Why you should outsource bookkeeping?

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is nothing but delegating some of your work to an external company specializing in the given field. This, generally, ensures that the work is done in a much more reliable manner. At the same time, it also clears up your schedule so that you can coordinate your tasks for greater convenience. Outsourcing can be done both internationally as well as domestically. It is especially very common among the startups and small enterprises to outsource bookkeeping services. This buys them the time to build their own skills till they are able to handle the given tasks internally.

Why you should outsource bookkeeping services?

Many accountants are rather doubtful when it comes to hiring the services of a bookkeeping company. Of course, it feels much more comfortable when you have full control over the proceedings. However, regardless of whether you accept or deny, there will come a time when you are no longer able to handle it all by yourself. This could be due to various issues such as insufficient resources, insufficient workforce, inadequate space, and things as such.  It is especially during the unstable growth phase that a company tends to face problems such as these. However, outsourcing can serve as the ultimate solution to it all.

The process of hiring a bookkeeping company is not much difficult as well. All you have to do is make a precise analysis and list your requirements. You can post these specific needs across various platforms used by the bookkeeping companies for interaction with their customers. If there is a company that is well equipped to provide you the given services, you will be directly approached by them. So, you do not really have to go about hunting for a company. There are more than enough companies out there specializing in outsourced bookkeeping services. In fact, you will be approached by many companies. You can go through their history, background, and reputation among the current clients. With all this information entirely within your reach, the risk factor is reduced to a minimum.

If you are an accountant working for small businesses within the UK, then it is not really necessary for you to have a full-time assistant. You can conveniently use the services of a bookkeeping company to hire a bookkeeper who can help you out with the entries. These people are given high-quality training before joining. So, you can rely on their skills with full confidence. You can delegate your small and time-consuming tasks to the bookkeeper so that you can focus on other more important things. This becomes more helpful when the company is growing, and you have numerous things to tend to.

It may be difficult to get immediate help when you are in urgent need. Furthermore, you will also have no credibility regarding the skills of a randomly selected fresher. However, a bookkeeping company will always provide you with a reliable helping hand, even if it is only on a temporary basis. This also allows you the scope of taking out some free time for yourself from the general hustle of the workplace every once in a while. It is very obvious that the role of an accountant comes with huge responsibilities. You are the sole person responsible for the entire company’s finance. Hence, it often happens that you tend to overwork yourself. However, if you have a helping hand, you will at least get some space to breathe, use up your holidays, stay back on maternity leave and more. This is one of the major reasons why it is highly recommended for companies to outsource some their tasks to providers offering bookkeeping services.

Things to keep in mind while outsourcing

After you have made up your mind on outsourcing the bookkeeping services, the next challenge is to start looking for a reliable outsourcing company. As an accountant, you are required to be answerable regarding a large number of things within the accounts department. Any small mistake can prove to be very costly. So, you should make sure that you are only hiring from the best service provider. Quality and efficiency should remain your two main priorities when looking for a company.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind while hiring from an outsourced service provider

1. Be very clear about the type of services you need

You can take maximum advantage from the service provider when they are equipped to provide you with the required services. Some of the common services offered by companies include payroll support, monthly and annual reports, accounts payables, receivables, and so on. So make sure that the company has the resources to fulfill your specific accounting needs.

2. Cost

Different companies have different charging schemes. Often, the cost of bookkeeping small business does not go quite high. The payments are either made on an hourly or a monthly basis. So before hiring, consider the bookkeeping services fees and see how profitable it would be for you.

3. Professionalism

Hiring from a company is only worth it if they are highly professional about their work. A company that abides by a strict code of discipline in the workplace is by itself an assurance of quality. They will be able to provide you with consistent results of high quality.

4. Data security

This is one of the most important things to keep in mind when you are looking for a company for bookkeeping small business. Confidentiality is very important when it comes to financial data. So, make sure that the company you are hiring uses the best quality tools that strongly protect all your core data.

5. Flexibility

This is another of the important factors that determine how useful a company really is for you. Always look for companies that are flexible, meaning the ones offering a large number of services under a single umbrella. This means that you do not have to jump from one company to the other as your requirements change.

What tasks can you assign to your assistant?

