Recensioni su Bench

Love Bench!

Commenti: Bench is the easiest way to manage our books online. It's been a huge time and money saver over the last few years.

Aspetti positivi:

I've been using Bench for years now and it's so simple to see and manage my books. When something isn't categorized correctly, I add a comment and it's moved over to the right one. It's been great and easy to use.

Aspetti negativi:

The monthly income statements are behind often. I have to ask to get them on time. I wish it integrated with Quickbooks as my CPA can easily manipulate the data for reports.

Life and Business Changing

Commenti: In the wake of COVID I left the agency I was at to do my own agency. While I had my business as a side-agency for a number of years and applications like Freshbooks and then Quickbooks Self-Employed helped me manage things I dreaded tax season and all the work I needed to do every year. During COVID I had to get my business up and going, get clients, execute projects, and get things done. I had zero time for managing my books. When the end of the year came up I dreaded the work that was ahead of me with several big projects in progress. Then, through the service I use to pay my contractors, I found out about Bench and it has changed my business AND my life. Bench took 15 months' worth of books that needed to be done and assigned them to a "catch-up" accountant. He went through everything, classified all my expenses, and had a simple way to ask me to review anything they need clarification on. They pulled difficult things to deal with like my processing fees from Stripe and instantly accounted for them. On top of that, having an honest to goodness accountant and accounting team to know how to PROPERLY set up a Chart of Accounts and classify expenses was game-changing. This service easily pays for itself in the time it saves me and the peace of mind it gives me.

Aspetti positivi:

- An accounting team to get me on track. - Tax resources with their Bench Tax service. - A beautiful interface that is easy to understand and use. - Superb customer service with timely replies to any questions you have. - An easy way to review anything your team needs clarification on, I rarely spend more than 5 minutes a month classifying expenses for them. - EXPERTISE, Bench isn't just software to do your books, THEY are doing your books, understand small businesses and bring accounting expertise at a very affordable price. - Completed my taxes easily and reduced my tax burden, it was the most painless tax process I've had in years.

Aspetti negativi:

- Communication early in Bench Tax could be improved but I mostly put this on me for being behind. - Having a separate signon for Bench Tax is a bit of a pain but not a big deal.

Family

Commenti: Like family

Aspetti positivi:

The all ways there when I need them.Ever time I asked a question one day later I had a answer

Aspetti negativi:

When I was doing my taxes with bench they were on a separate platform

Bench dropped the ball & gave me a partial refund.

Commenti: I tested Bench out at the end of 2019 and then hired them for my entire 2020 books. In the beginning, they were on top of things. Then, mid-summer they dropped the ball. My account got passed to another team, and they didn't even touch my books for months. It was a mess. I reached out to customer service and they did give me 2 months of a refund, because the customer service rep (who was very kind & courteous) saw what I saw. In December, I requested for my bookkeeper to fix some miscategorized transactions and later asked, "Hey were those fixed?" She said she fixed them, which was a blatant lie! On top of all of that, it took them about TWO MONTHS to do my final end of year books that I could pass onto my CPA. I was told they were uploaded, but then they weren't there when I looked for them. I had to request, "Please upload them again." They apologized and did so right away, but by the time I saw them, thank goodness for the COVID extension, because I literally didn't have my deliverables from Bench until April 2020. My filings would have been late.

Aspetti positivi:

Bench is easy to use and navigate. In the beginning, they were fantastic at answering questions I had to help understand how my bookkeeping was being handled. That's about the only good thing I have to say.

Aspetti negativi:

I spent more time dealing with Bench all year long than when I was doing my own bookkeeping on a simple spreadsheet. I expected a learning curve in the beginning. They promised it would get easier "as we learn about your business and transactions," but I found month after month that the same transactions got flagged needing my input. Then, when I did thorough checks on my books, I found several transactions not in the right category. The other thing I didn't like was that my bank constantly needed to be reconnected. I truly felt like I spent more time handling Bench than I would've spend just doing my own bookkeeping.

Bench review

Aspetti positivi:

Easy to master accounting software and programmatic marketing is a little easier and is practically with Bench

Aspetti negativi:

One of the easiest software to find and use. No problem likely

Very Happy

Aspetti positivi:

My Team and I are very happy with the Bench software and customer service. It's easy to use, a breeze to read, and simple to update.

Aspetti negativi:

The lag time to get a response from a human being is something I'm getting used to as our world is moving to the online/AI experience.

