is being applied to the bookkeeping profession. Whether the service being provided is from subscription based bookkeeping or from the traditional monthly or annual hourly rate bookkeeping, four key time tested ingredients to a selecting a bookkeeper are competence, problem resolution, relationship with owner and price. These decision factors have not changed and will always remain important. Each firm has their own proprietary software with similar functionality, however proprietary software, begs the question such as, is the software customizable, does it easily import or export as needed, does the reporting meet your business needs, can you as the owner, access and use the software in the event your virtual bookkeeper is unavailable and there are many more considerations, ad infinitum ad nauseam. Selecting a subscription based bookkeeping service is not as easy as you might think, but as long you consider the four factors above and price should being the least important, you are on the road to make a correct decision. On one hand, I would consider that Intuit's QuickBooks Online software is the DeFacto standard and that attribute should be highly considered in your decision. While on the other hand, I would consider that if select Spark you are in the KPMG ecosystem, which also gives you’re the ability to discuss your tax and accounting issues with one of KPMG’s other experts. Also, with more than 30,000 KPMG professionals, they have the accounting specialization to address almost all business and specialized industry questions. As a side point for accounting professionals, KPMG Spark offers the ability to white label the Spark brand for other bookkeepers and CPA firms.
Recommendation
You may want to discuss this decision with your accountant for two reasons. This will enable your accountant to help you in the selection of a subscription based bookkeeping service or alternately, gives your accountant the last chance to determine if they are able to provide the bookkeeping services, since no one likes to give up business to a competitor and your accountant has a basic understanding of you and your business. One last tip, before you ask your accountant for help, make sure they understand either Intuit's QuickBooks or KPMG's Spark accounting software. The foregoing assumes you have a good relationship with your accountant and you are not considering to fire them.