The value of working with a bookkeeper is undisputed; bookkeepers are professionals at managing the day-to-day financial transactions of business, providing the business owner with the information necessary to make sound financial decisions for the future. What’s more, there is no doubt that regardless of the type of business that you operate, bookkeeping and accounting services are invaluable, and essential for efficient operation.
Details a bookkeeper will provide regarding profits and losses can affect everything from the number of employees hired to the hours you operate to whether you will expand in the future and more.
Though bookkeepers on staff have great value, there are even more advantages from outsourcing bookkeeping services. The best-outsourced bookkeeping services can work remotely as a virtual bookkeeper, will have the willingness and ability to go “on-site’ and the flexibility to work with multiple software programs. As your business has seasonal or market changes, the right bookkeeping services company can adapt to your needs.
Consider these benefits of an outsourced bookkeeper.
Accuracy
While you may feel more comfortable with someone you know to manage your business’ books, you may be missing timeliness, efficiency, and accuracy which requires the right training, proven processes and procedures.
The best professional bookkeeping service companies will have decades of experience and have developed processes and procedures for each type of business. These procedures are then customized for each client, based on their specific needs. With high expertise and robust knowledge of multiple software systems, you should expect consistent and accurate results.
Accurate bookkeeping records should be a top priority, and by working with an outsourced bookkeeping firm who can work virtually or on-site, you can avoid errors or failures such as:
- Misclassifying expenses
- Incorrect balance in revenue or expense balance
- Not saving receipts
- Failing to schedule backups
- Recording transactions from a prior period
- Accidentally recording transactions in a prior period
- Forgetting to record an expense or transaction
- Not training staff
Payroll and payroll taxes can get complicated for fast-growing businesses, especially if you have employees who work and travel across state lines. Your outsourced professional bookkeepers are committed to this crucial part of your business to be accurate and on time.
Cost
In the new world of technology, an outsourced bookkeeping service provider offers the opportunity for a cost-efficient and a time-efficient way of managing a business’ books when compared to hiring a bookkeeper on staff.
When hiring an in-house bookkeeper, you are hiring another employee to the payroll, which also means paying for payroll taxes, vacation pay, sick pay, training, and other benefits. The average salary for a bookkeeper is just over $40,000 - a cost that may not make sense to take on (and at a price tag that does not include employee benefits).
Additionally, an in-house bookkeeper only provides bookkeeping services; outsourcing to a bookkeeping firm can typically provide both bookkeeping and accounting services.
Remote bookkeepers (who can also work onsite) are not employees, which means you save on employment costs. You will also save yourself the time and cost that goes into managing the books, or the time necessary to read through resumes, conduct interviews, hire and train a bookkeeper, and deal with employee turnover.
For those businesses moving away from traditional manual-entry, one of the biggest time-saving benefits of using technology and using professional bookkeeping firm (virtually or onsite) is the reduction of manual data entry. Rather than keypunching numbers into an Excel spreadsheet by hand, numbers are tracked with tools like receipt scanning, online connections with banking and credit cards.
Comprehensive Information and Rapid Invoicing
There is not a business that would not benefit from having more information about their company. When you turn over the responsibilities to a bookkeeping service, they can (and should) provide better access to increased amounts of data. The bookkeeping firm you select can deliver all of the reports and statements you need on a daily basis, to ensure the information you need to operate your business is right at your fingertips.
You should have more confidence because the outsourced bookkeeping firm does not have distractions. They have a team who will generate basic reports like profit and loss, as well as show you trends, manage payroll, provide useful charts of your company’s expenses, preparation to pay taxes, manage invoices, and more.
Mobility and Remote Access
Businesses are no longer fixed to a single location; instead, there may be locations in more than one city, may conduct business and sales online, and may be managed by a person who travels often. Executives are now mobile with technology in hand to manage ‘beyond the office.'
The ability to access your business’ bookkeeping and computing data remotely is one of the most significant outsourced bookkeeping benefits. Working with a bookkeeping firm which can provide services onsite and virtually allows you to be mobile whenever you need or want to be, and allows you to quickly access information from any location.
Security
While it seems counter-intuitive, data privacy can be more secure when it is stored offsite using secure online tools than in a paper environment when using proper online technology.
The biggest privacy risk is with the PEOPLE who have access (or could have access) to financial information, not WHERE those people are working which means there are risks when using traditional ledgers and notebooks to manage the most important financial information. The traditional methods of recording data are subject to theft and natural disaster.
Unprotected computer systems and hardware used by an in-house bookkeeper are also at risk of being breached, which may allow a hacker to access your company’s - and perhaps your company’s customers’ - most sensitive information.
When you work with an outsourced bookkeeping service that understands and prioritizes security, you can take comfort in the fact that your information can be protected, regardless of what types of emergencies may occur - ranging from fires to floods to power outages - thanks to data backup, but that your information can be protected from falling into the wrong hands.
When information is stored in the cloud, programs are run from data centers that are protected by highly sophisticated types of defense. The networks have layers of protection, including the latest in technology security.
Focus on Your Business with Outsourced Bookkeeping Services
We live in a digital world, and the advantages of outsourced bookkeeping services which can work both virtually and onsite, have outpaced many benefits associated with hiring an in-house bookkeeper. In fact, with an outstanding bookkeeping firm that not only employs the best accounting and bookkeeping professionals with the myriad benefits listed above, they can also provide onsite services as well, you can have the best of both worlds.
About the Author
Eric Moore is the Practice Manager of Accounting Solutions Partners. He brings two decades of progressive experience in Controller, CFO, and General Management roles with privately held companies, and has a broad perspective from working in environments ranging from start-ups to multi-generational mid-market companies with revenue in excess of $100M.
As Practice Manager, Eric is responsible for managing the consulting teams for Accounting Solutions Partners in all markets, for setting and executing business strategy, and acting as the primary client manager for all engagements. His experience as a consultant with both Accounting Solutions Partners and CFO Selections, as well as his previous time in general management, make him uniquely qualified to lead the firm.