Huge help for an entrepreneur

Aspetti positivi:

Bench was critical in helping me with catch up books for tax time. Being able to upload reports easily from my bank and various credit card processors made things so much easier, and the bookkeepers learned quickly how to categorize the transactions. I'm not sure when I would have caught up on my historical books without Bench. Going forward from there has been very easy as well. I've been able to link the reports to my card processing software and bank, and get updates as they have questions. So simple! I find the monthly reports easy to understand and its given me a much clearer picture of my numbers.

Aspetti negativi:

The only challenging initial integration was with Paypal- myself and the Bench team member had a hard time linking everything. We resolved it and I didn't have that issue with other accounts. I do wish that this software integrated with my invoicing system, so I could easily see where the profits were coming from. However, I use that system's reports to get a good idea of what's bringing in income.

SaaS, but with people you get to know

Commenti: Bit of a bumpy onboarding with aggressive trials clearly operated by a different team, but so much smoother once you start a subscription and are assigned your bookkeeper.

Aspetti positivi:

A pleasant mix of self-service software, with a reliably consistent team who does genuinely get to know my business.

Aspetti negativi:

It is a walled garden, so no integrations with any existing software. Leads to a lot of duplicate or redundant content in Xero, Expensify, and other tools I use.

Its easy and worth it.

Commenti: The sales and onboarding team was amazing. [SENSITIVE CONTENT] is a champion.

Aspetti positivi:

Reconciliation and ongoing communication through the chat is priceless. The teams are fast and handling things in real time is valuable to the process.

Aspetti negativi:

I'd hoped my monthly statements would be pulled automatically once I linked my accounts.

Affordable yet Robust Bookkeeping

Commenti: I have been satisfied with Bench, and it takes a lot off my mind.

Aspetti positivi:

The staff at Bench are responsive and helpful. The software is user-friendly. The price is less than most of its competitors.

Aspetti negativi:

The bank integration does not always function right with the credit union I use.

Makes My Life as a Small Business Owner So Much Easier

Commenti: I started my graphic design studio in 2005 managing our books through a part-time bookkeeper who'd come in 1-2x a month and we'd then communicate a few times every week.. This system got us through the first 8 years of our business. Though functional, it was a time-consuming process. We used Quickbooks at the time, and I could never get comfortable using it to manage or understand our business's numbers even though our bookkeeper was serving it on a silver platter essentially. I've always felt Quickbooks was made for accountants, not business owners or individuals. Once can argue, it's supposed to be "accounting made easy", but it's really designed with accounting in mind — not business owners. As a business owner I wanted to quickly understand cashflow and profitability. Whereas Quickbooks seemed to that and much more, it seemed like I was doing my taxes every time I went in there. So I started looking for options and that's when I found Bench. And Bench, even back then, had already provided a service ideal for a small business owner like me. I've been using Bench since 2013 now, and I can't imagine running my business without them. It's allowed me to focus on my clients and design work which are revenue generating tasks, instead of accounting which was an anxiety-generating task.

Aspetti positivi:

1) Uncomplicated Interface — For a non-numbers/non-accounting comfortable individual it's great. It provides me access and understanding to our accounting in a very digestible yet informative manner. 2) Accessible Customer Service/Communications — All the interactions I've had have been professional, courteous, and problem solving driven. It's never "No". Instead if a challenge arises, they've always been proactive in finding a way to address the challenge or question providing options. It's also especially great that you can speak with them or chat with them with no barriers. At first I was very concerned about this since our books are the heartbeat of our financials, and i was quickly at ease after the first few calls and chats. 3) Easy — Once our accounts were synced and Bench had a clear picture of how our business worked, it's set-it-and-forget-it. What used to required a few hours every week for me now has become an hour or two a month. 4) Transaction Verification Made Easy — I especially love how they've simplified this process to almost a game.

Aspetti negativi:

1) Cash based bookkeeping. This was a struggle in the beginning since we were accrual based initially. However upon working with them and our CPA, we've managed to stay accrual based and set up a system where we do adjusted entries after filing taxes. 2) Not Quickbooks. This is not really a con, but should make it clear that if you prefer to stay on Quickbooks, this is not the service for you. They will provide your books as spreadsheets for your CPA to work with. At first I was nervous about this, but it hasn't been an issue. 3) Turnover with bookkeepers — Over the years, we've had I believe 5 different bookkeepers over the course of 6 years due to turnover or what seems to be internal promotions. It has not negatively impacted our service, but I do wish it was less frequent since at times I'd have to remind the new person some of the subtleties of our account.

Outsourcing to Bench was a Gamechanger

Commenti: As a small business we're constantly prioritizing big time spends and deciding what's worth us outsourcing and spending money on rather than time. Bench was one that, as soon as we were set up and going with them, we've never looked back. It is not cheap. But it's worth it for us, no question about it!

