Which is why we’ve summarized the top five most vital things to look for in a partner. Many of these capabilities overlap with what your accountant does, although the bookkeeper provides your financial foundation. Much of the bookkeeper’s work feeds into a larger, comprehensive accounting function that your accountant completes – the most important part are your corporate and personal taxes.
Along with typical financial reporting (like profit and loss reports and balance sheets), you’ll get a KPI (key performance indicator) report and profitability analysis, among others. However, Ignite types of bank accounts Spot doesn’t list its virtual accounting prices upfront. You have to enter more information about your needs to get a quote—which is useful if you want truly customized services but unhelpful if you’d rather choose a basic plan out of a lineup. The Essential plan ($249 a month if billed annually or $299 billed monthly) focuses on bookkeeping only, giving you access to a dedicated team that performs monthly bookkeeping services. The Premium plan ($399 a month if billed annually or $499 billed monthly) adds tax advising services, end-of-year tax filing, and financial strategy planning.
It’s dead-simple to use and makes those intimidating tasks feel relatively straightforward. You can manage all your payroll and HR benefits from the Gusto platform, and if you ever have questions, you can ask one of their payroll specialists. Would you rather tackle accounting yourself instead of outsourcing it to a third party? Check out our list of the year’s best accounting software for small businesses to get started.
Why 2024 is the ideal time to start
We do all the heavy lifting for you, giving you peace of mind and allowing you to focus your time, money, and resources on running and growing your business. Data security is a serious concern for any business, as breaches can lead to financial losses, legal issues, and reputational damage. As mentioned, it’s crucial to take relevant precautions when sharing sensitive data with your provider.
One alternative, of course, is to hire an in-house accountant (or even a team of accountants). However, this might not be cost-effective and, as your company grows, it might not be scalable either. You may also be tempted to manage your own books to keep costs down but, without any accounting experience, it’s easy to make a potentially costly mistake. Suppose you have decided against outsourced accounting and have opted to tackle the financial responsibilities of your small business yourself. In that case, the proper accounting software is essential to this task.
Which CFO Tasks Can Be Outsourced?
Before you can start thinking about how outsourced accounting might benefit your business, it’s crucial to understand exactly what outsourced accounting is (and isn’t). Cash flow, balance sheets, financial statements, and the like are all sensitive, confidential information. So understanding how an accounting partner or tool protects your financial information before you share it is essential.
Ryan joined Expensify in 2013 and now manages all major financial activities at the company. As CFO, he’s led multiple equity buybacks from early shareholders, raised debt financing for the company, and served as the main liaison between investors and the business. In his free time, Ryan enjoys scuba diving and gardening in Maui, where he lives with his wife and their cat, Cornpop. Outsourcing provides scalability, allowing businesses to easily adjust their level of service as required without the hassle of recruitment. Additionally, maybe you don’t need a whole new person on your staff and you only need 10 extra hours a month.
- Beyond this, having a clean, organized financial infrastructure makes things significantly easier for your business come tax season.
- As your company grows, you may find it harder to keep up with all your accounting responsibilities, such as payroll, tax filing, and reconciling your accounts.
- You should also specify what happens if the provider fails to meet any of these expectations.
- If you’re bringing in an outsourced controller to help manage your existing team, it’s necessary to carefully consider what this relationship will look like.
- There are online/remote accounting firms, but based on their low reviews, we can’t recommend any of them in good conscience.
What should you look for in an outsourced accounting service?
Recruiting, onboarding, and managing an internal finance and accounting team takes up a significant amount of time. By partnering with an outsourced accounting services firm, business owners can free up the time they would have spent managing their accounting department to focus on running their business. There are a number of benefits evaluating a company’s balance sheet that businesses can realize from partnering with an outsourced accounting services firm.
Many times, businesses have all kinds of hidden opportunities hidden in their internal systems and accounts. It’s the job of the CFO to uncover these inefficiencies and implement strategic changes to remedy them. Controllers are more advanced finance professionals that are usually responsible for managing the certified public accountant cpa day-to-day financial operations of a business. They have a wide range of responsibilities, from managing bookkeeping staff to working on more strategic initiatives. When you outsource, you’re tapping into decades of experience and expertise across multiple facets of accounting.