Outsourced Bookkeeping: Top 5 Functions of an Outsourced Bookkeeper
From start-up to established firms, many companies are turning to outsourced bookkeepers to handle low-impact accounting functions freeing up time, money, and allowing small business owners to focus on doing what they do best - accelerating growth.
So, what exactly does an outsourced bookkeeper do?
Maintain Accounts Payable
Managing your Accounts Payable is one of the essential tasks of an outsourced bookkeeper does. If your A/P isn't accurate and on time you face ruining your business credit, pay additional late fees, and potentially hurting your trading terms with vendors and supply chain partners. Overseeing Accounts Payable also involves ensuring cash flow statements are accurate, so you always have an understanding of how much money you have in your accounts to pay bills.
An outsourced bookkeeper can skillfully manage these processes and save you time and money. Outsourcing your A/P can alleviate vast amounts of stress as well.
Help You Get Paid on Time
It's hard to keep your Accounts Payable up-to-date if your Accounts Receivable are trailing behind. So, when your part-time bookkeeper gets busy, invoicing can take a back seat, putting your business in a tight financial spot, mainly if your company uses the "just-in-time" model. Using an outsourced bookkeeping team prevents the back up in tasks, so if one person gets behind, duties are assigned to another outsourced bookkeeper - which keeps your business up and running.
Provide General Ledger Support
As a growing business, you've most likely transitioned to accrual basis accounting (or you're in the process). It can be a challenge for your part-time bookkeeper to stay up to date. Accurately maintaining a general ledger has a large number of benefits, and using an outsourced bookkeeping team can spot fraud and prevent it - as well as providing the financial documents you need to make tax time a breeze.
Up-to-Date Knowledge
An outsourced bookkeeping team is the first to know about the latest regulatory changes and are trained on how to handle them, ensuring your financial operations comply with regulatory changes in payroll, hiring, and other essential processes within your business. This expertise allows the outsourced bookkeeping team to complete the same work in half the time without having to rework what was already completed.
Save You Time and Money
Outsourcing your bookkeeping allows you to pay only for the time you need, rather than paying an in-house or part-time bookkeeper a fulltime salary. Outsourced bookkeeping services are a fraction of what you'd generally pay these people with the guarantee of service. If you've been trying to do your own books, you'll also find that an outsourced bookkeeper can do the same work faster and more efficiently than what you've been doing.
Remember, an outsourced bookkeeper is an outside eye on your business. While they are still on your team, they are also on the outside looking in, giving them an invaluable perspective. An outsourced bookkeeper is well versed in vital financial processes and will be able to help you examine your profits and losses to help with better financial planning. Remember, an outsourced bookkeeper isn't there only to crunch number, but to help your business thrive.
Need more insight on how an outsourced bookkeeper can help your team - reach out we would be happy to provide you with more information on this topic.
