The abrupt closure of Vancouver, Canada-based venture capital bookkeeping and accounting firm, Bench, left 30,000 business owners scrambling last month and also served as a powerful wake-up call: how well do you know your bookkeeping partner and are they really working for you? In this episode, Danielle Hayden, CPA and founder of Kickstart Accounting, Inc., discusses what we can learn from the fallout of Bench Accounting’s unexpected shutdown and shares must-know tips for choosing an accounting partner who’ll support your business with stability, transparency, and care.
From spotting red flags, like use of proprietary software that can trap your data, to finding a team that supports your goals, Danielle equips you with the questions you need to ask before partnering with a bookkeeping or accounting firm. That way you can make the switch to a partner you trust and is truly there for your business.
Key Takeaways:
- The Importance of Monthly Financial Statements: Ensure your bookkeeper isn’t just handling your numbers but is providing clear, consistent financial reports to help you make informed decisions.
- Stay in Control of Your Data: Avoid accounting services that use proprietary software, which limits access to your data and ultimately, can halt your business’s momentum. Choose partners who give you full control over your financial history.
- Choose a Team That Cares: Your bookkeeping partner should celebrate your wins, support you through challenges, use transparent practices, and provide personal, reliable communication. In other words, give you genuine human connection and insights.
- The Value of a Well-Established Brand with a Proven Track Record: Stability matters. Work with firms that have a reputation for success built on a strong foundation with long-term goals and a commitment to their clients, not ones susceptible to abrupt closures or operational risks.
Topics Discussed:
The Bench Accounting Shutdown (00:00:21 – 00:03:28)
Checklist for Choosing the Right Bookkeeping and Accounting Partner (00:03:28 – 00:07:30)
Why Kickstart Accounting’s Framework Is a Step Above the Rest (00:08:22 – 00:12:38)
Kickstart’s Seamless Onboarding Process for Hassle-Free Switching (00:12:05 – 00:13:04)
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Episode Transcript
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;21;20
Danielle Hayden
Welcome back to a Business by the Books, the podcast that teaches you how to use your financials to manage your business. My name is Danielle Hayden, CPA and founder of Kickstart Accounting Inc., where we use bookkeeping as a vehicle to help business owners take control of their numbers, and I've helped thousands of entrepreneurs make informed financial decisions for over a decade.
00;00;21;27 - 00;00;47;19
Danielle Hayden
I can't wait to help you understand your financials and make better business decisions this year. Last month, there were 30,000 business owners who were waking up to one of their worst nightmares. They received a sudden announcement from their bookkeeping and tax firm that they were going out of business, and that they no longer had bookkeeping and tax support for their small business.
00;00;47;26 - 00;01;20;16
Danielle Hayden
Could you imagine? Who am I talking about? Don't worry, it's not Kickstart Accounting. Bench Accounting’s sudden closure left thousands of businesses in complete turmoil. These business owners are now having to scramble to find alternatives to their bookkeeping and tax services. So who is Bench and why am I talking about this? Bench was founded in 2012 out of Vancouver, Canada, and the company raised venture capital of over $100 million.
00;01;20;18 - 00;01;54;25
Danielle Hayden
Their last round was 60 million and series C, they were led by Contour Venture Partners and had strategic investors such as Sage and Shopify. These were big dollars being invested into bookkeeping services. They employed over 600 people. It had supported almost 30,000 business owners. They have not come out with a clear communication about why Bench shut down. However, word on the street is financial challenges and a strategic avoidance of accounting obligations.
00;01;54;26 - 00;02;32;02
Danielle Hayden
On December 27th, there was an announcement of the Bench shut down. Their website was shut down and there was a communication to clients that they had minimal time to get their information out of venture software. Now, one of the most frustrating things about Bench was that they had their own proprietary software. They don't use QuickBooks or Zero. They convinced people to use their software, meaning that clients cannot just convert their prior years bookkeeping and accounting from Bench into a new software like QuickBooks.
00;02;32;06 - 00;02;59;15
Danielle Hayden
Or they couldn't just take their account and continue on with their bookkeeping. They were losing years worth of historical data as Bench was shutting down their software and their services. Now Employer.com has come in and I guess you could say saved the day by purchasing Bench. They're calling back their employees and their clients to proceed, I guess, as if nothing has happened.
00;02;59;16 - 00;03;28;14
Danielle Hayden
However, this leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. I don't know about you, but receiving a notice on December 27th that you no longer have bookkeeping services or a tax accountant for year end--Gosh, what an awful feeling for any business owner. This feeling that you cannot access any of your historical information that has been taken from you and you have to start over.
