What is outsourced accounting?

Outsourced accounting is when you hire a third-party business accounting services provider to handle your accounting tasks for a fixed price to reduce your accounting load so that you can focus on what’s important. Outsourcing accounting services means they take care of your entire accounting needs, including general bookkeeping, business transactions recording and reconciliation, employee payroll, tax filing, financial planning and projections, and anything else you need for your accounting to be smoother. Since the outsourced accounting team takes up your critical accounting tasks, they cannot be viewed as service providers, but should be viewed as part of the company.

Here are some of the benefits of outsourcing your accounting services:

Reduced Overhead Costs

One of the main benefits of outsourcing accounting is that it can actually save your business money and time for you to actually focus on growing your business. If you were to keep an accountant on your payroll, you would be paying full- or part-time wages, along with benefits, payroll taxes, and other expenses, whereas hiring an external accounting agency who does all the tedious you don’t want to do is a much more straightforward expense and a lower cost compared to a full-time employee.

Access to Expertise and Specialized Skills

When you hire an external accounting agency, you will have access to their specialised skills, experienced staff and the wealth of knowledge they have accumulated over the years they bring to the table. The benefits of outsourcing your finance and accounting services to an accounting agency include having somebody to handle taxes, help manage your financial assets and even assist your business in making critical decisions. 

Accounting firms have likely worked with many businesses like yours and have seen it all, including the successes as well as the mistakes that other companies have made. This experience makes them well-equipped to apply their knowledge to your business. 

Improve Data Security and Confidentiality

External accounting companies will have the most updated knowledge of security procedures and data protection standards used in the industry. This knowledge is crucial in the current era, with most services and transactions occurring online. An accounting company will have access to the best cybersecurity technology, ensuring you avoid data theft and that your data is safe and foolproof. 

Unbiased Decision Making

Because the outsourced accounting agency works outside of your office, the external accountant will not have a personal vote or bias in any decisions they are making, ensuring full compliance with legal requirements without wayward interactions or social obligations getting mixed into the decision-making process. This eliminates certain biases that could be dangerous to your business.

Gain Scalability and Flexibility

When your company grows, there are so many hats you will be likely to put on. Another of the benefits of an outsourced accounting agency is that when you hire somebody with experience in scaling up, they can help you work on your future goals, manage growth, and ensure you are still making profits when you expand. An external accountant will provide you with accurate and detailed financial reports, ensuring you stay competitive as your business grows and stay ahead of your competitors.

Time Savings and Efficiency

Having somebody working outside of your company who is also managing bookkeeping and financial records can take a huge amount of time off your plate. They can deal with legal compliance, employee wages, paying suppliers, managing expenses, and everything else, so you can focus on other aspects of running a company and grow your business.

Account management is complex, especially as your business grows, so hiring a professional who you know you can trust to handle these financial and growth aspects can make your workday more focused and efficient. 

Detailed and Accurate Financial Reports

An accounting agency comes with highly educated, experienced and professional accountants who will create reports that are detailed, accurate and self explanatory. This will make sure you fulfil your legal requirements regarding taxes and will also ensure you have a good grasp on the overall financial health of your business at any given time. 

Access to Advanced Technology and Tools

Financial software can be complex, unintuitive and expensive when you are first learning to use it, and your accounting agency can help you implement these new financial technologies into your reporting and daily workflow. Staying up to date with the latest software and accounting function tools available in the market will ensure you staying ahead of all the industry trends so your company can thrive.

Conclusion

No matter the size of the business or service/products you are offering, there will be some length of financial responsibility that you cannot run from. Using a professional external accounting agency rather than hiring a part-time or full-time accountant for your team can save you not only money but also time. 

You will be more likely to find somebody with the appropriate level of expertise needed to manage your company’s finances, with better security and higher-quality results than an in-house accountant would be able to provide.