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Bench accounting services shutting down

bench.co

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Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#301

Post by jbeard4 »

Current (I guess now former) bench customer here. Concerned about this comment in their FAQ:

> On this website, by December 30th, you’ll be able to enter your Bench login credentials to download your current and prior year-end financials, as well as any documents you’ve uploaded such as receipts and bank statements.

This makes it sound like they are only making the year-end financials available - not the individual transactions/ledger entries. I’m concerned about this - aren’t the individual transactions required if one were to be audited? Would this create a lot of liability for their former customers?

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#302

Post by entityinc »

Hi, I am the founder of entity.inc and several accounting firms. We are offering free migration from bench, tax planning and compliance as well as legal services. If anyone has any issues or needs, whether you are based in the US or abroad, please reach out.

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#303

Post by WesJam »

This is really sad to hear. We offer a related service in Canada, and therefore I am keenly interested in what didn’t work. If anyone from Bench is interested in chatting about what went wrong and what to avoid I would really appreciate your time / happy to grab a coffee if you are in Toronto.

For any Canadian corps caught up in the Bench shutdown. We bundle corporate governance, bookkeeping, tax and payroll for $250 CAD/month but only serve straight forward small Canadian corporations.

- Nick co-founder at Ribbon Business (https://getribbon.ai), nicholas.wesley-james@getribbon.ai

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#304

Post by Dylan16807 »

jrflowers wrote: post #294
Dylan16807 wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not.

Yes it is. If they had written “if you’re posting about hamburgers you need to reevaluate your life” that would be a post expressing their opinion about hamburgers.

No, it would not be. Their opinion about Z and their opinion about people that care too much about Z are different things.

Your post above is a failed attempt at a petty gotcha.

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#305

Post by kstrauser »

propter_hoc wrote: post #299
iwcrosby wrote: post #231

Earlier 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

[flagged]

Pray tell, how was he possibly supposed to help the customers of the company he was fired from 3 years ago?

I found his posts interesting. I was a Bench customer for several years until we sold our business, and I appreciate the background information about the bullet we dodged.

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#306

Post by kstrauser »

jakecarpenter wrote: post #199

Seems like my experience may not have been typical. I used Bench from 19-23 for a startup and always felt like I was getting great service. I agree that they were a bit expensive, but the financials passed external reviews and always made my investors happy. It is a shame to see them closing down this way, awful timing and awful treatment of their customers. As a founder, you need to fully understand your financials,…

I used them from around '18-'22. There were a couple of minor glitches sometimes, but it was generally fine and they were always quick to respond to questions. My accountant liked working with them.

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#307

Post by wdaher »

cj wrote: post #189
wdaher wrote: post #29

If you’re a tech startup and previously used Bench, I’d strongly encourage you to check out Pilot.com - we work with literally thousands of startups. (Disclaimer: I’m one of the founders.)

Genuine question: why did you raise $100 million Series C for a bookkeeping company? I'm a Pilot customer, and my heart dropped when I saw your funding announcement on the homepage a while back.

It's a fairly capital-intensive business.

Here's my best articulation of specifically what makes it hard: https://waseem.substack.com/p/tech-enabled-services

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#308

Post by wdaher »

Nelkins wrote: post #162
wdaher wrote: post #29

If you’re a tech startup and previously used Bench, I’d strongly encourage you to check out Pilot.com - we work with literally thousands of startups. (Disclaimer: I’m one of the founders.)

Do you service single member LLCs/S Corps?

We do, yes.

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#310

Post by JusticeJuice »

blakebilliet wrote: post #205
porter wrote: post #45

Bench just forced me to switch to an annual contract a few days ago too. What a bunch of crooks.

I'd be shocked if you didn't get reimbursed. But if you don't, let me know and Afino might be able to mitigate a portion of your losses with a friendly discount. That just ain't right.

When a company goes bankrupt, there’s a specific order that everyone who’s owed money gets paid out in. I wouldn’t be surprised if “operational costs” like refunds are low on the list.
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