00;03;28;16 - 00;03;51;14
Danielle Hayden
Gosh, it's like my worst nightmare. Today's episode is really not to bash Bench or how they handled things. Look, I don't know what happened. I won't pretend to know what they went through. I can't even imagine, as a business owner. Gosh, one of our worst nightmares is having to navigate that type of debt obligation and having to close down our doors.
00;03;51;15 - 00;04;25;23
Danielle Hayden
So I'm really leaning into empathy in this situation and not judgment. Really, what I want to arm you with is a checklist of questions and what to look for in an accounting partner. So if you're one of the thousands of Bench clients who are looking for an alternative because this has left a bad taste in your mouth, or you are a small business owner who doesn't have bookkeeping support when you go to find a new accounting partner or finally get the courage to hire your first accounting partner, what will you look for in that partner?
00;04;25;28 - 00;04;47;23
Danielle Hayden
So here are some of the things that I find are most important. I am leaning on my experience, not just with this Bench situation, but what I've heard in the industry over the last ten years from other bookkeepers and accounting firms. So what will you look for in your next accounting partner? First and foremost, we want to find a bookkeeper and accountant who are going to send you monthly financial statements.
00;04;47;23 - 00;05;07;29
Danielle Hayden
You guys, I cannot believe how many times I've heard that services like Bench and other accountants and CPAs who are doing the bookkeeping, but they don't actually send their clients and CEOs anything at the end of each month or quarter. Prospects and leads and business owners will come to me and say, I know that they're doing the bookkeeping.
00;05;08;00 - 00;05;30;12
Danielle Hayden
It's on some accounting software somewhere, but I don't see the reports. I don't have a cadence in which I receive anything. The number one thing that you're going to look for is a service that will send you monthly financial statements. And better yet, how about a snapshot? We send every single one of our clients a monthly snapshot, and this is an easy overview of your numbers.
00;05;30;14 - 00;05;52;20
Danielle Hayden
I like to call it a CEO dashboard. So most importantly, not only is your bookkeeper doing the monthly bookkeeping, of course accurately, but they're sending you your financial statements on a regular basis. So our clients receive theirs on the 10th, 15th, or the 25th of each month, depending on their package. Next, we want to look for software flexibility.
00;05;52;22 - 00;06;20;17
Danielle Hayden
So does the company use our own proprietary software, or can you use a more well-known platform like QuickBooks or Zero, so that you always retain control of your data? We use QuickBooks online here at Kickstart Accounting and will most likely always use QuickBooks online. I do want to ensure clients that if you decide in the future that you want to take your bookkeeping elsewhere or internal, that you have the ability to do that through your QuickBooks account.
00;06;20;19 - 00;06;47;06
Danielle Hayden
We like to work with business owners who want to work with us, and so we don't use things like the software to tie clients to our firm. Next is team support. Will you work with the real people who genuinely care about your success, celebrate your wins, and support you during your challenging times? I was just on a team meeting yesterday, and one of the things that we do to start off every team meeting is we read our core values.
00;06;47;12 - 00;07;09;22
Danielle Hayden
Victoria, our Operations Manager, reads the core values and we encourage core value shoutouts. It is a big love fest in our team meetings every single month because we have real people here. They genuinely care about our clients. You know when we have calls and emails with our clients, we are celebrating the success, we are keeping track of their goals,
00;07;09;28 - 00;07;30;08
Danielle Hayden
tracking when they hit those goals and when things aren't going well. Our team jumps at the opportunity to support our clients during those challenging times. So when you decide who you're going to work with in the future, will you have a team who really cares about you and cares about your success and will be there for you when things are challenging. And then brand?
00;07;30;09 - 00;07;51;06
Danielle Hayden
When you choose who you're going to work with, does that business have a well established brand and team? And what are their goals as a firm? One thing that we're hearing from our clients is CPAs who are retiring and just ghosting business owners who are at the end of their career and don't have a succession plan in place.
00;07;51;13 - 00;08;22;02
Danielle Hayden
So when you're looking at an accounting partner, who are they, right? Who are they as a brand and what are their future goals as a firm? Here at Kickstart Accounting, we are hitting our ten year milestone and we are renewing for our next decade in business. We are here and no plans to bring in outside capital. We're not going to be rocking the established foundation that we have here today, and we are excited to continue to show up every single day to support our clients.
00;08;22;03 - 00;08;47;14
Danielle Hayden
So, I don't normally record this type of episode. It's really uncomfortable for me, but I want to talk about why Kickstart Accounting is the best choice for former Bench clients, or anybody who's working with another accounting firm or not yet working with a bookkeeper. Again, this is really uncomfortable for me, but I want to walk through why Kickstart Accounting is a superior option to so many other partners in the industry.
