Bench Accounting Reviews 1,329

Wouldn't trust someone who took several thousand dollars away from a small business for services that they never did and then not only refused to refund but they then went bankrupt and restructured their company. Complete scam artists and thieves.

This is the most frustrating business that I have ever dealt with. We had a great bookkeeper with Bench until 2022 when he was promoted and we were assigned a new bookkeeper, Holly. Since that time our books have been months behind. We were already considering changing bookkeeping services, when Bench suddenly shut down without notice in December 2024. They have since been acquired by Employer.com and the service has only gotten worse. We asked to have our year end books completed by the end of January and they were not ready until a month later. After we got our year end books and filed our taxes with our own tax preparer, we told Bench that we wanted to cancel our account. It is now two months later and we are still trying to cancel our account. I am still receiving automated messages from this company requesting information and our bookkeeper can't seem to turn them off even though this is my 4th time asking.

Fraudsters. Always months behind on books. Then they ran out of money and decided to freeze everyones accounts with no refunds given. Then they were purchased by another company. When I canceled so that my yearly subscription would not renew, they just closed my account down months early and won't open it again unless I talk to sales, effectively not honoring 3 months that I already paid for.

I have been with bench for 5 years. The past 2 years have been a terrible experience. I am small-midsize business and they gave me late and incorrect financial packages. When I tried to cancel they continued to charge me. I have reached out multiple times with little to no success. Please do not waste your time or money with Bench.

I wish I could give 0 stars. Absolute garbage.

I’ve been a loyal customer of Bench for nearly 10 years, spending somewhere between $15,000–$20,000. In December of 2024, they went bankrupt with zero notice and the service has somehow gotten worse. Bench has become a useless, disorganized scam of a service.

In the past year alone, I’ve had four different bookkeepers, none of whom stuck around long enough to finish a job, which is stopping me from filing 3 years of back taxes because I'm constantly waiting on them.

I was nearly stood up for a scheduled meeting—no calendar invite, no confirmation, and no accountability. Had I not personally followed up, I would’ve been left in the dark yet again. The app doesn't even allow me to schedule a call anymore. I had to text some random dude — whom I only knew because last year he was hitting me up to renew my membership. When I asked for a refund on one month's worth of service because of their terrible service, they declined.

I guess it goes to show that if your bookkeeper is bankrupt, maybe they shouldn't be the one managing your books. Hate this service. Run far and fast. Good riddance. I legitimately hope they fail.

My experience with Becnh bookkeeping and Tax service has been incredibly frustrating from start to finish. The books were constantly delayed, communication was terrible, and the person I was assigned to just disappeared without any explanation. I even paid to have my taxes filed, and they were never submitted and are demanding an extra payment to do it.

The company suddenly shut down last year with no previous notification. Somehow they came back this year, but it’s even worse now. No accountability, and definitely no professionalism.

I totally regret trusting them with my finances and strongly advise others to stay away.

Bench shut down late December 2024 and was acquired a few days later and came back online. Despite me paying several thousand dollars for my bookkeeping for the year of 2024, the "new entity" refuses to honor my 2024 subscription and will not provide me with my end of year financial package — making the entire year of bookkeeping services that I paid for, completely useless. The only way they would honor my 2024 contract would be to sign up again at an even higher monthly rate... Absolute crooks.

I gave this company a wonderful review some years ago, and I stand by it. But the quality of their work for us declined in the last 2 years. I learned that they had been bought out by folks that didn't care as much as the founder about the quality of their work. It showed. As many have shared, this company suddenly went out of business at the end of Nov, 2024 with no previous notice. Right near the end of the fiscal year, we were suddenly completely without bookkeeping. It was harrowing. We jumped ship fast to Maxim Liberty, and ended up being VERY happy with their work, at half the price. They loaded all the Bench data for the year and helped us finish up our books and taxes for 2024. Bench had the temerity to charge us an annual renewal fee of $3,000 just before they went out of business, and we had to fight for months with our credit card company to get it back. Bench refused. So work with this company only if you feel you can trust them again. I love the work they did when they first started. I wish them luck.

This is literlly the worst business decision I have ever made. I signed a contract and paid 8500.00 for historical bookeeping and then they went bankrupt and the new company has not provided a good service at all. I have never seen anything so difficult and in the end I think I will have to start all over. Please do not use this company for your book keeping I have literlly put more than 100 hours in to trying to help them mess it up more. Combined with the $8500.00. I am more stressed than I have ever been with any accounting or bookkeeping services.

It is April 2025 and they STILL have not caught up on my 2023 books, even though I pay them on time every month.

I pre-paid Bench for two full years of tax services. Everything was fine until the company was acquired and suddenly, they refused to honor the agreement I had already paid for in full. They told me I’d have to eat the loss — no refund, no credit, nothing. On top of that, they quoted me nearly double the price I was originally paying just to continue service.

It’s beyond frustrating and feels like a complete bait-and-switch. I had trusted this company with my financials and was left feeling cheated and unsupported. If you’re considering Bench, do yourself a favor and avoid them at all costs. There are other bookkeeping services out there that value integrity and treat their clients with respect.

Please do not use Bench.co anymore. I had them for I think 7 years and two different accounts. They were great until 2024. In 2024 I went through 5 bookkeepers and they weee consistently 4 months behind on my books and communication went to over week for a response. Then 2 days after Christmas they said they were closing doors, left us hanging for a week, then said finally said just kidding, we were acquired by Employer.com and service will continue as normal. They matched me with a new bookkeeper again. Started working on my books (which they still hadn’t completed September) in Jan and then went crickets for 3 weeks and closed my ability to message them. I had to book a new client call to speak with anyone. The person said Bench filed for bankruptcy and Employer.com was not legally obligated to honor my contract from 2024. But they said they would finish my books if I paid them a one time fee of $1000 per business or renewed each business for another year each for $3800 each. So they could honor my contract but chose not to unless I gave them more money. Forget legal obligation, what about moral obligation? They said sorry there’s nothing we can do unless you pay us. So I lost $2600 dollars (other small business owners lost much more!!) and had to scramble to get a years worth of books done in a few months and at an expedited price. Please DO NOT hire Bench.co or Employer.com in any capacity. They have no morals and offer crappy service.

