Bench is America’s largest remote bookkeeping service for small businesses. They serve clients across the United States.
The company was formed in New York and has been in operation since 2002. They relocated to Vancouver, BC in 2013, and this is where all employees are based.
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About Bench.co
Bench is a software company that gives your business an all-in-one bookkeeping, banking, tax, and advisory solution (without the costly CPA price tag).
They provide business owners with:
- a dedicated bookkeeping team
- powerful and easy-to-use financial reporting software
- monthly financial statements to help keep them on top of their finances
- Stress free tax preparation and filing
Bench is a tech-savvy bookkeeping service, and use their own intuitive software as well as an app to keep in touch with clients.
You can easily connect with them directly and ensure your financial records are up to date, as well as keeping in constant communication with your assigned bookkeeping team.
Bench Intro Video
Bench Bookkeeping Services
Preparing tax returns and balancing the books is a time consuming part of running a business. Bench takes the burden of managing the financials from small business owners at an affordable price.
Using their systems and a team of bookkeepers dedicated to each client, they take the financial reporting off your hands so you can use your time working on other areas of your business.
Bench uses their software and an account manager to prepare the financials for a business on a monthly basis. They prepare cash-basis, tax-ready income statements and balance sheets and provide ongoing support.
A simple 3-step plan for new customers:
- Set up a call to discuss your business and answer any questions you have.
- Bench prepares your financials for the first month for free so you can try their service and see how it works with your business before committing.
- Review the income statement with a member of their onboarding team and decide if you want to purchase an ongoing plan.
How Bench Works
I had the chance to sit down with Sebastian Kasza, who works in Business Development for Bench, to learn more about how Bench works.
In our chat, we cover how Bench securely gets your account info, the types of customers who are the best fit, and the differences between a virtual bookkeeping service and an accountant.
VAA Exclusive: Join through my referral link and get 30% off Bench bookkeeping for your first 3 months!
Bench Plans and Pricing
Bench has 3 packages to choose from.
Each package comes with monthly cash-basis income statements and a balance sheet, Tax preparation and filings, as well as ongoing communication with the team. Plans include monthly bookkeeping for up to 15 financial accounts (e.g. bank accounts, credit cards, loans, merchant processors).
These plans range from $249 per month to $497 per month, billed annually. Rates are slightly higher for month-to-month billing.
- Core-$249 per month
- Flex – $349 per month
- Pro – $479 per month
VAA Exclusive: Join through my referral link and get 30% off Bench bookkeeping for your first 3 months!
Which plan you need is based on your projected monthly expenses. They understand that every business has some individual needs and welcome anyone to contact them directly to discuss their financials and what package would be most suitable.
They also offer a free trial. This is for one month’s worth of bookkeeping, allowing you to give their service a try and get a feel for their software and processes.
Bench.co Alternatives
Hiring a bookkeeper is one of the first additions many small businesses make.
If you are looking for an all-in admin service, I would highly recommend RemSource.
Bench is a leader in the remote bookkeeping space, despite increased competition from services like ZipBooks and Pilot.
Compared with hiring a freelance bookkeeper through a platform like FreeeUp, my contact at Bench stressed the advantages of a truly user-friendly setup without the guesswork of billable hours and unpredictable communication standards.
Your Turn
I think the one month free trial is a great opportunity to give Bench a try if you’re unsure of what to expect. If you have worked with Bench please leave some feedback below to help others with their decision.
I’ve used Bench for about 3 years now, and I really like using their platform and their communication style. They message you through the platform anytime they need something. And you can ask questions anytime you need to, also through the platform. You can schedule a call with your bookkeeper anytime you need to have a conversation with them. You can also look at your financials anytime you want, and they are always up to date with the books.
A couple things I don’t like:
1) You have to connect your bank accounts to Bench, and it seems like they’re asking me to do this every few months. Somehow, my bank accounts come “disconnected” and I need to connect them again.
2) Also it seems there is a lot of turnover at Bench. In the 3 years I’ve used them, I’ve had 4 bookkeepers. The previous ones keep leaving for other jobs. So it’s hard to establish a strong relationship with your assigned bookkeeper as they don’t stick around for a long time. At least that’s been my experience with them.
Overall, I’m happy with Bench.
I was with Bench for 2-3 years. They were always very responsive and the software is simple and good looking. Answering questions and providing additional data on certain transactions is easy. The only thing I didn’t like at the time was that their automatic bank connections were very slow and they didn’t have automatic connections to PayPal. They sometimes asked for manual upload of certain documents that should have been automatic, which is annoying for a busy business owner (one of the reasons to use a company like Bench is so that you don’t have to mess with stuff like that).
I tried Bench.co. It was very easy to get setup. I also had questions and called and spoke with a member of the team who was fairly knowledgeable. My needs are VERY simple, I have a PayPal account, business checking (so it is all business), plus a personal checking where just a few accounts (EASY to identify) have some business (a few utilities that are not pure business).
The first person to call did 2 months free (not just one) because it was so simple (I just bill for my consulting time). He identified the specific accounts I needed to have categorized and seemed to make a lot of notes and changed things on the fly. However, the second person couldn’t connect (1 email, didn’t follow up) and then sent me a bank statement for me to categorize. If I wanted to categorize–I would do it myself.
I was concerned about the data–since it was proprietary, so anything other than a PDF print out wouldn’t work–I couldn’t just use my QuickBooks (or Freshbooks – doing a trial), or Mint. I also couldn’t figure out how to export anything.
The concept was good, but the final handoff to the person who would work with me the most died (he never followed up). It was EXTREMELY easy to cancel, retains the records so I can go back in. Unless I have confidence that the person could categorize my expenses consistently, I won’t be able to trust the data–and I don’t want to touch it (that’s what I hired them for). it is not a lot at $135 but at over $1500 per year it won’t work if I can’t get it off the ground.
Maybe you might try it for longer and have a better connection. But nice folks to talk with and nice concept.