Switched from a big national bookkeeping service to a local firm and glad I did

I had been with one of those big online bookkeeping services for about 3 years. They kept swapping my account manager every 6 months and I got tired of re-explaining my business. Last November I moved to a local firm here in St. Paul and the owner actually came to my office to see how we run. It costs me $150 more a month but my quarterly reports make sense now. Anyone else had better luck with local providers over the big national ones?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_simon10d ago

Oh man, I gotta push back on that a little. It's not always about local versus national, it's about the actual person doing the work. I had a local bookkeeper for two years who was honestly worse than the big box places - she'd lose receipts and mix up my accounts all the time. The real trick is finding someone who actually understands your specific industry, not just where their office is located. You got lucky with that firm in St. Paul, but I know plenty of small business owners who got burned by local people who were nice but totally incompetent. The big national services have their place if you get a good manager, but yeah, the constant turnover is a killer.

gibson.sean10d agoTop Commenter

300 bucks an hour for a national chain's junior tax guy who just reads off a script and has zero clue how my e-commerce inventory works. That's what I got after switching from a local guy who at least knew my name. The big firms have all these layers of management that slow everything down and cost way more. My old local guy made mistakes sure, but he answered his phone at 9pm during tax season and fixed stuff same day. The nationals treat you like a number and good luck getting someone who sticks around for more than one filing cycle. I'd take a flawed local person who actually cares over a polished corporate machine that sees me as a profit center any day.