How Your Business Could Benefit from Outsourced Bookkeeping

Posted by Matthew James on November 2nd, 2016

If you’re a business owner looking to progress and expand your company, the time may have come for you to outsource your bookkeeping. No one wants to spend hours of their working week trying to get their finances to match up, so quite often this crucial element of business will end up on the back-burner until you’re suddenly faced with a surprise tax bill.

What’s more, it can be difficult to dedicate your time to fully growing and enhancing your business without someone to share the weight. We could all use a little help managing our finances, but if you’re in charge of paying employees and ensuring your business stays profitable, sooner or later you will need to employ someone to share the strain.

Outsourcing your back-office work will free up 10-20 hours of your working week, without dramatically increasing your overheads. Your employees will be free to undertake other tasks more crucial to the growth of the business, and you can spend more time on your work and family commitments, safe in the knowledge that your finances are being professionally managed.

With the modern workforce now spanning a global reach, it makes sense for the next step for businesses to be to use remote accounting software, run by professional, qualified accountants. This ‘cloud’ accounting is easy to implement, and will ensure the smooth running of your finances without having to spend money and time on manual labour.

What’s more, your business will soon benefit from the extra time you’ll have available to spend on your clients, or working on your business model. Your progressing business will no longer rely solely on you as you’ll have someone else to share the weight of your financial records and tax obligations.

If you’re looking to eradicate data entry from your working week, an outsourced bookkeeper could be the solution. If you need to ensure an accurate record of your finances are on hand, or need to apply for finance or get your tax record straight, an outsourced accountant will be able to take care of that all for you.

Your accountant will ensure that your business remains profitable, whilst also keeping your data in order. You will improve your overall cash flow and ensure there are no nasty tax surprises – tax is taken care of on a quarterly basis to avoid an unexpected lump sum at the end of the year. So you will know exactly where you stand with your finances.

There are two types of remote bookkeeping typically available with this kind of software:

The first is something called Cash Basis Accounting. This produces monthly or quarterly management reports, detailed budgets and cash flow documents for your business. It will also undertake tax planning, year-end accounts and ITR preparation. A qualified accountant will meet with you regularly to discuss your business and offer any advice that might benefit you.

Business owners can also opt for an Accrual Basis Accounting Solution, whereby an accountant will process payroll, organise weekly bank reconciliations and provide an automated debtor management service. They will also be able to process the Accounts Payable utilising Receipt Bank to semi-automate the process.

If you’re looking for some help with your business finances, but want to keep costs to a minimum, outsourcing using a bookkeeper is the easiest, most cost-effective solution. Make sure you find somebody fully qualified, who can provide their credentials up front.

Accountants of this type can be found online, by performing a Google search for your local accountancy firm. It might be worth calling one of their representatives to arrange a meeting, so you can discuss your business with an expert and find out what services are available to you.