12 questions to ask before hiring a bookkeeper

Qualifications and registration

1. Are you a registered BAS agent?

Anyone providing BAS services for a fee in Australia, preparing and lodging activity statements included, has to be a registered BAS agent with the Tax Practitioners Board or work under one who is. Registration takes qualifications, experience and ongoing obligations to maintain. You can verify any agent on the TPB's public register, and you should before you sign anything.

2. What qualifications does your team hold?

Ask about formal qualifications, not just years on the job. A CPA or chartered accountant leading the firm signals a deeper technical bench than bookkeeping certificates alone, and that difference matters the moment your situation stops being simple.

3. Do you carry professional indemnity insurance?

Registered agents are required to hold appropriate cover, but ask anyway. A professional who hesitates on this one is telling you something worth hearing.

How the work gets done

4. Who will do my books day to day?

The person who wins your business isn't always the person who does the work. Ask who handles your file day to day, where they're based, how they're supervised, and what happens when they go on leave. There's no single right answer here, but you deserve a straight one.

5. What software do you work in, and who owns the file?

You want a bookkeeper fluent in your platform, and you want the subscription and data sitting in your name, not theirs. If a provider insists on owning your file, find out exactly what happens the day you decide to leave.

6. Can you run payroll, including awards and STP?

Payroll's where bookkeeping errors hurt the most. Ask specifically about award interpretation, Single Touch Payroll, super deadlines and terminations. Vague reassurance here is a warning sign, not an answer.

7. What does your month end process look like?

A capable bookkeeper can describe a repeatable close: bank reconciliations, payroll and super checks, GST coding review, and reports delivered by a consistent date. No process to describe? You'll get whatever that particular month happened to allow.

Reporting, communication and cost

8. What will I receive each month, and when?

Ask to see a sample report pack. You want more than a profit and loss export: some commentary, a balance sheet that's actually reconciled, and numbers arriving on a promised day rather than whenever.

9. How do you communicate, and how fast do you respond?

Agree the channel and the expected turnaround before you start. Slow, evasive communication is the single most common complaint owners have about their bookkeeper, and it never gets better on its own.

10. How do you charge, and what is excluded?

Fixed monthly pricing suits most small businesses because it makes the cost predictable and removes that meter running feel of hourly billing. Whatever the model, get inclusions and exclusions in writing, especially around rescue work, software subscriptions and BAS lodgement.

11. How do you work with my accountant?

Your bookkeeper and tax accountant should be collaborating, not duplicating each other's work. Ask how they hand over at year end and whether they're comfortable being questioned by your accountant. Friction here costs you real money at tax time.

12. Can you tell me about a client you were wrong for?

An honest answer here shows self awareness about who they actually serve well. Every provider has a lane; the good ones know exactly where theirs is.

What to check before signing

• Verify BAS agent registration on the Tax Practitioners Board register
• Ask for a sample month end report pack, not just a brochure
• Get the engagement letter and confirm scope, price, exclusions and exit terms
• Confirm the software subscription and data will actually sit in your name
• Speak to a current client running a business roughly like yours

Where NextEra fits

We built NextEra to answer these questions well: CPA led, registered, fixed monthly pricing, a documented month end close and a report pack you can actually use. Comparing providers? Our Strategic Finance Review is a low pressure way to see how we think about your numbers before you commit to anything ongoing.