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Bench accounting services shutting down
241–250 of 399 posts
Re: Bench accounting services shutting down
#242The company is over a decade old and was not cheap to use, I don't think they could have suddenly run out of money as customers typically pay upfront and are in long term contracts. Could it be staffing issues? Corporate misbehavior? Data loss? Ransomware? Has a member of their team gone rogue? Misappropriation of funds? We were bench customers until a few months ago, paying thousands of dollars per year for what cou…
I'd guess staffing issues, since my bookkeeper would change every month. I'm still not sure how they couldn't afford to hire better staff, though. You're right that it could be something nefarious. Where did you move to?
Ah sorry to hear you were caught up in this.
Cronitor uses pilot. It was a little crazy at first but the last year+ feels like they have stabilized operations.
Re: Bench accounting services shutting down
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
I advise caution in believing his statements to be true, particularly about Bench’s board and investors. The truth will live in their financial statements, which no doubt will be revealed in bankruptcy proceedings in the coming months.
Ian Crosby here. If you don't believe me, believe the CEO of Shopify who was an investor and partner: https://x.com/tobi/status/1872753436116332994
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Re: Bench accounting services shutting down
#244> We know this news is abrupt and may cause disruption, so we’re committed to helping Bench customers navigate through the transition. No, you're not. The minimum for commitment is a longer notice.
This must terrible for small businesses. Not sure how they can even help 10k customers with transition if they have shutdown and staff are laid off.
Not to mention all the money businesses paid in advance for services they’ll likely never get back. It’s a terrible situation—small businesses really RELY on these services, and now they’re left stranded with no clear resolution. Truly, reckless and insane.
Re: Bench accounting services shutting down
#245Perhaps I'm old school, but how hard is it to hire a bookkeeper part time, a CPA a few times a year, and use Quickbooks? Was there some special value that Bench provided?
You’re not old school.
This is just how the tech industry works.
I ofc know nothing about Bench, but am aware of tech companies that try to disrupt established businesses with the aid of free* unlimited* money.
Re: Bench accounting services shutting down
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ian Crosby here. If you don't believe me, believe the CEO of Shopify who was an investor and partner: https://x.com/tobi/status/1872753436116332994
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> "this is exactly what happened"
In a direct reply to the thread. Well, it is confirming the original thread.
Re: Bench accounting services shutting down
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you're planning on offering tax filings, or just recommendations? tbh this should have been included in the notice because I wrote y'all off immediately because taxes was the main pain point Bench solved for me (electing to file as an S-Corp).
A friend of mine mentioned Taxfyle as an alternative to Bench. They offer free bookkeeping migration, a free Xero subscription, dedicated bookkeeper to do your books and professional tax support where they handle your taxes too. They seem like a good fit for you! Check them out here: https://www.taxfyle.com/
I used Bench in the past and they partnered with Taxfyle up until ~November 2023 (date of the email I received stating the partnership was ending).
The service was fine, interesting that their relationship ended just over a year ago.
Re: Bench accounting services shutting down
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wait a minute, they pushed you into an annual contract? And now that they aren't going to perform their end of the contract? This is fascinating. That smells like actual fraud on their part.
I’m sure all of this will be played out in spectacular fashion in the courts of British Columbia in the coming months. Directors in BC are liable for unpaid wages to employees. No doubt they pulled the rug just in time to ensure people got their statutory severance. But beyond that, anyone hoping for more will have to get in a long line behind secured creditors. Man this sucks.
In a situation like this, someone with a contract not receiving consideration mere days after signing can probably just not pay. It would be very difficult for a company in the midst of shutting down to fight anyway.
Re: Bench accounting services shutting down
#249Not even a tiny bit surprised given their pricing [0]. The only thing you're getting with those rates are juniors with questionable training and worse supervision. Likely outsourced to a cheap country on top of it.
As a reference point their MONTHLY rate would get you 1-2 hours of senior associate time at a B4 provider.
It's the equivalent of hopping onto fiverr and hiring a coder after sorting by low price, and then being surprised when you receive LLM code that doesn't compile. It's entirely your own fault if you thought that would work...
[0] http://web.archive.org/web/20241223225539/https://www.bench....
Re: Bench accounting services shutting down
#250Perhaps I'm old school, but how hard is it to hire a bookkeeper part time, a CPA a few times a year, and use Quickbooks? Was there some special value that Bench provided?
Been there done that several times over. One PT bookkeeper would only do books if they also got paid to process payroll which like the books was always behind. They did a good job on the books but I have small brick and mortar biz's. While I can wait a bit for books I can't to get my employees paid correctly, once someone's payroll isn't right/paychecks take longer/etc it gets heated.
Another would produce books that required a lot of work from my CPA which made the CPA a lot more expensive.
I've had it pretty easy - friends of mine have had PT/local bookkeepers do every form of damage you can think of - it's a messy world for SMB books. And those are nothing compared to the carnage I've observed small biz's with an employee PT or FT in house doing the books.