The question of whether to hire outsourced bookkeepers is not a new one. Small business owners have been grappling with the decision for years. The truth is that you have only a few options for keeping your books. You could hire someone to work full-time in your office. You could have one of your employees do the books as a side job. Some small business owners ask a family member to do it. You might even take on the task yourself amid all your other activities. None of these is ideal.
However, there is another way to make sure your books are taken care of properly. Even better, it will save you costs in almost every aspect of your business. Here’s how outsourcing your small business bookkeeping can make a substantial difference in your bottom line.
Looking for outsourced bookkeepers? Contact us now to find bookkeepers and more at Financial Optics!
Direct Savings from Hiring Outsourced Bookkeepers
Some of the costs you will save with outsourced bookkeepers are directly related to their pay. You obviously need someone to take care of this work, but who can give you the exact services you need at the lowest cost? An outsourced bookkeeper can, and here’s why.
Pay for Only the Bookkeeping Services You Need
Trying to hire someone for the precise amount of time you need them can be frustrating at best. If you hire someone full-time, you may not need them that long during your slow times. On the other hand, a part-time bookkeeper might not be available to work extra hours when things heat up.
However, when you choose outsourced bookkeepers, you can use them as much or as little as you like. In any given month, you can scale back or increase your bookkeeping services to meet your current needs. You never again have to pay for services you aren’t using or do without services you need.
Stop Paying Bookkeepers to Do Busy Work
So then, what do these full-time bookkeepers do when they run out of work? Typically, they do busy work or just kill time. Some chat on the phone or scroll through Facebook. Others try to make themselves useful but end up trying to do things they don’t know how to do well. All the while, you are still paying them their hourly or annual salary that is based on their skills as a bookkeeper.
However, when you turn your small business bookkeeping over to an outsourced bookkeeper, you never pay them when they aren’t doing the job you hired them to do. You never pay for someone to do less than you pay them to accomplish.
Never Pay Benefits for Bookkeepers
Suppose you are paying benefits to an in-office bookkeeper. These costs can be extremely high for a small business. Health insurance alone can cost a business $500 or more per employee. Add other benefits, like workers’ compensation, disability insurance, and paid vacation and medical leave, and the burden can become oppressive.
This is one of the beautiful things about hiring outsourced bookkeepers. You never have to pay a dime for their benefits. Instead, either the outsourcing company pays these benefits, or the bookkeeper pays for them themselves. Either way, it isn’t your responsibility.
No Lapses During Sick Days
Now more than ever, business owners are aware that their employees might get sick and miss work. Yet, the bookkeeping still needs to be kept up to date. What can you do? Small companies often hire a temp worker when needed to cover long medical leaves. However, workers from a temp agency aren’t always the best employees. Some lack skills, and others have poor work habits. Even if you get the cream of the crop, you are still paying a substantial fee to hire them.
Yet, you don’t have to struggle or pay more when someone falls ill. Because outsourced bookkeepers are accustomed to working as a team, you will always have someone to take care of your small business bookkeeping. If one outsourced bookkeeper is away from work for surgery or to recover from an illness, another one from the same company steps in automatically.
Fewer Hiring Costs
Hiring a new employee can be costly and time-consuming. Recruiting, hiring interviews, and onboarding can eat up time and money. When you choose an outsourcing company to supply your bookkeepers, you don’t have these expenditures. Once you check out and approve the company, you will always be provided with skillful bookkeeping by one of their excellent bookkeepers. Voila! No more hiring headaches!
Deeper Financial Benefits of Outsourced Bookkeeping
With an outsourced bookkeeper, you save more than the costs of hiring and paying them. You save money all over your organization. Here are some of the deeper financial gains you will see when you choose to outsource.
More Time to Focus on Generating Revenue
How could you benefit your business more? Would your business thrive more if you spent your precious time poring over the books? Would it reach greater success if your efforts were put into managing a bookkeeper employee? Or would you get better results if you, as the company’s leader, were focused on income-generating activities instead? If you are like most small business owners, the latter option would be your first choice if you believed it was possible.
The good news is that you can do exactly that if you go with outsourced bookkeeping. Instead of being involved with the nuts and bolts of keeping the books straight, you can do what you do best. Meet with potential clients, reach out to other businesses for collaboration, or develop a new service to offer your clients. You are free to do it all because the outsourcing company is managing the bookkeeping and small business accounting.
Accuracy Leads to Better Financial Decisions
When your books are accurate, all the rest of your financial decisions become clearer and easier. You know your company’s recent history, and you know where you stand right now. If you are using a virtual CFO, you can also get financial advice for small business owners, relying on the accurate factual information from your books. In this way, your outsourced bookkeepers help to save you from making costly mistakes.
Stay on Top of Receivables and Payables
Dealing properly with accounts receivable and accounts payable can save you a lot of money. When your outsourced bookkeeper gives your clients the correct information to pay their bills promptly, you are more likely to avoid nonpayment. You avoid unnecessary collection costs, too. You also prevent customers from becoming irate and disloyal because of a wrong bill. Instead, they know they can rely on their bill being correct.
As for accounts payable, if your outsourced bookkeepers ensure you have the figures needed to pay your bills on time, you avoid late fees, reconnection fees, and reputation costs.
Employees Can Focus on Their Main Jobs
In addition to the company leaders being able to concentrate on their most important tasks, the same applies to your employees. Workers at every level have their own jobs, skills, and abilities. When you expect them to try to use small business bookkeeping software that they aren’t familiar with, they have less time and energy to work on the things they know best. An outsourced bookkeeper solves this problem by taking over the bookkeeping, leaving your employees to focus on their primary tasks.
Be Prepared for Tax Time
Tax time can be stressful for most small business owners. However, if your books are done correctly, it will go much smoother. Beyond that, you can call on your outsourced bookkeeper if you have any questions that would affect your business tax return. They can be an invaluable help and could even reduce your tax burden in some cases.
Outsourced Bookkeeping at Your Service
Once you see all the cost benefits of working with outsourced bookkeepers, the next question is where to find them. You need to look no further than Financial Optics. We have expert bookkeepers who can assist you with every facet of your bookkeeping tasks. Along the way, you will save money in any or all of the ways listed above.
Financial Optics is a small business operating in Overland Park, Kansas, and serves clients locally and across the U.S. We offer outsourced accounting, bookkeeping, and virtual CFO services. Need financial advice for small business owners? Looking for QuickBooks help? Want to reduce costs with outsourced bookkeepers? You can find all this, plus friendly, reliable, highly skilled team members to help you reach your business goals.
Are you ready to reap the financial rewards of working with outsourced bookkeepers? Contact Financial Optics and start now!