Bench Reviews

Pros

- 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.

Cons

- 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.

Pros

Everyone I worked with to understand and use the bookkeeping software was friendly, professional, and helpful. The dashboard analytics was very easy to understand and is very appealing. I also like that I can export all data into a single workbook (summaries and itemized transactions).

Cons

I don't like that the product is so expensive. Depending on how large your business is and how many transactions you're managing, this product may be too expensive. For example, I've used Quickbooks Self-Employed for years and it's under $20/mo. In comparison, Bench (without any promotions) is hundreds of dollars per month. Granted, they are provided professional bookkeeping services as well as the software, but for a business with 50 transactions per month, it is a little overkill. It's really the only thing I don't love about Bench.

Alternatives Considered

FreshBooks and Wave

Reasons for Choosing Bench

I wanted to test out Bench to see if the added cost would equate to advice on how I could save more than I'm spending. To date, everyone has been helpful but I have received no recommendations.

Switched From

QuickBooks Solopreneur

Reasons for Switching to Bench

I chose Bench over FreshBooks and Wave Accounting because of the bookkeeper assistance, design of the product, and ease of use.

Pros

That had a decent workflow in place that lets business owners answer questions at their own pace

Cons

They are not well staffed. They miss the deadlines often. They are not honest with the timelines.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Alternatives Considered

QBank

Reasons for Choosing Bench

We were looking for a more simple experience, something with a personal touch by CS. Price was of course a consideration and Bench is competitive.

Switched From

QBank

Reasons for Switching to Bench

The customer service team did a great job selling it and they've kept their promises over the course of our time. We appreciate a vendor who actually delivers what they promise and Bench does just this.

Pros

What we like most about Bench is their level of customer service. From setup to now, the team has been here with us and is extremely easy to reach out to. Beyond this, the interface is very clean, quick to load.

Cons

There are some accounts that can't be automated, but we understand this. That aside, we would like to see Bench expand and offer more all-in-one service beyond book-keeping and tax returns or make any partners more accessible (virtual CFO, CPAs would be great).

Alternatives Considered

FreshBooks

Reasons for Choosing Bench

We switched away from QuickBooks mainly to give our bookkeeper an out, though we were also looking for a tool that offered easier access and further automation/connection to other tools we use in our operations.

Switched From

QuickBooks Enterprise

Reasons for Switching to Bench

We considered several products, most of which I can't seem to find in the product selector on Capterra but I don't see that to be too relevant here. The point would be that we selected Bench mainly because our largest need was for a bookkeeping solution from a company with both a quality product and quality service, able to offer a demo of sorts, and flexibility. Bench.co offered us all of this.

Pros

It was great to see a breakdown of all three financial statements for our business, both from a macro and micro perspective. Being able to pull up accounts and see specific transactions from desktop and on the go through mobile was indispensable in running a healthy business and planning for the future. The messaging system was prompt and efficient for keeping in touch with our book keepers and account manager with any pressing questions. They were always very professional and did high quality work. Any questions or concerns with categorization and interpreting information were answered well.

Cons

I think it would be helpful to expand the software to allow for the dropping of all receipts into our account in order to have a one stop location for accessing and printing receipts for accounting and tax purposes. We were informed that only high ticket items needed receipts, and so we ended up using other third party software to track mileage and keep track of receipts.

Alternatives Considered

Xero

Reasons for Choosing Bench

They were not able to provide adequate book keeping services, due to complicated books.

Reasons for Switching to Bench

Recommendations from online users, Youtubers, and a good first hand experience from the beginning while switching over to Bench.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Enterprise and Wave

Reasons for Choosing Bench

I wanted more assistance with bookkeeping. I'd attempted to use Quickbooks on my own with no success.

Switched From

Wave

Reasons for Switching to Bench

The bookkeeping support was well worth the extra expense.

Pros

Having all the data to see my business stats has been really helpful. They call it the "Pulse" which shows you the health of your business with a way to visualize how you're doing over time. I like that a lot. Bookkeeping is really easy for me now and I'm thankful I outsourced it. I just connect my accounts and drag and drop invoices and receipts that I scan or receive into the documents section and they take care of things. They also provide a nice, clean, easy to understand summary at the end of each year so my accountant can do my taxes easily. I have no regrets going with Bench. It definitely saves me a lot of time and stress.

