About Bench
Bench pricing
Bench does not have a free version but does offer a free trial. Bench paid version starts at US$249.00/month.
Alternatives to Bench
Bench Reviews
Feature rating
- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Life and Business Changing
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.
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.
Response from Bench Accounting
We appreciate you taking the time to share this positive experience with us, Guy! We're so happy to hear that the Bench platform, the expertise of your bookkeeping team, and timely client support have taken the burden of bookkeeping and tax filing off of your plate. Thank you for being with Bench, Guy!
- Industry: Individual & Family Services
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Monthly for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Huge help for an entrepreneur
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.
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 AccountingReasons for Switching to Bench
The bookkeeping support was well worth the extra expense.Response from Bench Accounting
Hi Samantha, Thank you so much for taking the time to share this review! We're happy to hear that we were able to help get your bookkeeping up to date. We're excited to keep providing a simple and easy bookkeeping experience moving forwards!
- Industry: Hospitality
- Company size: 11-50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Accounting for Startups
Pros
We transitioned from a traditional outsourced bookkeeper to Bench and love the ability to go in and view our reports quick and easy. The team is also much quicker to finish month end reports and responds quickly.
Cons
The onboarding process was a bit difficult. We had to adjust our expense categories to match. We would like to use the accrual accounting adjustment but haven't been able to get help with this yet.
Alternatives Considered
PilotReasons for Choosing Bench
The bookkeeper we used no longer met our needs as a growing startup.Reasons for Switching to Bench
Price and functionality- Industry: Photography
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used for 1+ year
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Review Source
Bench dropped the ball & gave me a partial refund.
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.
Pros
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.
Cons
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.
Alternatives Considered
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseReasons for Choosing Bench
I thought having a real person handle my bookkeeping would be faster than doing it myself.Reasons for Switching to Bench
I chose Bench, because I was hearing good things about them from Ash Ambirge of the Middle Finger Project whom I adore & trust. I liked the idea of a real person on my books, not software I had to manage.- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2-10 Employees
- Used Monthly for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Helpful but pricey
Generally my experience has been good. The device is expensive compared to other bookkeeping devices. My biggest concern is that in working with the company you get handed off to several different staff. It has been hard to build a relationship with my bookkeeper for this reason. I’ve found that I have to reexplain a number of our specifics over and over again because I am working with new people within the company. It would be better to be assigned to one bookkeeper, especially in our case, which included historical books and present day books. My business isnt open yet but some of the limitations in the software (particularly a lack of an A/P system) cause concern for me in considering continuing use once we are open.
Pros
I like that the online interface is user friendly, albeit a little glitchy.
Cons
Software is glitchy and could use a bit of tweaking in order to ensure that it is more effective.
Alternatives Considered
QuickBooks Online AdvancedReasons for Switching to Bench
We had a decent amount of historical data that needed to be tracked and entered. This felt like a huge undertaking and we needed the assistance. Doing that was a good experience and the bookkeeper that we worked with was really helpful. I am not sure that we will continue to use the service for future months, especially once our business is open and the books become more complex.Response from Bench Accounting
Hi Aimee, thank you for taking the time to share this with us! We're so happy to hear that you had a seamless experience with your historical bookkeeping. Regarding bookkeeper turnover, we completely understand how this can be frustrating in terms of user experience and this transition process is something we're actively working on improving. Building that working relationship with your bookkeeper is, understandably, quite important which is why we often recommend scheduling monthly check-in calls with your team!
