Key takeaways
What this article covers, in order:
- Start by timing yourself, honestly
- Put a price on your hours
- Signs DIY is working
- Signs it's time to get help
- The hybrid that suits many small businesses
- Bookkeeper, accountant: who does what?
Do your own books if your transactions are simple, you can spare a regular hour or two a month, and you'll actually do it on time. Do I need a bookkeeper? You do when the hours start costing you more than their fee, when the books keep slipping behind, or when the work has become more than you're comfortable getting right. Plenty of owners land in the middle: they do the daily bits and pay a bookkeeper for a monthly review.
Start by timing yourself, honestly
Mia runs a dog-grooming salon in York with one part-time groomer. She'd always assumed bookkeeping "took a couple of hours" a month. In Sep 2026 she actually timed it.
| Task | Time in Sep 2026 |
|---|---|
| Categorising bank transactions | 45 min |
| Raising and sending invoices for two corporate clients | 20 min |
| Entering supplier bills (shampoo, towels, equipment) | 25 min |
| Reconciling the bank account | 40 min |
| Hunting for a £62.00 difference | 50 min |
| Answering a question from her accountant | 30 min |
| Total | 3 hr 30 min |
Three and a half hours, not two. And the most expensive line wasn't any of the routine work. It was 50 minutes hunting for one difference, which turned out to be a card refund recorded twice.
Before you decide anything, do what Mia did. Track one normal month. Include the interruptions and the "I'll finish this later" sessions. Your number is the starting point for everything else.
Put a price on your hours
Your time isn't free just because nobody invoices you for it. A rough way to think about it:
- What could you earn in that time? Mia charges £45.00 for a standard groom of about an hour. Three and a half hours of grooming is around £157.50 of potential income, if she has the bookings to fill it.
- What would it cost to hand over? Get quotes. Bookkeepers in the UK price in very different ways (hourly, fixed monthly fee, per-transaction bands), so compare like for like.
- What does a mistake cost? Not just money. Time with your accountant at year end, late reminders to customers, decisions made on wrong numbers.
Suppose a local bookkeeper quotes Mia a fixed monthly fee to do the categorising, bills and reconciliation, leaving her to raise her own invoices. If that fee is less than the value of the hours she'd get back, and she can genuinely fill those hours with paid work, hiring wins. If her diary isn't full, the maths is different, and DIY might be the sensible call for now.
Signs DIY is working
- Your bank is reconciled every month, within a week or so of month end.
- You know who owes you money without opening a spreadsheet.
- Your accountant's year-end questions are few and quick.
- You don't dread it. Or at least you don't avoid it.
If that's you, there's no prize for outsourcing. Keep going.
Signs it's time to get help
- You're more than two months behind on reconciliation.
- You've got a suspense account or "uncategorised" pile that keeps growing.
- You're VAT registered, employ people, hold stock, or trade in more than one currency, and the extra complexity is eating your evenings.
- Your accountant keeps sending the books back, or charges extra for tidying them.
- You've made the same kind of mistake twice.
- You're spending Sunday nights on it and resenting it.
Any one of these is worth a conversation with a bookkeeper. Two or more, and you probably already know the answer.
The hybrid that suits many small businesses
It doesn't have to be all or nothing. A common split:
| You do | Your bookkeeper does |
|---|---|
| Raise invoices and quotes | Monthly bank and card reconciliation |
| Confirm categories on the transactions you understand | Review and fix categories you flagged |
| Chase late payers you have a relationship with | Month-end checks, journals and clean-up |
| Approve supplier bills | Prepare tidy books for your accountant |
This works best when you're both in the same books, rather than swapping files. You keep control of the day-to-day and know your numbers; they catch the mistakes before they compound.
Bookkeeper, accountant: who does what?
People use the words interchangeably, but the jobs are different.
- A bookkeeper records and organises the transactions: categorising, reconciling, invoices, bills, month-end tidy-ups.
- An accountant works from those records: year-end accounts, tax returns and advice on structure and planning.
Some firms do both. Many small businesses have a bookkeeper for the monthly work and an accountant for the annual work, and the clean books from the first make the second faster and usually cheaper.
What to ask before you hire
- Are you supervised for anti-money laundering? In the UK, people providing bookkeeping services to businesses must be supervised for anti-money laundering by an approved supervisor, which is often their professional body.
- Are you a member of a professional body? For example the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers or the AAT. Not compulsory, but a good sign.
- Do you have professional indemnity insurance?
- How do you price? Fixed fee, hourly or by transaction volume, and what happens if your volume grows.
- What will you need from me, and by when? Receipts, access, a monthly cut-off.
- Can you work in my existing software? Or will you want to move me to yours?
- How fast do you reply? A bookkeeper who answers in a week isn't much help at month end.
Ask for a short engagement letter that sets out what's included. It saves arguments later.
A quick decision checklist
- [ ] I've timed one real month of bookkeeping
- [ ] I've put a value on those hours
- [ ] I've had at least two bookkeeping quotes
- [ ] I know which tasks I'd keep and which I'd hand over
- [ ] I've checked the bookkeeper's AML supervision and insurance
- [ ] We've agreed to work in shared books, not emailed files
How HelloBooks helps
HelloBooks works for both routes. If you're going DIY, the Free plan (£0, no card, no expiry) covers two users, one live bank feed through Open Banking (most UK banks and cards) or CSV statement import, invoices, bills and quotes, and P&L, balance sheet and cash flow reports. The reconcile screen suggests a match for each bank line with a confidence score and the reason for it, so you only work through the exceptions, which is exactly where Mia's 50 minutes went.
If you hire help, you can invite your bookkeeper or accountant into the same books. On Pro (£14.99 a month) you get unlimited users with roles, AI auto-categorisation and bills with approvals, which fits the hybrid split above nicely. See AI bookkeeping and pricing.
FAQs
Can I do my own bookkeeping with no training?
Yes, for a simple business. Learn the basics of categorising and reconciliation, reconcile monthly, and ask for help with anything unusual. Most errors come from falling behind, not from lack of training.
How much bookkeeping can I hand over?
As much or as little as you like. Some owners hand over everything; others keep invoicing and approvals. Agree it in writing so nothing falls between you.
Is it cheaper to hire a bookkeeper than an accountant?
For routine monthly work, a bookkeeper is usually the more cost-effective choice, and good monthly books can reduce the time your accountant spends at year end. Compare quotes for your actual workload.
What if my bookkeeper makes a mistake?
That's what professional indemnity insurance and an engagement letter are for. Monthly reconciliation also means mistakes are found within weeks, not years.
Will I lose track of my numbers if I outsource?
Only if you stop looking. Keep access to the books, glance at the P&L and debtors each month, and ask questions. Outsourcing the work isn't outsourcing the understanding.
Time one month, price it fairly, and the answer usually becomes obvious.
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