Why to Outsource your Bookkeeping Tasks?

Business owners who have met that elusive million dollar mark in annual and suddenly feel the burden of managing their own bookkeeping catching up to them.

It doesn’t take long for a new business owner to understand that accurate and up-to-date financial records play an important part in the success of a business. At the same time, the daily tasks required to maintain these records often fall to the bottom of an owner’s to-do list of priorities. After all, business owners didn't go into business to become bookkeepers and the value of time spent on maintaining the books translates into a pretty expensive hourly rate!

Hiring a bookkeeper to handle the accounting tasks in-house for the business is one solution to the problem, but it isn’t always the best solution. Here are five good reasons to outsource bookkeeping services:

1. Privacy

There are few things more guarded in a business than internal financial records. This is information that an owner wants kept private and secure. Finding someone you can trust to do the job well, stay with the company long term, and maintain confidentiality is not a simple task--especially when a local bookkeeper knows your personal financial health. Outsourcing to a virtual bookkeeping service with strong client references can give an owner peace of mind by removing the opportunity to have a member of their community in contact with their financial records.

2. Scalability

Growing businesses often start out with smaller needs but rapidly grow to require a full suite of bookkeeping services. Hiring an outsourced bookkeeping service with controller oversight and a full service offering enables the service to scale to needs, without having to hire or train additional staff.

3. Training and Management

Most business owners are not in the position to be able to train or manage bookkeeping staff--primarily because their bookkeeper likely knows more about it than they do. But the benefits of having a bookkeeper up-to-date on comprehensive knowledge of state tax rules or reporting methods makes a big difference in the quality of bookkeeping.

4. Maximize Your Resources

When business owners try to save money by doing their own bookkeeping or delegating it to another key employee, they are expending valuable time and energy that could be better used growing the business. When they outsource their bookkeeping services, they free themselves up to spend their time doing what they do best. CFOs, office managers and non-accounting personnel simply shouldn't be spending their time on the books.

5. Tax and Audit Ready Financials

Using outsourced professional bookkeeping services to prepare financial records makes accountants, the IRS and banking institutions happy. There is no concern over whether the books are accurate or questioning the integrity of the financial data. Whether a business owner needs to provide financial statements to the bank, satisfy investor reviews or share information with the IRS, outsourced bookkeeping services help make sure there is no doubt about the data.

Whether a business needs current financial figures to present to a banker or it just needs to keep tabs on cash flow, keeping up to date on accounting tasks is essential; An easy solution is to outsource bookkeeping to a professional service.