Bench Accounting shuts down abruptly, leaving customers in a year-end lurch

“We know this news is abrupt and may cause disruption, so we’re committed to helping Bench customers navigate through the transition. The price, however, is too much for someone who is self-employed or a small business owner with limited transactions. I understand that you generally get what you pay for, but I don’t feel that you get 10x the value over self-managed bookkeeping using Quickbooks, Freshbooks, or Wave bookkeeping software. Bench isn’t your standard software solution – rather than just a ledger that connects with your bank account, it offers you one-on-one support with a bookkeeping professional.

Company

It’s an ideal solution if you have limited time or want to outsource your books to a certified bookkeeper so that you can focus on the other aspects of your business. You’ll also have access to a tax professional to help you make tax preparation and filing easier. Bench is an online accounting software tool designed to help small business owners save time and money when it comes to bookkeeping Accounting for Churches and taxes.

Bench Accounting shuts down abruptly, leaving customers in a year-end lurch

You can search for your institution if you don’t see it in the list. After selecting your bank or credit card issuer, you must enter your account login information and choose the accounts you want to share with Bench. It automatically pulls up a range of well-known banking institutions, including Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

Financial Reports

We use Plaid, which lets you securely connect your financial accounts to Bench in seconds. This feature saves you the time and effort of manually uploading documents. We don’t sync your financial data from any other bookkeeping software. See why small businesses love Bench through real reviews, affirming our promise to provide accurate books and peace of mind.

• One user commented recently that they don’t follow up in a timely manner, and another shared that you can never get ahold of anyone when you need them, only by appointment days later.
• If you’re not ready to link bank accounts and share information, you can walk through the software using demo data, which is something I really appreciated as a user.
• Bench offers basic financial reporting with an income statement and a balance sheet.
• “Bad investors destroyed a great Canadian company by replacing the founder with so-called professionals,”  Nejatian said on social media platform X.
• However, there are some things about your business only you can provide, like uploading certain documents and sharing context for categorizing transactions.
• By the time you finish reading, you’ll know if Bench lives up to the hype or if another bookkeeping solution is your answer.

Also, upon enrollment, you’ll be paired with your own dedicated bookkeeper. If you need to contact your bookkeeper, you can book a call or message them directly through the app. Each month, your bookkeeping team — made up of three in-house Bench employees — will categorize all your transactions, reconcile your bank accounts and prepare financial statements. This process is completed within 15 business days once you’ve bench accounting sent all the necessary documents. The basic plan for small business owners covers monthly bookkeeping and tax-ready financial packages.

Tax season, minus the stress

When your bookkeeping is done for the month, you’ll receive a message. At that point, you can view your financial statements and account information online. If you have any questions, you can get in touch with your Bench bookkeepers via in-app message or by booking a call. Bench’s core product is online bookkeeping software paired with in-house bookkeepers.

Best Small Business Accounting Software

Here are 11 alternatives to explore, each with a different emphasis in supporting your small business finances. You’ve heard of “spend money to make money,” but what about “spend money to save money?” That’s the case with tax deductions and you won’t want to leave any on the table. Get the clarity and confidence your business deserves with the support you need to succeed. We can fully wipe your data, too—at the end of the day, it’s your info and your call. The fintech company had scaled to over 650 employees as of 2021 and achieved a total funding of over $100 million by the same year, according to a previous news release. Investors in Bench included Sage, Altos Ventures, iNovia Capital, Shopify, and BMO T&I.

Unlike accounting software, however, Bench doesn’t offer tools for invoicing, inventory management or bill payment. Your bookkeeper reconciles your accounts, categorizes your transactions, and produces your financial statements. They also make adjustments to your books to ensure they’re tax-compliant. Occasionally your bookkeeper might need your input on things like categorizing a transaction properly, but we try our best to make bookkeeping as hands-off as possible for you. The proprietary software doesn’t integrate with anything like Quickbooks.

Alternatives to QuickBooks in 2024

Three years ago, in a move that surprised many, the board ousted Bench co-founder and chief executive Ian Crosby, indicating a rift in vision and strategy. A new CEO, professional manager and scale-up expert Jean-Philippe Durrios was appointed as Mr. Crosby’s replacement. Despite fundraising success, failure is a reality of doing business, and in a high-growth, high-risk area such What is bookkeeping as tech, it’s table stakes. But Bench’s board is made up of ostensibly experienced venture capitalists, with advisers around them who could have and should have helped chart a much more orderly path to a shutdown.