Should you outsource your accounting?
March 31, 2022
This paid piece is sponsored by Eide Bailly LLP.
A version of this article appeared on eidebailly.com.
Accounting is a critical component to any business operation. It not only tells you where your business stands but also allows you to make informed business decisions moving forward.
When your financial information is up to date, you can make smarter, faster decisions and modify as needed. You can use the information to identify cash flow opportunities, cost containment strategies and your financial capacity to make business-building investments.
When your financial information is out of alignment and outdated, you keep yourself at a significant disadvantage. You’re constantly working off inaccurate, aged-out information, which often leads to faulty assumptions about where you stand and what your next steps should be.
Accounting is a guidepost
As you move forward with any next steps — whether your goal is cost containment or business expansion — your financials and accounting records must be top priority, and they must inform your strategy. Accounting is a guidepost for how your organization is functioning. If you’re not prioritizing it and following best practices, it could guide you off course. If you optimize accounting, you optimize your business.
To get it right, there must be an individual or individuals whose primary goal is to ensure up-to-date, accurate accounting at your organization. However, it’s not always easy or within budget to hire an in-house accounting professional or team. For some, outsourcing is the more cost-effective option. In fact, outsourcing accounting can mean better process efficiency and greater outcomes – and ROI – when you work with an experienced, trusted adviser. Outsourcing provides management-level expertise, giving you confidence in your financials.
Benefits of outsourced accounting services
Many businesses turn to outsourcing as a way to gain the information they need without having to bear the burden of hiring someone full time.
Specifically, outsourcing can:
- Give you financial data you can rely on and trust to make strategic business decisions.
- Reduce fraud risk as it adds an extra layer of oversight.
- Provide a team of resources and years of experience on a variety of accounting-related options.
- Add access to an experienced professional without the additional costs of a full-time employee: salary, paid time off, payroll taxes, insurance, unemployment and benefits.
- Stay up to date on daily operations and compliance-related issues.
Outsourced accounting staff with a high level of financial knowledge can:
- Ensure the accuracy and timeliness of your financial data.
- Help you manage cash flow.
- Present your financial data in a useful and meaningful manner.
- Analyze market trends, and help you define key performance metrics and benchmarking data.
- Understand business strengths and weaknesses, and identify opportunities.
In addition to these daily and monthly tasks such as data entry and reconciliation, outsourced accountants and financial professionals can help you craft a plan to move forward, optimize your operations and position you for the future.
Further, top outsourced accounting firms utilize technology to help you move forward with key business decisions. Instead of utilizing an on-premise, possibly outdated solution, the best accounting outsourcing organizations look to the cloud or to software solutions your organization may need to thrive and grow. Such technology also provides access to real-time analytics, giving you a competitive edge while aligning with overall business objectives.
Save on cost, gain expertise with outsourced accounting
Accounting is a crucial component of business. In the current age of disruption, it’s more important than ever. Outsourcing through a trusted adviser can help you identify red flags more readily, solve for them and pave a path toward for an even more efficient and promising future.
To learn more about transforming your operation, visit eidebailly.com.