Cons

I wish there are some nice comparable summaries like percentage growth or changes month to month, by quarter, and YoY. Prices still feel a little high to me and I wish there was an option for invoicing and receiving payments into my checking accounts.

Alternatives Considered

FreshBooks, QuickBooks Enterprise and Xero

Reasons for Switching to Bench

A good blend between what I need the most, pricing, and peer reviews.

Pros

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

Cons

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

Pros

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

Cons

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

Alternatives Considered

Wave and Xero

Reasons for Switching to Bench

Price and ease of use. Plus it integrates with Gusto.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

After months of back and forth with their accounting team I was finally put with an account manager who knows what they are doing and can communicate effectively

Cons

They are incapable of filing an accurate tax return. It is now August and they are still figuring out how to file my 2022 return. Each time they send anything over there are multiple errors they need to fix. Their response times are abysmal and their team has little to no knowledge about actual tax compliance and filling.

Pros

Bench has done a great job of placing most items one would require into a dashboard that makes the bookkeeping experience simple. Customer service at Bench is by far the best in the market! Staff at the company truly believe in the product and provide the end user with an exceptional experience each and every call.

Cons

Platform errors and the lack of additional features.

Pros

cost, ease of use, connection to other platforms

Cons

only cash basis accounting. They do not do accrual. Their service for anything like updating balance sheets with loans, etc is awful. Getting in touch with them via email or phone is next to impossible. It didnt used to be that way.

Pros

Bench is an amazing product that is in the cloud. I love that i can access my books from anywhere on the go and get a snapshot of how the company is doing week to week.

Cons

There are no cons at this point. I wish they started an accounting arm that tied to bench since their product is so awesome!

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

Extremely professional bookkeepers, easy to use user interface and 100% hands-free. They even have auto-linked bank accounts to pull your bank statements so you don't have to manually send receipts and statements. You can view your dashboard anytime and see live updates on your balance sheet. My CPA loves their books as well.

Cons

Sometimes the connection might be off and I'll have to upload documents anyways, and they'll still need my input for returning vendors/suppliers.

Pros

Bench.co has literally changed the way I operate my organization & school. Whereas in the past we'd have to wait, and work around local accountants who had 100's of clients in queue, Bench allows me the convenience and access to my virtual accountant 24/7 online and poignantly clear on all aspects of bookkeeping.

Cons

As with all software based services, sometimes Bench can lag in their monthly accounts at the beginning of the new year. This is a very minor inconvenience to the overall experience.

Pros

Bookkeepers were friendly but they didn't have the support to follow through on topics discussed in calls

Cons

Quality has plummeted in the last two years. Customer service team is the absolute worst i have ever encountered. We have asked to speak to [sensitive content hidden]'s supervisor, but he won't. She is rude, condescending and knows nothing about bookkeeping

Pros

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

Cons

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.

Pros

- no need to use quickbooks
- friendly and responsive staff when issues arise
- individual bookkeeper assigned to your account
- user interface is friendly and accessible
- reporting features are solid
- costs less than hiring your own bookkeeper
- affordable rates which are advantageous for small businesses

Cons

- auto syncing does not connect w Capital One bak accounts which results oftentimes a 2-3 week lag in getting monthly reports back
- only retrospective reporting; no prospective budgeting features (need to use separate software)
- does not provide tax accounting services; only bookkeeping
- cannot easily customize revenue subledgers without discussing w accountant
- no categories of fixed/variable expenses
- cannot upload documents via mobile devices

Pros

Simply put, Bench took a headache away and made managing my bookkeeping easy and seamless. It also encourages me to be more aware of receivables and expenses + I really appreciate that I can check my books at any time, day or night. The overall look of the site is clean and approachable, and the interface is simple.

Cons

A few times my bank accounts have come "unlinked" somehow and I've had to go back in and link them.

Pros

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!

Cons

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.

Pros

Value. They provide services like a personal bookkeeping company. Very helpful and quick response.

Cons

Nothing comes to mind. We've been very happy with it.

Pros

The Bench team was there every step to explain what the software did, how to use it and what they need from me. I am super busy so I needed hand holding and that's exactly what the bench team did.

Cons

I had to do some of the integrations manually, such as sending over bank statements, but I would to have had to do this with a regular bookeeper anyway.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Bench

Bench is more comprehensive

Reasons for Switching to Bench

more comprehensive