Top 3 Reasons to Outsource Your Small Business Bookkeeping

Piggy savings bankAccountants can make your business dreams come true. If you’re a business owner, it’s unlikely that you’ve ever thought about small business bookkeeping services in such a Jiminy Cricket-ish way, but the bottom line is that precise accounting can help you finance whatever you dream of doing for your business.

Indeed, outsourced accounting services are magnets for people who enjoy helping others meet their goals through exceptional bookkeeping solutions. Want to buy property? Hire a new sales person? All of these paths are defined by the ledger books behind your business. If you don’t have the resources to have an in-house accountant, small business bookkeeping services can step in to provide the kind of information you need to achieve your goals. Even if you do have an on-staff bookkeeper, outsourcing some accounting tasks can be beneficial for your bottom line.

Using outsourced accounting services can be one of the smartest business decisions you ever make for these reasons:

1. Save time and money.

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argued that people we see as geniuses (such as Bill Gates and Mozart) are actually just very practiced at their crafts. Gladwell writes that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in any field. We’re not saying that you ask every prospective provider of small business bookkeeping services whether they’ve logged 10,000 hours – rather, we mean to make the point that those who offer bookkeeping for small businesses have much more practice than you do in carrying out accounting tasks.

As Gladwell’s writing implies, practice really does make perfect, and repetition makes even very challenging work easy. Chances are those who offer outsourced accounting services can complete your accounting tasks quickly – more quickly than you could on your own – simply because they have more practice. For this reason, hiring an outsourcing partner for your small business accounting needs is usually highly cost effective.

2. Fill in the gaps and gain expertise.

Providers of Small business bookkeeping services usually have a menu of offerings for their outsourced accounting services. You may choose to have all of your accounting needs covered, perhaps under a retainer agreement, or you might choose to bring in a consultant on an as-needed basis.

This is especially helpful in the small business world, where the owner’s family members often fulfill the role of the company accountant. In such cases, an accounting consultant can visit your office regularly (to create monthly management reports, for instance) or whenever your in-house bookkeeper needs accounting advice and expertise. Small business bookkeeping services are also a smart option for gaps in your company schedule. For instance, the next time you need to cover a vacation, you could contract for temporary small business bookkeeping services.

3. An unbiased, professional opinion.

One of the wonderful things about small businesses is their intimacy; a small group of people working closely together can be a powerful force for change. However, small businesses can also be harmed by a lack of outside perspective. Outsourced accounting services can provide unbiased professional opinions that may bring to light something you as the owner may not have noticed.

In addition to the benefits listed above, hiring a professional skilled in bookkeeping for small businesses can free up your time so you can get back to focusing on what you really love about being in business.

[photo by: alancleaver_2000]

About the Author Barb Fisher

Barb is the CEO of Fisher Bookkeeping, an outsourced bookkeeping consultancy that provides small businesses with a full-service financial department. Her favorite aspect of work is to break down the accounting to meaningful bits, so entrepreneurs can make a powerful difference in their own business. She's also a power lifter (squat: 215, DL: 270).

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3 comments
accountant Edmonton says July 2, 2012

Outsourcing small business bookkeeping gives a chance to grow the business by analyzing all business financials so that we can use the best decision according to that analysis. The result of a basic profit and loss statement is that an expert accountant can give you a chance to grow your business by analyzing the financial details.

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Outsourced Accounting says May 14, 2012

I’ve heard that it can be a really good move to look into outsourced accounting services. Since bookkeeping is pretty basic at it’s core I’ve heard that you can find good companies to outsource the service. Do you know if they will be able to keep up with tax laws for your country?

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