If you are like most business owners, your level of detailed accounting knowledge may not quite be complete. This may become an issue when you are interviewing someone to perform bookkeeping services. What can you do to determine whether this person has the basic skill set to perform those services?
We suggest that you seek assistance from your CPA as a part of the interview process, or, at least before a final decision is made.
As an initial step, however, in order to "cut to the chase" in sorting out numerous applicants, we suggest you have them take an accounting exam. The questions comprising the following "Accounting Exam" have been designed to determine basic knowledge of journal entries, debits and credits, balance sheets and income statements, cash versus accrual accounting, and payroll.
A perfect score may not be achieved by the candidate. However, as a result of their taking this exam and the interview following the exam, you will get a very good indication of the core competence level of the candidate.
If you need the answers to the questions, or, if you would like assistance in finding, interviewing, and selecting qualified candidates, please, contact us.