There are several good reasons consider outsourced accounting and bookkeeping services. Some of the more obvious ones include increasing capacity at your firm, being able to grow your business and cash flow instead of carrying out the day-to-day work yourself, and a better work-life balance.
The benefits don’t end there, though – outsourcing offers other advantages that don’t get as much credit. We’ll turn the spotlight on those advantages here, so you can learn more about them.
More benefits of outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping
The lesser-known advantages of outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping services include enabling your staff to move up in your firm and take on more responsibility, happier employees, savings on infrastructure and technology, and business continuity.
When you have a global team completing your accounting and compliance work, you’ll see these benefits start to emerge. Let’s dig into them a little more.
Promoting your local staff once you outsource their accounting and compliance work can boost morale and increase staff retention rates.
1. Promote your local staff by outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping services
When you first began your outsourcing journey, you may have asked your staff to list the tasks they perform that can be delegated to a global team. If your global team is now completing those tasks, you and your local team have received some valuable time back.
This is time you can use to train and promote your local staff to help you with higher-level work, such as strategies to attract new clients. Or they can now manage junior local staff, so you no longer have to.
Promoting from within also shows newer employees there’s potential for growth at your firm.
“When you promote from within, you also save money and boost morale by increasing your retention rate,” states Entrepreneur’s article, 3 Reasons Promoting From Within is Better for Growing Your Business. “Twenty-nine percent of workers cite lack of career opportunity as the key factor that makes them think about leaving, and it’s certainly true that any perception of a ‘revolving door’ can contribute to instability and make people think about finding a new job.”
Once you outsource accounting tasks, you may find your local staff are a lot happier because they’re no longer working under pressure and because they’ve seen you address their job satisfaction.
2. Outsourcing bookkeeping and accounting can make your onshore staff happier
If your accounting or bookkeeping firm is growing, that’s terrific! The flip side, however, is that if you lack capacity to accommodate that growth, your staff may be doing more work during more hours for the same pay. There’s also a greater chance mistakes may happen if more tasks have to be completed quickly by fewer people.
By delegating tasks, you free up your local staff so they can complete their work at a manageable pace, minimize mistakes, stay on top of their responsibilities, and enjoy a better work-life balance. This can also result in less staff turnover, and you just might be happier, too!
If you choose to train and promote one or two members of your onshore staff to help you scale your business, this can also increase their job satisfaction. Who wouldn’t be pleased knowing their boss trusts them with additional responsibility, and that they have an opportunity to increase their skills and experience?
This is something Kristen Lovett, founder and director of Klas Business + Accounting in Tenterfield, Australia, has noticed.
“When we went to offshoring we did it through necessity because we needed to have an accounting team,” she said. “It has led our teams to work on jobs that they really enjoy, to work closely with clients and talk more with clients. It has really increased our output and the quality of our relationship with clients.”
3. Outsourced bookkeeping services can save money on infrastructure and technology
When you hire local staff, you have to provide them with a place to work, a desk and computer equipment. Even if they’re working from home, you may still need to provide them with a laptop and business mobile phone.
You won’t have to worry about fulfilling these needs cost effectively when you outsource your bookkeeping and accounting, since your outsourced accounting service provider will provide your global team with the space and equipment they need to get your work done. This means you save on space and costs.
The How Much Disruption? Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2020 suggests more than half of 40 executives worldwide indicated that cost reduction is a primary reason for outsourcing. In this past year in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the focus back to cost saving.
TOA Global security officers help prevent disasters from occurring, thereby helping business continuity.
4. Outsourcing bookkeeping and accounting helps ensure business continuity
Outsourcing can provide you with business continuity. Let’s say your office manager is going on maternity leave and one of your accountants is leaving to go back to school to earn their master’s degree. Outsourcing these administrative and accounting duties means your business can keep functioning with as little interruption as possible.
You still have the option to hire new local staff, of course. The difference is you won’t feel under pressure to fill the roles quickly because you’re understaffed.
In the event of a disaster, such as an accident, severe weather, a fire that could destroy financial records, or a major network failure where your global team is located, an outsourced accounting service provider helps make sure your business keeps operating by having disaster-management plans in place.
TOA Global, for example, has a business continuity management plan that protects critical business processes and offers alternative ways of working. The plan also factors in the amount of valuable time (from a few days to a few weeks) that a disaster may affect a business’ operations.
Conclusion
If you’re weighing accounting outsourcing pros and cons, consider that outsourcing offers business owners with benefits that may not be as obvious as an increase in capacity. These lesser-known benefits include the ability to promote onshore staff to assist with higher-level work, local staff who are happier, savings on infrastructure and technology, and business continuity.
If you’d like to learn more about how outsourced bookkeeping and accounting can help your firm in particular, then please sign up to receive our free checklist or our free accounting outsourcing strategy and plan.