Aspetti positivi:

We've been using Bench for a few years now and absolutely love it. It can be basically as hand's off as you want. We get an email once a month when they're working on our books, sometimes an extra contact here and there if they provide other documentation throughout the year. And we have our CPA and Bench people in touch with each other which is even more off our plate. As small business owners, bookkeeping used to take a ton of our time, and now it's a breeze. And logging into our account we can look around at where our money is going with a quick glance

Aspetti negativi:

I admit we haven't done a ton of digging around in the actual software - our typical use is them contacting us with any categorization questions once a month (and after a couple years there are hardly ever any). I do wish (or can not find how) we could see how much money we're paying/spending on a particular item. So, say, I want to see how much we're spending on just Facebook ads. What I can do is search for "facebook" (and I can specifically search within whatever time period I want, like Q4 2018 or January 2017), but it won't automatically give me a sum of all of those expenses. I CAN see a summary of expenses by category, but by "line item" (like "Facebook" or "AWS") would be even more helpful.

Ease of Use and Best Investment Ever

Commenti: My overall experience is great. this is my second time using them. I had to leave the first time while switching my business format but it’s worth the investment knowing that my books are in order in I can easily track my growth and readjust expenses.

Aspetti positivi:

The best thing about the software is hands off. In comparison to other software you have to not only implement the software you have to hire someone to upkeep it/reconcile it every month, whereas this is all in one pricing.

Aspetti negativi:

The software may be a little confusing at first but with the customer service they help you navigate how to use the key features. I do wish there was a easier way to download a simple profit and loss and there are some other things that they may not be able to do that you need a CPA for but you at least have all your information in order for the CPA.

Bench Works!

Commenti: Overall, I recommend bench to everyone. They do have their shortcomings, but in my experience it can be fixed by not giving so many clients to one person. My current bookkeeper is great and very prompt on delivering my books each month. I hope she sticks around. YMMV, but keep with it, bench is the best out there.

Aspetti positivi:

My QuickBooks was a mess. I had brought in duplicate transactions from syncing with square and I was going to need to manually adjust thousands of items. Then I found bench! The bookkeepers are relatively easy to get in touch with when you have an issue; you can book a call, chat, etc. Come tax time the year end summary they put together was amazing. It made filing taxes very easy.

Aspetti negativi:

The bookkeepers are spread very thin, and turnover is high. I've been with them a little over a year and I've had 3 different bookkeepers. I had to complain about one of them because he wasn't giving me a complete set of books each month. (They ended up giving a month free while they caught up my books.) It costs much much more than QuickBooks and doing it yourself, and you do have someone knowledgeable doing the work, but all than means nothing if your books are fragmented.

Excellent Solution for Tracking Business Expenses

Commenti: Bench has set my mind at ease that all of my business costs and expenditures are being accounted for successfully and tracked.

Aspetti positivi:

Very easy to use . This product has been very useful for me to track all business expenses and have all of the required audits of my accounts while also producing annual earnings reports. Very professional.

Aspetti negativi:

It would be nice if the system was able to read the memos for checks written to determine the purpose for the expenditure rather than the business owner having to review each check and identify its purpose for the business.

Great bookkeeping company

Commenti: Overall Bench has saved me time with preparing all bank reconciliations and year end tax preparation. It's also a stress relief that it's done thoroughly and properly. It's not just one person being accountable for my bookkeeping needs but the company stands behind it.

Aspetti positivi:

I like the ease of having my bookkeeping done on a timely basis and not having to think about it until I get a message to review the month. I can then easily go in and make notes of any changes to be made or answer their questions to me. The customer service is excellent as well. They integrate with my payroll company too which saves time.

Aspetti negativi:

They don't integrate with my Customer Management System and they don't use QuickBooks which I also use. I process invoices through my CMS which also provides my scheduling, customer profiles, employee payroll reports, etc. I would love it if Bench would integrate their system to it so I can better track invoices. Instead I have to do that through QuickBooks but am only using a small portion of what QB offers since Bench does my bank reconciliation and they don't use QB. So I'm still paying for QB for this part of what I need. I have a daily service company and I process client credit cards daily in addition to tracking some clients that still write checks and a few who pay via ACH. I do that within QB. At this point I'm not aware of a better way if I want to continue using Bench for bookkeeping.

