Tax form, pen and calculatorOutsourcing Your Accounting Is a Smart Business Decision

As more and more business owners look for ways to find more time in their day and ensure they are using all their resources in the best way possible, many are looking at outsourcing their accounting. Is this step the right one for you? Ask yourself:

  • Do you spend too much time managing your books, distracting you from other other activities needed for growing your business?
  • Do you find you take shortcuts with your bookkeeping because you aren’t sure how to properly enter information?
  • Do you have a talented bookkeeper but want more advanced financial analysis and advice than he or she can give?
  • Are your financials always a few months behind, making it hard to make informed business decisions?

These are not uncommon challenges for many small to mid-size business owners. It is often difficult to get the financial intelligence you need to make strategic decisions without paying more than you want for a team of professionals to do the work. This is precisely why many businesses are moving toward an outsourced model for their bookkeeping, controller and CFO-level advice. If this sounds intriguing to you, here are a few benefits of switching to this model:

  • Save Time & Create Efficiencies: By spending less time dealing with invoices, AR/AP and payroll, you can focus your efforts where they are more valuable, like product development, client service and business growth. You very likely did not go into business so you could manage books, so why not outsource that task to someone who is better suited for it and has a higher level of skill in this area?
  • Save Money: It may seem counterintuitive, but by outsourcing your accounting activities, you can eliminate headcount and along with it the expense of benefits, training, office space, and more. While you will still be paying someone to do the job, it is often substantially less than hiring one or more people to do the work internally.
  • Reduce Technology Expenses: By outsourcing, you no longer have to pay for hardware and software directly since your provider will already have all the latest and greatest systems in place, along with the know-how to properly and expertly use them.
  • Constant Access to Your Financial Data: Speaking of software, by incorporating cloud-based applications into your processes, along with timely data entry and reporting, you will have constant visibility to up-to-date information like cash flow, accounts receivable and profitability reports so you can access your company’s financial health and make informed decisions when needed.
  • Scale Quickly to Meet Growing Needs: Since you will have more time to focus on growing your company, you will need a way to scale to meet expanding demands. During times of high demand, an outsourced accounting department can add resources to meet your needs. When things slow down, those same resources can be re-directed to other client work.
  • Lower Risk and Increase Confidence: By outsourcing your accounting to experts who do this all day, every day, your finances are managed by some of the most highly trained people available. They know how to look for anomalies, create an audit trail and institute checks and balances. This level of expertise and analytical skill gives business owners peace of mind and enhanced confidence in the accuracy of their financial reporting.
  • Reduce Tax Return Preparation and Audit Costs: Preparing your tax returns is greatly simplified if you have accurate and up-to-date financials. So many companies spend countless hours “catching up” when it comes time to work on their annual returns. Or they pay their tax firm do the work for them which can greatly increase what you pay for their services. By always having immaculate books available, your annual filing process will be much smoother and quicker too.

Another piece of good news is that outsourcing your accounting is not an all-or-nothing decision. Many businesses have an internal bookkeeper they love or a long-term and talented CFO with outstanding institutional knowledge. In these cases, you can simply outsource the areas where you lack expertise to get the complete financial reporting and analysis your company needs.

What You Can Expect When Outsourcing Your Accounting

  1. Getting to Know You: Like any good relationship, we take the time up front to get to know your company, your goals, how your business functions, where you have strengths and weaknesses and how we can bring the most value. This upfront investment allows us to get an accurate idea of where you are now so we can create a plan for moving forward in a way that will return the best results.
  2. Creating the System: Once we have a good idea of where you are now, and where you want to go, we can determine what accounting systems, procedures and reporting will meet your needs. This system will include how we will work together to optimize efficiencies, ways to simplify tasks, and methods we can use to scale as your needs change.
  3. Choosing the Right Team: With your approved plan in hand, we will assign a knowledgeable person to be your main point of contact and fill any supporting roles your business needs. Your client manager’s goal is to develop a lasting relationship with your company, learning all they can to bring as much value as possible and offering advice and input outside of their day-to-day tasks.
  4. Communicating Clearly: Creating clear communications channels is always an important part of any initiative, so we will discuss how you prefer to communicate and establish a protocol that is secure, reliable and private. And since no one likes wondering if a message was received, we always create an automatic receipt confirmation and aim to respond as quickly as we can to your inquiries.
  5. Reporting Regularly: Finally, we will discuss how and when you need information, so we deliver our reporting when you want it. You can always access what you need at any time online, but we supplement that with timely, accurate and up-to-date financials to help you manage your business and meet the needs of its leadership and other stakeholders.

I would be happy to discuss your specific accounting needs and overall business goals to see if an outsourced accounting solution makes sense for your company. Contact me today to learn more contact plinardakis@rsw.ca.