CAN BOOKKEEPERS WORK FROM HOME?

 

Trying to balance work and family?  Single mom challenges and expenses with childcare?

Remote work is certainly on the rise, and with the financial field especially, bookkeeping is the most common remote work. (Read more on how to start your own Bookkeeping Business here)

In fact bookkeeping can be done very effectively remotely and more and more Bookkeepers are choosing to work from home.

Key Elements for Bookkeepers working from home

• Attention to detail
• Good acumen with numbers
• Keeping good order and organizational skills

If you have any of these key elements AND need to juggle family life, this option might be just for you.

Benefits for the company or clients

Companies are starting to enjoy the benefit of reducing their overheads by having minimal risk, but yet highly essential functions like bookkeepers working remotely.

If you have built up your own clientele, they have the benefit of the skill pro rata for the services and hours they can afford without having to employ a full time Bookkeeper. (see blog on How to start your own business)

What is also beneficial to both companies and you, is that you can work after hours, which will allow you peace and quiet and allow the work to be on the clients’ desk when they start their day.

Still deciding if this is for you, have a look at the benefits of working from home

• You are truly independent.
  It’s much more than just the benefit of going to work in your pajamas. Working from home means you’ll learn to rely on self-motivation, self-discipline, focus, and concentration.
  “As you work through your career, those are really critical components for success,”  “It sounds simple and obvious but the time management and scheduling you have to do is an important skill to have.” – Dawn Fay, senior district president for Robert Half, a recruitment and staffing company

• You can get more work done. As long as you’re not sneaking off to binge Netflix, you can actually be more productive when working from home.
  “For starters, the remote worker isn’t spending hours commuting,” says J.P. Giugliano, partner at talent acquisition firm WinterWyman. In fact, when Giugliano works remotely, he says it adds three hours of stress-free productivity to his day. Plus, you won’t have the occasional annoyances of office life: interruptions, loud co-workers, chatter, et cetera.

• You’ll become a communications expert. When having a quick meeting in the break room isn’t possible, you have to get up to speed on what communication tools are available, says Fay. “From texting, Skyping, emailing, web meetings—out of necessity, you become very savvy in all of those.”

But as with all things, there might be some cons as well:

• You may forget to clock out.
  While people might think working from home means doing less, the opposite might be true for diligent employees. So be careful to not “switch” off and clock-out.
• You can feel out of the loop.
  You might not realize it until you’re not there, but there is a lot of casual collaboration that happens in an office, says Fay. Whether it’s picking up on the best practices of your colleagues or having an impromptu brainstorming session over lunch, it’s hard to replicate that from home.
• You might not have full access to technology platforms.
  There are situations in which data security or consumer protection concerns might prevent telecommuters from having full access. So it is best to just check that these can be overcome.
• Co-workers might accuse you of slacking.
  When you work from home and can’t get to a call or email right away, your co-workers may not give you as much leeway as they might if you were in the office. People might wonder if you’re taking it easy rather than pulling your weight. “Remember,” says Fay, “the onus is on the work-from-home individual to be over-communicating what they’re doing and what they’re accomplishing.”

With the above being said, being able to work as a Bookkeeper from home is still a viable and valid option.

Want to start on the road to become a Bookkeeper? Have a look at the ICB Financial Accounting programme here.

 

Sources: https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/pros-cons-of-working-from-home