CELPIP Listening Part 5 · Discussion · set 6 of 10

Hiring a Part-Time Bookkeeper

A CELPIP Listening Part 5 practice set (Discussion): the transcript, 8 questions and the answer key with an explanation for each answer. No sign-up needed. This page prints the transcript and has no audio; on the real test you hear the recording once and cannot replay it.

The task

You will watch a video of a discussion. You will hear it only once. Listen carefully, then answer the questions.

You hear the discussion only once.
Choose the best answer for each question.

Questions: 8
Time: 4 minutes
Practice set: 6 of 10

Transcript

The test plays this once, as audio. For real practice, answer the questions first, then check the transcript.

Gloria: Okay, before the lunch rush. We need to sort out the books. We got that letter about the late HST filing last month, and I never want to see another one. Stefan: That was on me, I know. I've been doing the bookkeeping at night after closing, and honestly, I'm just too tired to get it right. Anjali: Nobody's blaming you, Stefan. Three locations is a different business from one. So what are the options? Gloria: I see three. We hire someone part-time, maybe ten hours a week. We send everything to an outside firm. Or we buy better software and Stefan keeps going. Stefan: Please not the third one. Anjali: Okay, noted. Gloria: I priced it out. A part-time bookkeeper around here is about twenty-eight dollars an hour, so roughly eleven or twelve hundred a month. The firm on Quinpool quoted six hundred and fifty a month for the monthly bookkeeping and filings, but year-end taxes are extra, around two thousand. Anjali: So the firm's cheaper on paper. What I don't like is that we'd be one client out of hundreds. When something comes up mid-month, like a supplier invoice that doesn't match, who do we call? Stefan: That's my concern too. Half my problems are little things like that. Someone sitting here two afternoons a week could just walk over and ask me. Gloria: True, but someone here means hiring, training, covering when they're sick. I don't have time to manage another employee right now. Anjali: What if we did a mix? The firm handles year-end and the tax filings, since that's where mistakes cost us money, and we hire a part-time person for the day-to-day stuff. Gloria: That's the most expensive version, though. Anjali: For a year, maybe. But if the part-timer is good, we could bring year-end in-house next year too. Stefan: I know someone, actually. My cousin's friend, Mariam. She did the books for a dental clinic and just went part-time after having a baby. She wants about fifteen hours a week, mostly from home. Gloria: From home could work, as long as she comes in once a week. Okay. Let's do this. Anjali, call the firm and ask if they'll do only the filings and year-end. Stefan, set up an interview with Mariam for next week. If both work out, we start on the first of next month. Stefan: And I get my evenings back. Gloria: You get your evenings back.

Questions and answer key

1The speakers are mainly discussing ___.
1. Awhether to open a fourth location
2. ✓how to handle the business's bookkeeping
3. Chow to reduce the cost of supplies
4. Dwhich bank to use for the business
Answer: B
Gloria opens with "We need to sort out the books," and every option discussed is a way to do the bookkeeping. A new location, supplies and banks are never the topic.
2What led to this discussion?
1. AA supplier overcharging the bakery
2. BThe opening of a third bakery
3. ✓A letter about a late tax filing
4. DStefan announcing that he would quit
Answer: C
Gloria mentions "that letter about the late HST filing last month." Supplier invoices are only an example of a small problem, and Stefan never says he will quit.
3How does Stefan feel about the software option?
1. ✓He does not want to keep doing the books himself.
2. BHe thinks it is the cheapest choice.
3. CHe has already bought the software.
4. DHe would like more training to use it.
Answer: A
When Gloria says Stefan could keep going with better software, he answers "Please not the third one," and earlier says he is "too tired to get it right."
4How much did the outside firm quote for monthly work?
1. ✓$650 a month
2. BAbout $1,200 a month
3. CAbout $2,000 a month
4. D$28 a month
Answer: A
The firm "quoted six hundred and fifty a month." About $1,200 is the part-timer's monthly cost, $2,000 is the year-end fee, and $28 is an hourly wage.
5What is Anjali's concern about using only the outside firm?
1. AIts year-end fee is too high.
2. BIts office is too far from the bakery.
3. ✓It may be hard to get quick help with small problems.
4. DIt has made mistakes for other clients.
Answer: C
Anjali says "we'd be one client out of hundreds" and asks "who do we call" about mid-month issues. She later wants the firm to do year-end, so she is not objecting to its fee.
6Why is Gloria unsure about hiring someone?
1. AThe wage is higher than the firm's year-end fee.
2. ✓She has no time to manage another employee.
3. CThere is no space for a desk at the bakery.
4. DShe thinks Stefan would not get along with them.
Answer: B
Gloria says "I don't have time to manage another employee right now." The other reasons are not given.
7What do we learn about Mariam?
1. AShe already works for the outside firm.
2. BShe wants to work ten hours a week at the bakery.
3. CShe is Stefan's cousin.
4. ✓She has done bookkeeping for a dental clinic.
Answer: D
Stefan says "She did the books for a dental clinic." She is his cousin's friend, and she wants about fifteen hours a week, mostly from home.
8What do the owners plan to do?
1. ASend all of the bookkeeping to the outside firm
2. BHave a part-timer do everything, including year-end
3. CBuy new software so Stefan can continue
4. ✓Use the firm for filings and year-end, and hire a part-time bookkeeper
Answer: D
Gloria tells Anjali to ask the firm to "do only the filings and year-end" and Stefan to interview Mariam. Bringing year-end in-house is only a possibility for next year.

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