Where admin ends and accounting begins
It helps to draw the line early. Admin work covers creating and sending invoices, reminders, receipt matching, entering bills as drafts, comparing vendor statements with your records and keeping documents filed so they are easy to find.
Accounting decisions sit on the other side: how an unclear transaction is categorized, adjusting entries, reconciliations you sign off, payroll, sales tax and income tax. A bookkeeper or CPA handles those, and the assistant passes along clean files and a list of open questions.
Paying bills, sending transfers and changing bank or payment details stay with you in every case. For federal recordkeeping basics, see the IRS site or ask your accountant.
How invoicing support is organized
Work starts with a look at how billing runs today: where job details come from, which invoice templates you use, what your payment terms are and how overdue accounts are handled. Those answers go into a short written procedure, so the assistant follows your rules instead of guessing.
Then it settles into routine. The assistant works in QuickBooks or Xero under their own login, with permissions that allow invoices and draft bills and nothing that pays. Reminders follow a schedule and wording you approve. Anything unusual, like a disputed invoice or a vendor asking to change remittance details, comes straight to you.
Checking how a provider handles money requests
Billing support touches your cash, so ask a provider plainly how money-related requests are handled. A sound answer: the assistant never pays or transfers funds, never changes bank or payment details, and forwards any request to do so to the owner to confirm through a contact already on file.
Ask too how the assistant spots an invoice or bill that looks off, such as a new vendor, a changed amount or an urgent tone, and who they tell. Payment fraud often starts with a convincing email. The FTC publishes business guidance on scams aimed at small companies.
The how it works page explains how your request is passed to a service partner.
Questions about invoicing and bookkeeping admin
Do you handle both QuickBooks and Xero?
Requests for both are common. Mention which product and plan you use, plus any add-ons for payments, receipts or job tracking, so the service partner can confirm the assistant can work in your setup before quoting.
How are overdue invoices followed up?
With reminders on a schedule and in wording you approve, usually polite emails sent from QuickBooks, Xero or your shared inbox. When an account stays unpaid past your limit, or the customer disputes the charge, the assistant stops and passes it to you with the history.
Does the assistant need access to our bank account?
Usually not. Matching receipts and transactions happens in the bank feed inside QuickBooks or Xero, so online banking logins can stay with you. If a provider asks for banking access, ask which task needs it and whether a view-only option would do.
Sending a request commits you to nothing. It starts a conversation about scope.
Ask for a quoteOther services
Spreadsheets and records
Keep contact lists, inventory sheets and supplier records current in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
Customer email and chat
First-line replies to routine customer questions, written from your templates and policies, with anything unusual passed back to you.
HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive
Record keeping and list work under a separate user seat, with the permissions you choose to grant.