Bench Accounting, the largest small business bookkeeping service in North America, has abruptly closed its doors.
The Vancouver-based company released a “Notice of service closure» on its website Friday. His Instagram and Facebook pages appear to have been deleted overnight.
Customers were also notified via email, and many were left confused and angry about the sudden closure just before tax season.
Surprised to see Bench Accounting close its doors. Who do you recommend for bookkeeping jobs? #tax #accounting #accounting pic.twitter.com/HFRzcWrVQz
– John Mackewich (@Mackewich) December 27, 2024
“We regret to inform you that as of December 27, 2024, the Bench platform will no longer be accessible,” Bench wrote in its service closure notice. “We know this news is sudden and may cause disruption, which is why we are committed to helping Bench customers through the transition.
“From the entire Bench team, it has been an absolute privilege to serve small businesses over the past 13 years. Thank you for being part of our journey.
Bench Accounting Headquarters in Vancouver
Bench, founded in 2012 by Forbes Ian Crosby, winner of the 30-under 30 category, provided online accounting services to small businesses. The FAQ section of its now-closed website says it served 11,000 small business owners across the United States.
Although the company did not officially confirm the layoffs in its initial announcement, several former employees have declared on LinkedIn that they and their fellow “Benchmates” are looking for new roles. Others have proposed to helping people find new jobs through introductions and support.
Daily Hive has contacted Bench for more information. We will update this story as soon as we have a response.
The fintech company had more than 650 employees as of 2021 and secured total funding of more than $100 million in the same year, according to a previous press release. Investors in Bench included Sage, Altos Ventures, iNovia Capital, Shopify and BMO T&I.
Customers were shocked and angry at Bench’s abrupt closure.
as a customer, I’m pretty pissed. I recently joined Bench, paid to catch up on accounting to migrate from QB, and now all of that has just disappeared
– Ben Kraus (@kraustifer) December 27, 2024
Yeah !
We handle all the accounting @CascadiaJS on the bench. They were great, it really sucks 😔
Does anyone have a recommendation for a small business accounting service? https://t.co/2jFmg6TkOw
— @carter.rabasa.com on 🦋 (@crtr0) December 27, 2024
Former CEO and co-founder Ian Crosby also posted on X that he “hopes Bench’s story continues to become a warning to venture capital firms.”
1/8 I am very sad today to see this @Bench stopped.
I have avoided speaking publicly about Bench for a little over 3 years, when I was laid off from the company I co-founded. I still don’t really want to talk about it, but I think at least a short statement is…
– Ian Crosby (@ianwcrosby) December 27, 2024
According to a recent report, Canadian businesses are closing their doors at a pace that the country has not seen since the start of the pandemic.
The number of active Canadian businesses last June fell to just over 929,000, the highest monthly number decrease since May 2020. According to Statistics Canada, 5% of all businesses in the country closed their doors in June.