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Who Uses Bench?
Small business owners who want to focus on their business, not their bookkeeping.
What Is Bench?
Bench is for small business owners who want to focus on their business, not their bookkeeping. Every month, Bench turns your data into tax-ready financial statements. You can monitor your business's financial health, download your financial statements, and chat with your team any time via the Bench app. And at the end of the year, Bench provides you with everything you (or your CPA) will need to file your taxes.
Bench Details
Bench Accounting
https://bench.co/
Founded 2012
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Bench deployment and support
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Bench Features
Accounting Software
- API
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- Activity Dashboard
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Bookkeeper Software
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- Accounting Software
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Financial Reporting Software
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Bench Reviews
Read all reviewsOverall rating
Average score
Jonathan B.
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Overall Rating5 /5
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Ease of Use5 /5
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Features & Functionality5 /5
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Customer Support Software5 /5
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Value for Money5 /5
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Likelihood to Recommend
- Reviewer Source
- Reviewed on 2020-08-25
"Excellent Book Keeping Software For Running Your Business"
Comments: Understanding the financial health of our business has been critical in making decisions both long and short term. Bench helped free up the minimal time that we as business owners have and spend more of that time focusing on our business, which has been very helpful.
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.
Vendor Response
by Bench Accounting on 2020-09-23
Hi, Jonathan. Thanks so much for sharing your kind review! We also appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We have shared this to the appropriate teams.
- Reviewer Source
- Reviewed on 2020-08-25
Scott S.
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Overall Rating5 /5
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Ease of Use5 /5
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Features & Functionality5 /5
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Customer Support Software5 /5
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Value for Money5 /5
-
Likelihood to Recommend
- Reviewer Source
- Reviewed on 2021-05-25
"Enjoying Bench Accounting for my Small Business"
Comments: Bench helps me stay on top of my bookkeeping and know that my "i"s are dotted and "t"s are crossed.
Pros: I like how simple it was to connect my bank accounts as well as third party payors (eg. paypal, stripe). The interface is intuitive to navigate and uploading receipts using my custom email is a nifty trick!
Cons: I wish linking to Bench Tax or having some sort of tax center was a bit more seamless.
Vendor Response
by Bench Accounting on 2021-05-28
Hi, Scott! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with us. We're thrilled to hear that you're finding our interface user friendly, and that your team has been able to help you stay on top of your finances!
- Reviewer Source
- Reviewed on 2021-05-25
Marie M.
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Overall Rating2 /5
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Ease of Use5 /5
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Features & Functionality5 /5
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Customer Support Software3 /5
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Value for Money2 /5
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Likelihood to Recommend
- Reviewer Source
- Reviewed on 2020-07-23
"Bench dropped the ball & gave me a partial refund."
Comments: 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.
- Reviewer Source
- Reviewed on 2020-07-23
Dez E.
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Overall Rating5 /5
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Ease of Use4 /5
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Features & Functionality4 /5
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Customer Support Software5 /5
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Value for Money5 /5
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Likelihood to Recommend
- Reviewer Source
- Reviewed on 2020-10-27
"Clean"
Comments: Our overall experience has been that Bench is personable, intuitative, and user-friendly.
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).
Vendor Response
by Bench Accounting on 2020-11-12
Hi Dez! Thank you so much for your kind review. We also appreciate the feedback! Wishing you all the best.
- Reviewer Source
- Reviewed on 2020-10-27
Guy F.
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Overall Rating5 /5
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Ease of Use5 /5
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Features & Functionality5 /5
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Customer Support Software5 /5
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Value for Money5 /5
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Likelihood to Recommend
- Reviewer Source
- Reviewed on 2021-07-06
"Life and Business Changing"
Comments: 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.
Vendor Response
by Bench Accounting on 2021-07-08
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!
- Reviewer Source
- Reviewed on 2021-07-06
