We often hear about business owners outsourcing services such as IT support, CPA, legal process outsourcing, etc. While the benefits and drawbacks of outsourcing services may vary based on the industry, there have been a few common upsides to it across the spectrum. These benefits include cost savings, access to skilled professionals, ability to scale up and down, better time management, increased productivity, etc.
In case of accounting and finance services, outsourcing has played a crucial role in increasing efficiency and timely records of accounts and other related services which otherwise would have become an overbearing task for business owners and organizations. Accounting services provided by an external body can help your organization streamline expenses, payroll, investments, taxes and even the profits and losses incurred. To be more precise, outsourcing accounting services will bring the following service options to the table and you may choose as per your business requirement.
- Back-office support
- Customer billing and invoicing
- Filing and submitting taxes
- Running financial reports
- Paying your bills
- Payroll processing
- Bookkeeping and reconciliation
- Financial planning
- Industry-specific accounting tasks
It is imperative that we learn about how it works best for your organization to outsource finance and accounting experts. Accounting and financial processes are one of the key factors in businesses to operate and evaluate their growth. Hence, it becomes critical for a team/firm to perform the above-mentioned services with utmost sincerity and discreetness. Although, once we have found the right team/contractor there are a number of benefits that you can reap from outsourcing your accounting services.
Some of the key benefits are:
- Allows your business to save money – Hiring a full-time in-house accountant or a team of accountants can be expensive as opposed to outsourcing the same services. An in-house employee will cost your organization onboarding costs, incentives, bonuses, paid time off, and other benefits that are expected to be given by employers. Outsourcing comes without all these expenses and can lead to a fair amount of savings.
- Gives you more hours in hand per day – Once you have handed over the financial processes to a third party that is an expert in the department, it brings in surety in tasks such as budgeting, reconciliation, payroll processing, and debt management. Additionally, it frees up your schedule to focus on business development activities.
- Gives you fresh perspective on your business – Experience and expertise of professionals from an outsourced team can help you get an objective opinion on your financial matters. As a result, small and medium business owners make informed decisions regarding investing and expanding.
- Focus on and monitor your business strategy – When you have access to updated financial records at any given point, it paves the path for a successful strategy. A business strategy that is in alignment with your company’s accounts is likely to produce the desired results and can also curb any probabilities of making wrong or untimely investments.
- Reduced errors – Firms offering accounting services solely rely on their qualified and expert professionals for revenue. They acquire qualifications and training to perform the given task without leaving room for error whereas an in-house team might not have the same bandwidth or skills to handle complex finance and accounting procedures.
- Scalability – Outsourcing gives the flexibility to scale up and down on the resources as per the work load. Experienced accounting firms can predict the need to scale up and down based on factors like the time of the year/month, workload on the outsourcing firm, etc.
- Enhanced data protection – Professional firms in accounting usually use secure cloud servers with advanced capabilities such as: encrypted transactions, data storage on secure cloud servers, enhanced data recovery, and disaster management features. These rules out the privacy threat concern of business owners while sharing important files and information with a third party.
- Expert professionals – Outsourced service providers are now required to continually upskill themselves and get certification courses. Interestingly, top accounting firms have greater access to training and courses, and they attend them regularly. This adds a layer of trust and credibility to their work.
- Business continuity – A lot depends on accounting functions and any delay can affect timely payments or cause tax penalties or discrepancies in the cashflow. Outsourcing enhances business continuity by making use of cloud-based systems and automation capabilities, which can offer you consistent services. While hiring, you can also ask the outsourced team to give you time-bound services to further ensure a smooth running of operations.
- Avoid turn over and time off issues – This is common in small organizations where each member plays a crucial role and his/her productivity or lack of the same directly impacts the organization’s success. When an employee takes unplanned leave or resigns, it then becomes an urgent issue for the management. However, when you have outsourced your services, it becomes a concern for the external team.
Accounting firms in India are equipped with the latest IT and software, making it one of the top outsourcing destinations in the world. Outsourcing accounting services from India can potentially become your single solution to solve many business-related problems. When you outsource accounting service procedures to an agency in India, they can provide you with the necessary legislative support (which is otherwise time-consuming and complex), a skilled team, and diligent resources with no language barriers.
