the Cost of Temporary Accounting Employees

My husband and I have a small business. We were having trouble finding the time (and energy!) to organize our various accounts and ledgers. We decided to hire two temporary accounting employees to perform this task for us. We went through a temporary agency. The employees worked on a part-time basis for two weeks and were paid about six hundred dollars each. In addition to organizing our accounting files, they also were responsible for balancing two ledgers that we had not been able to balance for months. We also had them finish setting up a new, streamlined accounting system that we had been working on, but had not yet finished.

The temporary accounting employees were very eager to help and had great personalities. However, we had to spend more time than we expected doing a bit of training and showing them how to do things we thought they should have already known how to do. Originally, we had planned on this project taking about a week. However, it ended up taking two weeks because of their lack of knowledge. In the end, the work was completed and was done well. So, we really did not mind the extra expense and time.

If you are using a temporary agency, ask what criteria they use to hire their temporary employees. Most require basic accounting tests, but try to find out how challenging these tests actually are- it could save you time and money in the long run!