The shift to outsourced accounting is a significant transition, especially for smaller businesses used to handling their own books. But the payoff is often worth the undertaking: improved savings, access to industry expertise, and growth, to name a few. Knowing the benefits of outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping can help you decide if it’s the right time for your business. Whether you manage your own bookkeeping or an in-house accounting team, outsourced accounting services can help drive efficiencies in your background business processes so that you can focus on running your business.
Why outsource accounting
A wise entrepreneur once said, “If you’re not an expert in it, outsource it.” You’re the expert of your business, but when you or your employees have to wear multiple hats to get the job done, you’ll likely end up straining your resources and stalling your productivity.
Outsourced accounting is most beneficial if you have a small accounting team or none at all, need to reinforce your current accounting department as your business grows, or feel trapped by burdensome accounting issues. Teams that are primarily remote are especially well-suited to working with outsourced accountants. We explore four advantages of outsourcing accounting services below.
1. Save time and money
Working with accounting professionals who understand financial reporting and accounting technologies for your industry can help you reach smarter financial decisions, quicker. Experts can help you accurately identify and manage your overhead expenses, for example, driving significant savings and improving operational efficiency.
Hiring, equipping, and training staff also takes an immense amount of time and can be quite frustrating if accounting isn’t your expertise. Outsourcing non-core tasks reduces the workforce strain on employees. Plus, a professional team can bring greater value to the table than an individual full-time employee. Do you know how to choose the right accountant and the right accounting software? You could probably figure it out, but outsourced accounting experts already have what you need. They’ll have the depth of knowledge required to give you the information you want and an expert to interpret the results for you.
That means you’ll have quality insights to improve budgeting and financial decision-making, and the time back to focus on growing your business.
2. Specialized expertise
Outsourced accountants aren’t isolated to a particular industry or business type and thus have broad exposure to different companies and industries. This exposure means they’ve already done the work you would otherwise need to learn or train your employees on and can guide you through specific challenges faced by your industry.
A professional team also has a broader understanding of the current state of the accounting field as a whole and can offer strategic advice, reporting, and analysis to help you strengthen your accounting and financial processes based on industry trends.
Working with an accounting firm also provides you with connections to lenders and other service providers who can meet the specific needs of your business as they change or grow. The right accounting firm won’t just help you prepare your financial statement but will take you to the next stage of your business life cycle.
3. Business transformation and growth
Small businesses, startups, and mature companies can get wrapped up in business functions outside the expertise of their core business, such as accounting, tax, human resources, payroll, and legal. But the time spent balancing your books, managing document reviews, or preparing your taxes is time and effort away from what you — and your business — do best.
Outsourced accounting services alleviates this challenge by allowing you to reallocate your time to growing your business — setting strategic goals, improving your business plan, and developing your team. With the right partner, you can trust your accounting functions are in good hands and focus on your next step instead of number-crunching.
4. The power of a full accounting firm
It’s hard to beat the efficiency and effectiveness of a multifaceted accounting firm. While you may only work with a small team at the firm, that team has access to experts who specialize in a range of topics like tax compliance and reporting, technical accounting, employee benefits, and business valuations, to name a few.
When you engage a firm like Plante Moran, you gain access to other consultants in the firm, from cybersecurity consulting to wealth management. The service you get is so much more than what’s possible with one or two full-time employees.
An added benefit — when your point person is out of town, there’s a team of people to seamlessly fill in. You won’t need to worry about vacation time or illness, hiring and firing, benefits, or anything else that comes with staffing an accounting team. The firm will handle it for you.
