During the usually jubilant week between Christmas and New Year’s, Bench, a Canada-based accounting startup, shut down abruptly, giving no prior notice to its employees or more than 12,000 clients (down from a purported 35,000 at its peak). Reasons cited for the closure include upheaval in leadership (with CEOs entering and exiting in a veritable revolving door), in addition to problems with scaling and executing their services promptly (with some clients not receiving 2023’s books until the second or third quarter of 2024).

In a last-minute deal, the human-resources-focused tech company, Employer.com will now acquire Bench.

Despite Employer.com’s revival, with Bench closing, clients must now wait for further instructions to log in and access their financial records – a nightmare for year-end accounting, 2025 budgeting, and the beginning of tax season for many businesses – not to mention issues with continuity or quality of service. These concerns have many of Bench’s clients switching accounting firms, during one of the most crucial periods for financial departments.

The Ease of Switching Accounting Firms Today

While the prospect of switching accounting firms at the beginning of the year may seem daunting, an easy accounting transition can be accomplished relatively painlessly thanks to modern technologies like automation, cloud computing, and digital recordkeeping. If you’ll be switching accounting firms this year, the first step is to choose a new accounting service provider.

You can then notify your current firm (if they still exist) to authorize communication between the two providers. Your new provider will help you create a transition plan while collecting financial information from your business, your existing provider, and your financial records.

5 Key Considerations When Choosing a New Accounting Firm

The most important step in a business accounting change is choosing the right provider. The following are five vital considerations during this process:

1. Reliability

As demonstrated by Bench’s leaving thousands of clients in the lurch, reliability is of the utmost importance when choosing a provider. Look for an established accounting firm with a solid team, proven technology, positive reviews, and a good track record.

2. Flexible and Scalable Service Offerings

When you’ve compiled a list of reliable firms, browse through their service offerings. You want to choose an accounting service provider that can meet your current and future needs so that you don’t need to switch accounting firms for a long, long time. Look for a firm that not only provides everything your business needs now but also the services your business will require as it grows.

3. Technology

Choose a provider that uses proven technology. Yes, there are new and exciting advancements happening with AI, machine learning, blockchain, and more. While some of the applications of this new tech work well, other applications have yet to be proven effective and more efficient than tried-and-true processes.

You want to choose a provider that uses technology to enhance and improve communications, security, and human-based bookkeeping and accounting processes to ensure accuracy and efficiency in your records and reports. However, you also want to work with a team of humans who can verify your data and provide advisory services that are based on real-world experience.

Plus, make sure the provider you choose uses technology that can easily integrate with your existing business management platforms.

4. Customer Support

Relationship-based service businesses provide the best service through reliable customer support. Look for a firm that offers the level and frequency of communication that you require, in addition to a variety of channels for accessing support when you need it.

5. Industry Expertise

Every industry and type of business comes with differing rules, regulations, operational nuances, and differing markets that can be best navigated and understood by an accounting provider with experience in that industry. Choosing a provider that understands your business will ensure you receive personalized recommendations and advice.

Why Choose Accounting Freedom?

When it comes to choosing a solid outsourced bookkeeping and accounting partner, Accounting Freedom checks all of the boxes. Our firm has provided professional bookkeeping and accounting services to businesses for more than 40 years. We place a strong emphasis on responsiveness, quality, and professionalism in everything we do.

We offer a complete menu of business bookkeeping and accounting services including:

• Basic bookkeeping and accounting
• Compliance
• Payroll
• Tax preparation, planning, and strategy
• Retirement plan management
• Background checks
• Support for QuickBooks users
• Industry-based services
• Bookkeeping and accounting technology support

With personalized services tailored to meet each of our client’s unique needs, we assess your business to recommend the technology tools and services that can improve your processes, increase efficiency, and help you meet your goals.

What a Seamless Business Accounting Change Looks Like

When you choose to switch your business’s bookkeeping and accounting to Accounting Freedom, we will guide you through every step of the process to ensure a smooth and simple transition that has been personalized to meet your business’s unique needs. We will work with you and your current accounting provider to transfer your business’s historical financial data while helping you establish new systems and processes for simplified data collection and automated reporting.

Facilitate a Seamless Accounting Switch With Accounting Freedom

Whether the abrupt closure of Bench impacted your business or you are simply looking to take charge of your business’s finances with a better back office, Accounting Freedom can help you transition to our services and improve your company’s performance. Contact us for a free transition consultation to simplify your switch to a more supportive accounting firm.