Shockingly Incompetent

Commenti: I had Bench do a full year of bookkeeping for my company and consulted them on aspects of the PPP loan program. I found them shockingly incompetent. Many mistakes. Much flat-out wrong technical information about the PPP program. It was the most recent encounter with them over the PPP program that motivates me to write this review, to warn the public. They should not represent themselves as PPP experts.

Aspetti positivi:

The pros are beside the point because the cons are so overwhelming.

Aspetti negativi:

I had Bench do a full year of bookkeeping for my company and consulted them on aspects of the PPP loan program. I found them shockingly incompetent. Many mistakes. Much flat-out wrong technical information about the PPP program. They should not represent themselves as PPP experts.

The Back Pocket Tool That Solved My Bookkeeping Blindspot

Commenti: Overall, I find Bench.co to be an accessible, easy-to-use, game-changing bookkeeping tool and resource for entrepreneurs & SMEs. The team is efficient, friendly, patient, and thorough (even when I had an adverse reaction to tackling my stuck-point when it comes to bookkeeping and I managed to even annoy myself I was treated kindly, a currency I don't take lightly, especially this year). I even got a goodie from a referral. It felt awesome to be rewarded!

Aspetti positivi:

We all know that transitioning from the "idea" stage of a side gig to a real independent consultancy can be tricky. Without the right mentorship or support for small businesses, many are under the impression they don't need a bookkeeper. If I had known then what I know now, it could have saved me thousands of dollars and time which is priceless to time-scarce bootstrappers with multiple streams of income. I also like that Bench.co works closely with FreshBooks so when I need help I hear from both teams when needed. It's not just the AI in software, it's the EQ and human relationships that make it all come together. Bench.com are definitely real humans which I loved!

Aspetti negativi:

A real struggle bootstrappers have is time. Therefore, it was a near emotional crisis to embrace I had to go into my documents like a surgeon to know every weird detail of each expense which is time-consuming as the names may slightly differ from the actual purchase.

Awesome tool, great customer service, and affordable!

Aspetti positivi:

What I love the most is the customer service. Despite this being a "bookkeeping software/tool", you get a dedicated accountant. Executives are so responsive. Every time I have a question, I get a response that same day. The platform is also easy to use, and the interface makes it really easy to upload documents, download reports, etc. Really recommend!

Aspetti negativi:

One small issue is the capabilities. If you have highly complex bookkeeping needs (a unique situation or business model), this may not work for you. This doesn't matter for 99% of businesses.

Very Happy With BENCH

Commenti: Easy Way To Stay On Top Of My Business, Taxes & Reports.

Aspetti positivi:

Very Easy To Use. Has many features & functionality.

Aspetti negativi:

I can't think of any. Very thorough for my particular needs.

Bench Makes Running a Small Company a Breeze!

Commenti: Bench has made accounting for our small business so simple.
I struggled with other software that had clunky user interfaces (Quickbooks) and a steep learning curve, I needed something that could ensure that my business accounting would be accurate and up to date without it eating all of my time.
Our Bench bookkeepers have all been wonderful - they're fast to respond, give good information and work really well with our accountant. Taxes were a breeze this year after a full year with Bench! I have recommend them to other small business owners and urge you to try them out. You'll wonder what you ever did without them.

Aspetti positivi:

Bench makes work simple. The interface is very user friendly and instinctive, reports are clear and accurate. Our accountant can log in easily and the customer service is stellar.

Aspetti negativi:

There is literally nothing I don't like about Bench.

Satisfaction Guaranteed!!!

Commenti: So far it's been very good. I'm glad that I gave Bench a shot.

Aspetti positivi:

The software is very user-friendly. I like how you can isolate your search to specific months or quarters or the whole year. Uploading documents is very simple. Overall using this software is a pleasant experience.

Aspetti negativi:

Sometimes it will not pull my bank statements and I have to submit them manually.

Clear accounting

Commenti: Excellent service, grateful

Aspetti positivi:

The accounting team took our records for the past three years and was able to give us clear understanding of the numbers to move forward with confidence.

Aspetti negativi:

Overall experience has been excellent, even when I am overwhelmed with the numbers, the professionalism of the staff is calming and clear.

Bench allowed me to go back to focusing on running my business

Aspetti positivi:

The support team is really helpful and are quick to respond. They’ve allowed me to focus on running a business and no longer have to focus on the accounting portions of my business.

Aspetti negativi:

The only thing I don’t like is the bank integrations. They don’t have all the banks or even if tech companies like cash app or venmo.

Bench is the best option for all your bookkeeping needs

Aspetti positivi:

1. Easy to use 2. Does not take too much time 3. Affordable

Aspetti negativi:

There are no cons. I love this product and all that if offers.