Why Should You Consider Outsourcing Your Accounting Virtually?
Debra Hill has written a marvelous article entitled “4 Reasons to Love Your Business Finances” which is worth reading in conjunction with my own thoughts on the subject.
If you own a business, whether it’s brick and mortar or virtual, maintaining accurate financial records is a necessary evil. If you’re just getting started and trying to minimize costs, you’re probably doing it yourself. But if your business is growing, the time you spend managing accounting and other administrative functions takes you away from the business of growing your business, and face it—making money. But hiring someone to sit in your office, even part time may not be your best option. Let me show you why.
Reason 1 – Office Space
If you hire a body to come in and work for you, whether it’s every day or just part time, you need to provide the basics: a desk, a chair, a phone, a calculator, a computer, and most important, a place to put all of those things. When you hire someone virtually, they provide those things themselves leaving you to re-purpose space you have or avoid the expense of acquiring more.
Reason 2 – Portability
If you’re like me, you want to be able to run your business anytime, from anywhere. A virtual accountant can set everything up and maintain it online (there are a number of programs out there which work including Quickbooks, Netsuite, and FreshBooks, to name a few). The people who need to can access the information with just a laptop and an internet connection. Many online packages offer functions including estimating and accepting credit card payments too!
Reason 3 – No Hidden Costs
Hidden costs, you ask? What are those? Did you know that payroll-related costs are one of your largest expenditures? They include things like:
- Payroll taxes
- Workers’ Compensation Insurance
- Medical Insurance
- Vacation
- Sick time
As well as any benefits you generously offer your employees like pension plan contributions. In addition, there are the costs to maintain these costs, and the time and effort to do the necessary reporting to keep all of the government agencies happy. A virtual accountant is a contractor so you pay only for their actual work. It’s a no-frills deal.
Reason 4 – Pay Only for What You Need
There’s a lot of truth to the jokes about employees hanging around the water cooler chatting. When you put people in an office for 8 hours a day (or less for part-timers) there will be non-productive time. That translates into you paying for hours not worked. A virtual accountant gets paid for the hours or contracted tasks. It’s in their best interests to be efficient so they not only keep you happy and satisfied you’re getting value for your money, but so they do the same for their other clients too.
Reason 5 – More Time to Focus on Why You Started Your Business
Face it. Unless you’re a numbers person yourself, you didn’t start your business to crunch numbers, pay bills, and make sure you get paid. Many people absolutely hate this task and do their best to farm it out as soon as possible. Or worse, they just fumble along without any kind of system in place until their tax accountant shows them the error of their ways. Then, it’s a costly process to bring in transactions which are months or even years old.
*Handy Tip* Credit card companies typically only have data available to download for 90 days. Anything older must be keyed into your accounting system manually. This is especially onerous if you have a large number of transactions.
Handing all of those hateful tasks over to a virtual accountant means more time to do what you love whether it’s growing your business or taking time off to spend with your family. And who couldn’t use more time?
Reason 6 – Leave it to the Experts
Hiring virtually means you have access to people with expertise in your area of business and in working with businesses of your size. You also get someone who is willing and able to create customized reports and systems which reflect your unique needs.
Geography limits who is available to suit your needs. The best person for you could live and work halfway across the country, so commuting wouldn’t be an option. But telecommuting is! Don’t you deserve the very best person to keep track of those all-important revenues and costs? To help you find ways to maximize the former and minimize the latter?
Are You Ready to Move Your Business into the Fast Lane on the Information Highway?
I hope I’ve roused your curiosity enough to explore the possibilities. If so, click the button below to schedule a free, no obligation 20-minute call to discuss how I can help you make more time for the important things. You can also learn more by visiting my Hire Me page.
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