There are many surveys floating around the internet that state a decent percentage of business owners spend a good chunk of hours every year managing their own books, MANAGING being the keyword.  

“Managing” their own books could be a completely different definition to the business owner then let’s say a CPA or a seasoned bookkeeper. Let’s face it, when a business owner is working a 14-hour day – coming home and “managing” anything is the last thing they want to do.  Spending time with their family that they are busting their butts for, catching up on a show or even some much-needed TLC seems like the better option.

If working a 14-hour day and dealing with many personalities isn’t exhaustive enough to want to offload your bookkeeping to someone that knows what they are doing, then I don’t know what is…

If you find yourself wishing you had some extra time, spending a good amount of money on monthly expenses, looking to expand or pursuing investment capital, it’s time to capitalize in an accounting team/back office solution.

With all that being said, many business owners still struggle to manage their books and find the idea of someone else swooping in to manage their accounting very intimidating.  It’s understandable, it’s your money, you earned it and you want complete control of it.  The misconception that business owners have is that a bookkeeper will have control over their hard-earned money, which is completely incorrect. Times have changed, and we are in a world that allows daily accounting to be accomplished with ease & without having access to any money.  Once a business owner can let go of their old fashion ways then life and business can be very simplified.

Below are two “pros” that can help you better understand the advantages of outsourcing your business’s bookkeeping:

Pro: You can get more experienced bookkeeping leadership for your buck.

Determining the savings of outsourcing your bookkeeping compared to hiring a staff is a complex decision. Yet after talking to many business owners that have made the switch stated they will never look back.  Not only has outsourcing saved the business money but TIME, TIME, TIME. Time to grow their business, time to maintain and keep current and new customer happy and most of all, time to spend with their loved ones.  With all the years of accounting experience, outsourcing will cost less than hiring a single-entry level bookkeeper that you have to train, watch over and pay for all the added overhead costs associated with employment.

Some business owners are skeptical and have a hard time letting go of the reigns and tend to worry that if they outsource then they will lose control over their company.  It is always recommended that there are regular meetings with the company you chose and your CPA.  Along with regular meetings, a monthly snapshot of how your business is doing is a great place to start to make better company decisions.  The purpose of outsourcing is to alleviate the manual data entry and building reports to see if you’re profitable or losing money. The experience of a seasoned bookkeeper can quickly find errors that could potentially affect your business in a negative way.

Pro: Outsourcing your bookkeeping means that you can assign more resources to areas that can generate sales.

All business owners strive to run an effective and profitable business. Adding an employee that doesn’t generate revenue will cost you in the long run. Spending the money on someone who can be out in the field generating income is by far a better option when it comes to dishing out payroll. That’s why it’s becoming more and more common to hire a service that you can upscale or downsize and use as needed.

There is definitely a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that someone is in your office that you can call on and put your needs above all others, however, there are ways to streamline the workflow that will suit the needs of the business owner as if the outsourcing team was located right in the same office space.

To weigh the options, it seems adding an employee that can increase workflow and generate income is definitely the better option of the two.

Finding the right accounting team will help your business grow and allow the extra time you need to prioritize other aspects of your business. The earlier you make the decision to switch the, the earlier you will see the results a team can provide.

If you need some help or have any questions, just let us know.  We’re contractors ourselves and understand the challenges you face everyday and we’re here to help.