Even within the accounts department, the work is divided into several categories. If you have been hired as an accountant, it remains your responsibility to make sure that everything is running in a highly coordinated way. Given below are the 5 areas where the services of an outsourced assistant can come useful:

1. Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is something that requires a lot of focus and tends to be very time-consuming. It should also be highly accurate and updated on a day-to-day basis. Your assistant can help you out in the following areas of bookkeeping:

• Journal entry
• Maintenance of the general ledger, expenses ledger, and the equipment or the assets ledger
• Keeping track of the trial balance
• Preparing balance sheets and profit/loss statements
• Daily accounting tasks
• Document storage
• Preparing of employee and customer reports on a day-to-day basis

Hence, you will be able to get a good amount of burden off your shoulders at a very cost effective bookkeeping salary.

2. Tax benefits

Taxes are one of the trickiest things to handle. The total profitability of the company is mostly decided by how well versed the accounting department is when it comes to the taxes. In some cases, taxes just get too overwhelming to handle internally. In such cases, expert help becomes mandatory to save the financial structure from collapsing. If you opt for an accounting company, all of this can be avoided from the very beginning. You can simply send them the necessary source documents and the company will help you with the tax returns. The turnaround time is very quick. So, you do not have to deal with uncertainty issues during the proceeding. Your local service providers can offer you these benefits at very reasonable bookkeeping services fees.

3. Payroll Processing

Payroll processing is very crucial for all businesses. It is one of those factors that tend to have the maximum influence on the total balance. Many outsourced accounting companies offer payroll support at a highly reduced bookkeeping services fees. With this, you will have an assurance that the most important area within the finance department is not neglected. These companies take care of various things such as vendor payments, invoice processing, storing invoice related documents, making sanctions before a purchase, making reviews and updates on the payroll, and so on.

It is well known that payroll processing tends to be a highly time-consuming and labor intensive procedure. Furthermore, even the slightest mistake in the records can prove to be very costly. Outsourcing your work to the bookkeeping companies is the easiest way to keep this in check. They make sure that your data is free from all types of errors. Some of the common services offered by companies for payroll processing are:

• Validation of facts and figures included in the invoice
• Tallying the invoices and purchase orders
• Keeping track of how cash is being handled
• Extraction of relevant information from the header
• Preparation of receipts and invoices
• Scanning the invoice submitted through paper
• Logging of transactions

So, by paying a just a small bookkeeping salary, you will be able to get a lot of burden off your shoulders.

4. Accounts payable

The main benefit of outsourcing for accounts payable services for bookkeeping small business is that you get a chance to take advantages of skilled staff and great technology without having to go out and purchase expensive tools. You also do not have to worry about the cost of maintenance. Outsourcing only demands a small bookkeeping salary. However, you will be provided with a wide variety of services that can make your day to day accounting task much easier.

Some of the common services provided by accounting companies in this area are

• Document indexing
• Scanning
• Sorting
• Bach preparation
• Storage and retrieval of documents
• Processing the received mails
• Reconciliation and audit of invoices that have been scanned
• Verification of the data in hand
• A short closing process at the end of each month
• Audit trail
• Data entry
• Multiple database matching in order to detect duplicates
• Automation of the data entry
• Distribution of checks
• Online proofing for checks
• Maintaining a sufficient amount checks at all times
• Handling of checks that have been returned

5. Accounts receivables

Accounting companies can offer assistance in various areas that allow you to manage the cash flow effortlessly. This increases the amount of control you can directly exercise over the finances. You will be able to reap benefits like a quick payment, increased inflow of cash, detailed reports on the daily activities, and more. So, it is pretty much obvious that outsourcing is one of the most effective ways of ensuring flawless bookkeeping small business. Since the bookkeeping services fees are rather small, you also do not have to worry about how it is going to affect your budget. So, by outsourcing for accounts receivable services, you will be able to save time as well as money.

The common accounts receivable services offered by these companies are:

• Preparation of bills
• Recoding the daily revenue
• Making data entries to the accounting system regarding all the receivable transactions
• Releasing refund checks and credit memos
• Keeping an updated ledger for the subsidiary receivables
• Conducting customer approved process adjustments
• Resolving short pay issues
• Deduction management

Conclusion

So, if you are an accountant looking to outsource your increasing workload, you can do so while still staying within an affordable bookkeeping salary structure. You will be able to gain instant access to much more resources that would have, otherwise, taken up a large amount of the company’s resources. This will ensure you safer, high-quality service while also ensuring that you are not overloaded with the work pressure. So, if you are in need of an accountant assistant, hire an outsourcing bookkeeping firm today and assure quality service and peace of mind.

Also Read: Why It Makes Sense For An Accountant To Outsource Bookkeeping