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.
Bills, receipts and vendor statements
Payables is where small slips cost the most, so this part runs on checks. When a bill arrives, the assistant enters it in QuickBooks or Xero as a draft or awaiting approval, attaches the PDF and compares it with any purchase order or quote. Possible duplicates and changed amounts get flagged.
Receipts are matched to card and bank transactions so your bookkeeper is not hunting for them later. At month end, vendor statements are compared with what is recorded, and differences are listed with the documents behind them.
Approval and payment stay with you. If a vendor emails new bank details, the assistant updates nothing and forwards the message to you to confirm through a contact you already have.
Questions worth asking about billing support
When you compare providers, these questions show how carefully the work is set up:
- What permission level will the assistant have in QuickBooks or Xero, and can it pay bills? It should not.
- What happens when a vendor asks to change bank details?
- How are draft bills marked for approval, and who sees them?
- Will the same person handle your account each month?
- How are customer disputes handled?
- What goes into the monthly summary?
- How will they work with your bookkeeper or CPA?
- How is access removed when the engagement ends?
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.
What drives the cost of invoicing admin?
Invoice and bill volume, how messy the current records are, how many systems are involved and whether the work is weekly or occasional. The service partner quotes after seeing the details in your request, and nothing is agreed by sending the form.
Describe the work, and a service partner will scope it with you and send a quote.
Start a requestOther services
Admin and data entry
Spreadsheet updates, order entry, document filing and list cleanup, done in your own files by an assistant working from a written checklist.
Email and chat help
You set tone, refund limits and escalation rules. The assistant replies within them and keeps notes on each thread.
HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive
Record keeping and list work under a separate user seat, with the permissions you choose to grant.