00;08;47;15 - 00;09;13;13
Danielle Hayden
I just came back from a continuing education conference, so I am saying this with a full heart and lots of knowledge of what's going on in our industry. So first and foremost, we have stability and confidence. Here at Kickstart stability is at the core of our operations. So unlike companies like Bench or private single member practices, we are a trusted partner who is dedicated to providing you consistent, reliable service.
00;09;13;13 - 00;09;43;23
Danielle Hayden
No matter if we have a team member change or any issues within our firm, you can count on us to always handle your financials with care, professionalism, accuracy, and on time. Right? We will always send you your financials on time. Here at Kickstart, we offer a comprehensive financial service. Not only is your bookkeeping accurate and organized, but we also offer our CEO dashboard the snapshot at the end of each month.
00;09;44;00 - 00;10;14;05
Danielle Hayden
So our bookkeeping clients are receiving that analysis to help you make data driven decisions month over month. We also offer CFO services. This is the strategic guidance the business owners need as you scale your business. So as you need to manage cash flow, pay down debt, expand your locations, our CFO services are the customized framework that we use to help our clients get to the next level of growth and our tax services.
00;10;14;06 - 00;10;39;22
Danielle Hayden
They're fully integrated with our bookkeeping, ensuring a seamless tax preparation and planning throughout the year. We're real people who truly care about Kickstart Accounting. You're not just working with the company, you're partnering with a dedicated team of professionals who genuinely care about you and your success. You'll know the names of the people handling your financials, and our team is here to celebrate your wins and support you during challenging times.
00;10;39;24 - 00;11;11;09
Danielle Hayden
This personal connection is really one of the things that sets us apart and addresses the number one complaint that we've heard about bench and other accounting firms over the year: They lack human connection. They can't get a hold of their CPA, and our employees are passionate about supporting you and getting you answers to your questions quickly. Now, we do have a proven framework that helps you with financial clarity, and no matter what team members you work with here, we are all here working for our clients as a team.
00;11;11;09 - 00;11;37;17
Danielle Hayden
So we have a team of bookkeepers, accountants, account managers who are working as a team to apply our framework to every single client. Our framework includes our standardized chart of accounts and our monthly financial snapshot that delivers those action insights. Our framework has been tested and proven by thousands of clients to help them, as business owners, understand their numbers and make better data driven decisions.
00;11;37;20 - 00;12;05;26
Danielle Hayden
So our CFO services offers those additional customized services. Every single one of our clients receives our proven framework that helps them understand their numbers. We have a proven track record of client success. Our team has helped countless business owners simplify their financial operations, navigate tax season, and achieve growth through understanding their numbers and making data driven, informed decision.
00;12;05;27 - 00;12;38;09
Danielle Hayden
Now we hear you. It is hard to switch bookkeepers and accounting firms. That is why we offer a hassle free data migration. Our onboarding process makes it easy. Our onboarding team is absolutely amazing and they will hold your hand every step of the way. Getting access to all the information that we need, and then doing a full catch up to ensure that your books are accurate and complete so that you can enter into next year smoothly and ready for tax season.
00;12;38;13 - 00;13;04;00
Danielle Hayden
Here at Kickstart, we do transparent pricing with no hidden fees. You'll know exactly what to expect. We are not billing you by the hour. Every single month you receive the same price month over month. You have package pricing so you won't face unexpected charges or vague deliverables. You know exactly what you're paying for, when you're paying for it, and what you will be receiving.
00;13;04;02 - 00;13;27;16
Danielle Hayden
You will pay the monthly package price, and you know that you'll be receiving accurate financials through the snapshot. Every single month by the deadline. All right, you guys, if you are ready to make the switch, I want to encourage you to contact Kickstart Accounting, Inc. today. You can go to our website at KickstartAccountingInc.com and sign up for our discovery call, where we can talk about you and your specific situation.
00;13;27;16 - 00;13;53;21
Danielle Hayden
Or you can go to KickstartAccountingInc.com/SignUpNow and get started right away. I know in my heart that with our proven framework, our experienced team, and our commitment to your success, that you and your financials will be in good hands as we go through the next year together. We are looking forward to being your trusted partner.
00;13;53;23 - 00;14;41;01
Danielle Hayden
I hope you enjoyed today's episode of Business by the Books. Don't forget to hit like and subscribe! This is the number one way we can help other entrepreneurs find this podcast, cause here at Kickstart Accounting, Inc., it is our mission to help entrepreneurs understand their numbers, get access to this information, and grow and thrive in their business. So please help me, help other entrepreneurs understand their numbers so they can finally grow and thrive.