This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Business & Tech

Video: Outsourcing Bookkeeping can Save Time, Money and Grief

Business and personal bookkeeping--It's a dirty job, but SOMEONE has to do it. Enter Christine De La Torre of Christine's Bookkeeping in Mission Viejo.

Christine De La Torre, owner of Christine’s Bookkeeping, specializes in small business and personal bookkeeping. Why? She actually enjoys it. I'm shaking my head in disbelief, since I glaze over when it comes to bookkeeping. Just ask Mr. Riley, my high school bookkeeping teacher.

As a child, De La Torre was organized. She enjoyed sorting and storing like things together, and had a knack for numbers. Her father had a four-foot-tall glass bottle full of loose change, and De La Torre loved to pour the change out, sort and count it, put the change back in the jar, and do it again on another day.

She is married to Luis, an apparel designer and graphic artist with a website: ArtofRebellion.com. They have several children, all of whom are furry and have four legs.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

After she spent years employed as a bookkeeper, Luis suggested she start her own bookkeeping business. In 2004, that’s exactly what she did.

Her rate is $50 per hour, prorated by what actual time is used. Christine also offers new customers a 15 percent discount off the first invoice.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

She services all business clients remotely. That means the software on her computer is able to access her clients’ accounting software on their computer. This is the same method used by online computer repair companies to remotely access a customer’s computer anywhere in the world to analyze a problem and repair it.

Christine also has a growing number of people employing her to handle their personal bill payments, deposits, statement reconciliation, and manage records. Many of her clients lead very busy lives, or are off traveling.

Other clients have attention deficit syndrome, or are seniors who find it a little more challenging to keep up with it all, or they just enjoy the convenience of having bookkeeping done for them.

Christine is one of the fortunate ones. Her small company has actually thrived in recent years by providing small business with an essential function of their operation, saving them money by avoiding the expenses associated with hiring an employee to do the same job.

Through word-of-mouth, her personal client base has grown. A sign of the times, a number of them are going through filing for bankruptcies or divorce. They need help going through receipts, statements and other records so Christine can provide them with financial reports required by their attorney and the court.

Everyday, Christine has the same enjoyment with her bookkeeping service that her old glass jar used to provide. We should all be so lucky.

Phone/Fax:
(949) 459-7370

Cell Phone:
(949) 636-1548

Email:
christinesbooks@sbcglobal.net

Website:
ChristinesBooks.com

Mailing address:
28715 Los Alisos Blvd. #7-302, Mission Viejo, CA 92692

Download the movie

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?