Are you spending too much time on the admin aspects of your business? You could be using this time to grow your business by communicating with your clients or researching new ventures that could ensure more profit.
As a business owner, you know that good accounting is one of the essential foundations that you need to guarantee the success of your business.
Companies are adopting lean mind sets with the goal of lowering operational and labour costs while maximizing expertise. The outsourcing model is growing in popularity because it allows companies to hire talent for only the hours needed to fill a particular role or achieve a goal.
Using an accounting firm will improve the accuracy of your financial records and make it less likely for your company to be audited by SARS.
Why should you consider outsourcing your accounting? Here are our 10 reasons:
1. Reduced Costs
With outsourced accounting, your business will only pay for the work needed as opposed to hiring a full-time in-house employees. This typically means the annual costs of the outsourced accountant will be significantly less expensive than a salary of an equally-experienced in-house accountant.
Outsourcing accounting operations also bypasses expensive employment costs such as payroll taxes and employee benefits, as well as infrastructure costs such as computer equipment, furniture and office space.
Remember a good accountant will cost you anything from R25 000 per month, while you can outsource all of this to an accounting firm and pay as little as R5 000 per month.
2. More Skill and Experience
While saving money is often a driver for outsourcing, another good reason to consider it is you will gain access to greater skill and experience.
Most outsourced financial experts are highly experienced and build specialized expertise by working with a large portfolio of clients. This type of expertise can be expensive on a full-time basis but accessible and reasonably priced through an outsourced arrangement.
3. Time, Reliable Service
Unless you have first-hand experience with accounting it is probably best to choose an experienced professional who is dedicated to keeping good financial records.
Your time will not be wasted on trying to find out how the world of accounting works and you will be guided by an experienced professional, which will be reflected in a better quality of work.
4. Flexibility
A good accounting firm will provide you with a few efficient cost perspectives and give you lists of options to choose from to help you increase your profits.
In addition, they can advise you professionally on how you can expand your business or they can find areas where which you can reduce costs.
In other words, outsourcing gives you all the necessary flexibility to grow your business.
Keep in mind, tax regulations are constantly being revised. You will have to provide training for your in-house accountant every time a new legislation appears.
Outsourcing will allow you to have the best service without the additional expense of constant training.
5. Minimize Fraud and Errors
The biggest advantage of using an accounting firm is that by having a team of experts working on your accounts, the risk of fraud or errors is significantly reduced and when this happens, the probability that the responsibility falls on your own business is almost null.
In a long term having a person to manage your finances is not effective because the best accountant can be wrong, which translates into lost time and money.
When outsourcing to accounting experts, you are ensuring that there is a team of competitive specialists with different tasks. This team will manage your business accounts in the best possible way.
6. Growth
Decision making in your business becomes something that you do with ease.
Outsourcing your accounting ensures that you have up to date, accurate and relevant information at hand when you need to make a financial decision.
You can rely on accurate monthly reports, financial statements and other important financial services from your accounting firm.
7. A Business Partner
When you outsource your accounting, you gain a business partner that is an expert in the field of accounting and taxation.
This partner brings more knowledge to your team to ensure you get the best expert advice about your money and how to handle it. Your accounting firm can help you build a better business, make better decisions and choose better options.
8. Turnover is More Seamless
Since outsourced accounting firms typically consist of multiple experts in each role, the transition if an accountant decides to leave is usually very smooth.
When your books are standardized and systems are already maintained by the outsourced accounting firm, there’s little or no need for additional collaboration. If your in-house accountant leaves, or falls ill, your business will need to facilitate the transfer of all your current data to a different accountant within the firm, or a new accountant altogether.
This also means the transition will be handled by the outsourced accounting firm instead of your company seeking and interviewing candidates then providing training once a candidate has been chosen.
Final Thoughts
Outsourcing accounting is becoming more and more popular among organizations because business owners are recognising the benefits.
If you are interested in optimizing your business operations while reducing overheads then find a reliable accounting firm to partner with.
We can see that you need an accountant whether in-house or outsourced. Do you know what to ask an accountant at your first interview? We have a list of questions here.
You can use these questions when choosing your accounting firm too.
Outsourcing accounting is a strategic decision to elevate the financial team, streamline processes, enhance security and to be better prepared for growth.
So, the real question is: When are you going to start outsourcing your accounting services?
