Why should you consider outsourcing your accounting function?

At different times in the growth of any business, there are times when you should think about how your finances should be manged and by whom.

Many businesses start with their finances managed as best as they can by the business owner themselves and then, as the business grows, this may become the responsibility of a fully-fledged finance team.

However, running a finance team of any size comes with both positives and negatives, and so it is worth looking at the benefits of outsourcing part, or all, of a finance function and reviewing what it could bring to your business.

So why should you consider outsourcing some, or all your accounting function? Well, there are several clear benefits to doing so.

Review and improve your financial processes

One of the major things that an accounting outsource provider can do is a full review of your current financial processes. The financial processes that were put in place when a business was starting out can often be continued to be in use as the business gets larger and more complex. This is often due to the ease of understanding, and the familiar “if it ain’t broke” attitude. This however can cause problems as what works for a £250k turnover business may not work for a £10m turnover business, and can lead to both problems and inefficiencies. By doing a proper review of existing finance systems and procedures, you can often find sizeable improvements especially if you can embrace the use of new cloud accounting software. A full review will also identify potential areas of risk as well as inefficiencies which could lead to potential savings.

The output of any review, and the embracing of new accounting tech, will provide your business with a better and more robust set of accounting procedures. New cloud accounting software will speed up the time to produce reports and will provide more accurate and relevant reporting that a manual process and with less potential mistakes caused by human error. This will provide either the finance director or business owners with better data for management and strategic decisions. You will also have a much greater insight and understanding of your cashflow and will massively increase the understanding of which parts of business are doing badly, indifferently, and hopefully well. Finally, another key reason is the reduction in the risk of any fraud or compliance failures by giving you more control and transparency of workflows.

Saving you money

For many businesses, especially small businesses, it is not cost effective to build a full-time finance team and function. Even larger companies can now outsource many of the process driven accounting jobs leaving the finance director to help the business grow by delivering insights from the reliable reporting driven by cloud accounting software and new processes. When you outsource all or part of your accounting function, it can provide a much greater return on investment compared with the cost of hiring, training and managing a full in-house finance team. Saving you on wages and benefits and meaning you can only pay for the specific services you need.

Access to experts

If you choose to outsource you will also gain access to experts with various skills and expertise who are used to tailoring their skills to the specific needs of the businesses they deal with. The need for continuous training, to understand new accounting standards and regulatory changes, comes with the outsource company and so is not something you need to cover or pay for. Depending on the outsource company you may choose it can also give you access to experts in multiple areas, from new cloud accounting technology and process implementation to the latest tax and audit laws and regulations you need to be aware of. This ease of scaling your support is another key benefit for outsourcing enabling you to scale support if, and when you may require it at speed rather than having to hire and build a team of experts in a totally flexible way.

More time for you

Finance and the financial state of a business is usually the number one cause of stress and worry for any business owner. Outsourcing some or all your finance function can help ease this for most owners giving you peace of mind. As you grow you cannot track every transaction and order and invoice. Outsourcing to a provider you trust means that you know that process is being managed properly. Access to better financial information including your cashflow will allow you to enjoy the process of growing a business and gives business owners the time to invest in the main business. Meaning you can now spend 80% of your time looking at the opportunities the organised financial data can provide and support and not trying to fix your financial issues. Safe in the knowledge that is now dealt with by experts dedicated to helping you achieve your aims and objectives whatever they are.

If you have any further questions or queries on outsourcing, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us here.