What’s a Typical Day for a Freelance Bookkeeper?
What does a typical day look like for a freelance bookkeeper? If you’ve ever asked yourself that question, you may be surprised by the answer. That’s because a typical day is anything but typical for most freelance bookkeepers.
Some days you could spend the entire day on one client’s books. Other days you could be doing the payroll for one client, handling government remittances for a couple of other businesses and then finishing off your day by doing Month End for another company.
If you have larger clients with more paperwork, you’ll obviously be spending more time posting Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable. As a result, you’ll probably be working on their file at least a few times a week. In addition, these clients tend to have more staff and accordingly a larger payroll with the associated paperwork this entails.
Many smaller clients simply need their month end paperwork and bank reconciliations completed, so you’ll typically only do their books for a few hours a month. They may also have payroll and government remittances for you to take care of. If the client pays their remittances themselves, you’ll likely be filling out the forms for them and including this with the paperwork that you return to them each month.
There are so many variables based on the number of clients, as well as the type and size of businesses involved, that it’s almost impossible to demonstrate what a typical day would look like. But that’s the beauty of being a freelance bookkeeper. As long as you have enough bookkeeping work to keep you busy throughout the day, every day is different.
Obviously some of the tasks you do will be repetitive to a certain degree. But I’ve found that each business has their own “personality” or “way” of doing things, which keeps things interesting. No two businesses are the same. For example, some small business owners may hand you their paperwork neatly organized and others will give you a pile of receipts that you have to sort out yourself.
So if you’re considering becoming a freelance bookkeeper, I guarantee that as long as you love the practice of bookkeeping itself and have enough clients to keep you busy, you’ll never be bored.
