Outsourced accounting is becoming more popular with businesses of all sizes due to the savings and benefits it can deliver. If your business is growing, it can give you a significant competitive advantage, as you’ll gain access to accounting experts and the ability to better utilise your own resources.
Benefits of Outsourced Accounting
Cost savings is the number one reason businesses employ the outsourcing model. Businesses often pay too much to maintain their in-house accounting department. This means incurring costs for recruitment, training, employee benefits, software, hardware etc. With the outsourced model, businesses do not have to pay for all of these expenses.
Knowledge and experience are key benefits that businesses gain by opting to outsource their accounting function. Specialised staff are well resourced and draw upon their skills and experience across many industries. In addition, staff are required to stay up-to-date with changes to regulations and laws which results in businesses receiving quality and reliable service. This means businesses who outsource receive the advantage of a different perspective on business matters which ensures good business decisions are made. In addition to this, regular and accurate reporting is another advantage to assist in the decision-making process.
Time-saving is a major benefit of outsourcing. Time spent by business owners is best focused on the main function of their business. A competitive advantage can be achieved by doing this rather than investing that time in accounting. This applies to businesses of any size where the owner is currently performing the accounting function and would be more productive without that obligation. The ultimate outcome of achieving a competitive advantage will be improved business characteristics in some form. For example, improved quality or increased efficiency which will likely lead to greater profits. This is achieved by the premise it will take the outsourced accountant less time to perform the same task as business owners and with increased accuracy.
Flexibility is a significant reason why businesses outsource their accounting function. It works particularly well for businesses that experience significant changes in their workflow (and therefore their accounting requirements) on an ongoing basis. Outsourcing provides the ability to scale workload up or down with minimal notice required. For this reason, outsourcing is popular with start-ups and international businesses entering Australia.
Your advisor can work with you to quantify the benefits of outsourcing for your business, ensuring that costs do not offset the benefits and you receive the best results from the accounting technologies we can put in place. Please see our Outsourced Accounting services for more information.
To find out whether outsourced accounting will benefit your business, contact your local Accru office today.