The worst business and service experience I’ve ever received. I chose bench in a hurry to find a small business account and tax filer to prepare for my 2024 taxes. Haven’t gotten setup in over 5 months extremely late on my taxes, unfulfilled promises, impossible to get in touch with virtually anyone, oh and they went bankrupt in the meantime. I am just 22 years old and this is my first time dealing with a business accountant and it has been extremely horrible. They looped me in to signed some agreement with a lender that refuses to wave my payment plan although I have already cancelled with bench for a month. Cant get in touch with anyone from
Bench on the matters, and they’re trying to increase my rates from $500 a month to $750 a month. 100000% a scam, even after abrupt changes they will not let you get out of your contract with cap chase and will not help you in any way. I feel trapped I do not have the funds to pay these guys $10000 annually for little
To no work, and I don’t know what to do. Will most likely try to take legal action if I cannot recover the funds and get out of this scam of a contract and company. If you see the word bench, do not click!!! Run!!!!!!!

If you are a small business stay very far away from Bench Accounting. They are inaccurate and will charge your credit card fraudulently. They are ran by crooks. Then if you dispute a charge, they are impossible to talk to in person. Run! After using them for one year, we had to completely start over with a reputable accountant. The books were a mess. They sent out an email at the end of December saying they would no longer be able to do our books. Then 6 weeks later they start charging our credit card for services they canceled. Then when you try to get a refund, you have to make appointments with a person who cannot do anything. Then you get an email declining to refund because you need 60 days notice. They fired us! Then charged our card twice. Then refused to refund. What crooks!

Bench made a big mistake in our tax numbers, leading to penalties and revocation of our company in the State of Delaware. When confronted, they refused to help correct their mistake. When cancelling, they refused to export our data.

As other reviewers are stating, this company is an actual scam. I log in frequently to categorize my transactions (something they can't do accurately given they switch my accountant ALL THE TIME) and check to see if there are any outstanding action items on my end (i.e. reconnecting a bank account, uploading statements, etc.). Meanwhile, Bench does virtually NOTHING - leaving my books entirely untouched until the end of the year, when they finally advised me they wouldn't be able to finish them on time and I would need to file a tax extension. They are hard-to-impossible to get hold of. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE - you'll be throwing money away and causing yourself giant headaches come tax time.

I’m not one to leave reviews, but it’s time I start because the fraud and horrible service we’ve endured from so many companies is out of control, and Bench.co is a prime example.
Their collapse is too disastrous not to warn others about. On December 27, 2024, two days after Christmas, they shut down abruptly with no warning, screwing thousands of us. The company went bankrupt due to poor management after their board ousted their CEO in 2021, sending them into a tailspin. Throughout 2024, their services were a total trainwreck, horrible doesn’t even begin to describe it. They were losing employees left and right, staff who didn’t know their own software and had no experience managing company books, leaving our finances in complete disarray. When they finally crashed, we regained access in January 2025, downloaded the disaster they left behind, and closed our account, vowing never to return. We thought we’d escaped lightly by finding a new company to handle our year-end, but getting charged $7,000 over a month later and having to deal with this is beyond belief.
Employer.com acquired the wreckage and ignored our paid-in-full contract, which included our corporate 2024 year-end tax return, and in February 2025, they hit my Capital One card with that $7,000 charge, over double what we paid Bench the prior year, for a renewal we explicitly rejected. Now I’m stuck fighting unauthorized charges and a 25-point credit score drop. After 30 years in business, I’ve never seen it this bad, constantly battling companies that don’t do what they’re paid for. It’s like a cancer spreading, worsening every day, and Bench’s year of incompetence, capped by this bankruptcy mess, is a nightmare. Stay far away from Bench.co and anything tied to it, like Employer.com, they’ll leave you high and dry with no remorse!

We have used Bench for a year, it was a huge mistake, they haven't done anything on our books since closing and you email them or try to talk to your bookkeeper, and they never get back to you. They blame you for not uploading documents, even though all the documents are there. They wont get taxes done or work on the books. They pretty much take your money and leave you hanging. Horrible services. Do not recommend at all.

3 years of relationship ruined by the bankruptcy and employer.com acquisition. I paid for all of 2024, but they won't finish my books for 2024 unless I pay them an incremental $1200 one-time fee or pay ~3K for another year of their service. Not right.

Giving 2 stars instead of 1 out of respect for a once good company.

Employer.com has recently acquired Bench.co, and is reforming the company - however intentionally extorting Bench customers in the process to try and recover revenue from the now defunct and bankrupt operation.

I have been a Bench customer for 6+ years, and have paid a minimum of $14,328.00 to Bench, likely a lot more - and I have already paid for the entire year of bookkeeping for 2024.

However, my books for 2024 are nowhere to be found and were never even completed to begin with, and we are now in February of 2025.

So not only have I not received what I *already* paid for - but they are now trying to hold my books hostage to try and get me onto a new subscription with Employer.com.

Not only unethical, but feels like a full-blown scam to me.

To make matters worse - I have even been a Brand Partner for them. Meaning over the years, they have had me create video content for them, which has associated my brand and my name with Bench. I have shared Bench and their services with my audience of over 250,000 people, my newsletter of 17,000 as well as close personal friends and colleagues.