As a busy Accountant, we know that your time is precious and you want to spend as much of it as possible growing your business and supporting your clients to grow theirs. Key to this is ensuring that the numbers are up to date and accurate. These numbers create the foundations for all of the budgeting, forecasting and planning that you can provide but is often something that takes up a lot of your time and resource limiting the value you can provide. By outsourcing this, you can free up to your time to do what you do best safe in the knowledge that all of the bookkeeping is taken care of.
Not sure whether outsourcing is right for you? Read on.
Six Key Reasons to Outsource Bookkeeping
- Outsourcing your bookkeeping will free up your time and the time of your team so that you can focus on higher level advisory works that add real value to your clients and their businesses.
- When you choose to outsource you will reduce costs associated with recruiting, employing, training, mentoring and developing your own team. It can also save you the time associated with finding good bookkeeping staff.
- Outsourcing can allow you to support clients on an accounting software you may not currently have the in-house expertise for.
- Sometimes your clients may want you to provide bookkeeping support at their place of work, something you may not have the capacity to do, outsourcing to the right bookkeeping partner can ensure this is done.
- Working with a company who solely focus on bookkeeping means you are getting support from experts in the area so when it comes to year-end, your job will be easier as your figures will be in tip-top condition.
- Your clients will be fully supported with a team on hand to support with everything from initial set-up to day-day queries.
So, if you are looking to make your time more profitable, streamline your year-end processes and support your clients with more advisory services, you can see why outsourcing is for you.
Your Options When It Comes To Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping
The great thing about outsourcing is that it can be tailored around your needs. You can fully outsource one, some or all of your clients’ bookkeeping, so your in-house resource can focus on adding value with other services. You can also choose to outsource on an one-off or ongoing basis. We all know the challenges when we have a new client who hasn’t looked at their bookkeeping for a number of years, at The Bookkeeping Department, we offer a Bookkeeping Rescue service for just this.
When considering outsourcing, think about how much involvement you would like. You may decide that you don’t want any involvement and your clients can work directly with the Bookkeeper. You could decide to retain the full relationship where you remain the main contact for your clients and your Bookkeeper operates behind the scene, or you may want your outsourced Bookkeeper to be introduced as your Bookkeeping Department, having direct contact with the client as if a member of your team.
You should also consider whether you would you prefer to outsource your work locally, within the UK or overseas. All options have their benefits, you need to look at what is important to you and evaluate the options based on your needs.
Choosing Your Outsourced Bookkeeping Team
When you choose to outsource you bookkeeping, you need to be confident in who you are working for and have trust that they know what they are doing and the work will be done to the high standard expected. It’s always worth asking colleagues and other business owners for recommendations and reading reviews to understand what others say.
When you do talk to potential bookkeeping partners you may also want to ask about:
- The software(s) they use
- The processes they would use to manage your account
- The checking processes in place for quality control
- How they manage your account from a resources perspective; is there a dedicated account manager, what happens when people are on holiday or sick?
- Where the team are based and whether they can support clients needing on-site support
- Deadlines and timings they would work to
Looking to find out more?
If you would like to find out more about how outsourcing your bookkeeping can work for you, click here. Alternatively feel free to send us an email at lynne@thebookkeepingdepartment.co.uk. We can arrange a time to chat and explore what this means for you.