All About the Best Outsourced Bookkeeping Services for Small Business

Why outsource bookkeeping? This question is uppermost in the minds of accounting firms, especially when they are looking to bring down costs and scale.

But it is essential to lead up to this answer with a little bit of background.

So let’s get started.

Post pandemic, most accounting firms and CPAs in the United States are in a ‘business growth ‘frame of mind’. This has assumed even more importance at a time when the economy is just getting out of the pandemic mode and companies are trying to sort themselves out.

Small businesses have been hardest hit in the pandemic, and 34% of small businesses across the United States are still closed. Your small-sized accounting firm also might be coming to grips with the business impact of COVID-19. If this is the case, you must be looking for a solution to many of your challenges.

One of the things you can immediately do (and might be already doing) is offering COVID-19 advisory and support services to businesses. Also, small businesses are just starting to implement strategic growth initiatives and require a lot of help from the financial planning perspective. Again, something your firm can explore. Also, your firm needs to scale quickly, build immediate capacity to get new clients on board and do more work.

Starting right now, your accounting firm should also begin planning for the busy tax season looming ahead. You need to get more work done and earn more this tax season, which will drive your profitability goals.

Yes, it would help if you did all these things and more, but how. Your accounting firm might be facing a financial struggle to keep things afloat – how does it scale? You might not have the finances needed to invest in in-house accountants and bear all the ancillary expenses other than salary. These include training costs, infrastructure expenses, health cover, etc.

The answer to all your problems lies in outsourcing. Choose the best outsourced bookkeeping services for small businesses, and your firm will be ready to take on all challenges head-on.

Why Outsource Bookkeeping?

Source

The above figure clearly illustrates what businesses want from outsourcing, which remains true for your accounting firm when it explores the outsourced bookkeeping option.

Let’s take a look at the bookkeeping outsourcing benefits one by one:

1. The Cost-Benefit

No doubts here! By outsourcing your bookkeeping tasks, you will achieve up to 50% saving, thus benefiting from the next level of cost efficiency, which is very important for any firm. You can invest the money saved in other revenue generation activities, thus building resilience for your firm.

2. Flexibility in Scalability

Accounting firms might not be busy throughout the year (although that is their end goal). Much of the revenue is typically generated in the tax season, after which the lean season kicks in. It is during the tax season that the hunt for seasonal staff enters the picture. But it’s a mad scramble to search for the right team just before the season is in full flow. Some firms can get the staff on board, and others cannot. What’s more, you will have to spend a pretty penny to get a talented team on board.

Avoid the scramble. Outsource bookkeeping to build immediate capacity and help you scale up quickly and scale down when the work slows down.

3. Practice Transformation

When you outsource, you get the benefit of the provider’s state-of-the-art infrastructure and tech expertise. For your firm to be competitive, it needs to join the tech bandwagon. This is not easy, and many a time calls for pouring money into technology, the kind of money your firm might not have. A bookkeeping outsourcing services provider’s tech stack that drives practice transformation is the right choice in this regard.  You benefit from an operational process backed by the latest accounting technology, which results in faster turnaround times and better accuracy.

While these are not the only benefits of choosing the best outsourced bookkeeping services for small businesses, these give the clarity you want on why you need to move to an outsourced bookkeeping model.

How to Outsource Bookkeeping?

This question is not as difficult to answer as it seems. The first step is to search for the right bookkeeping outsourcing company. This can be done by searching the internet. The search engine results page will offer plenty of options, and your job is to go through the website of these outsourcing providers and make a list of names that you want to establish contact with.

Something else you can do is keep track of the emails that you are receiving. Most providers will send you emails through the year and, more often than not, a few months before the tax season. Check your inbox and go through the emails you have received from providers specializing in bookkeeping outsourcing. Fill up their form and get in touch.

When you talk to their sales executive and business development manager, you must ask the right questions. Here are some of them:

• What is their expertise and experience in US tax legislation and accounting standards?
• What is the software they use for bookkeeping tasks, and will they be comfortable using your firm’s software?
• What are their turnaround times?
• What are their engagement models?
• Can you pick the team that you want to work with?
• How do they communicate, and how can you keep track of your work?
• Where is the provider’s delivery center located?
• How does the provider keep your data safe?
• What are the quality standards that the provider meets?

The answers to these questions will give you sufficient confidence in the bookkeeping outsourcing provider’s ability to meet your needs and requirements.

Conclusion

As we mentioned earlier, the purpose of this article is to give you more clarity in creating the proper roadmap for your bookkeeping outsourcing efforts. Before choosing the provider, make sure that you are going to work with the right provider.  The above article gives you an idea about the approach you must take to get the most out of outsourcing bookkeeping.

QX Accounting Services currently offers a 25% discount on all its accounting outsourcing services, including bookkeeping outsourcing. This offer has been rolled out to celebrate Independence Day, and on popular demand, we are extending this offer.

To know more about this offer, click here.