Five Things To Consider Before You Outsource Bookkeeping
There’s a lot of talk in businesses today about virtual assistants and it only goes to follow that small business owners are also looking to outsource the one task they all seem to universally hate: bookkeeping.
I own a virtual bookkeeping firm, so I have to tell you that I’m not objective. I think virtual bookkeeping is a great solution for small businesses. They get better skill then they normally can afford to hire and they are able to create audit controls for added protection. Plus, hiring a virtual bookkeeper is cheaper then hiring someone in house (at least it is when you hire us at Cash Flow Accounting).
Here are 5 things to consider before you outsource your bookkeeping:
- What functions do you want to outsource? You may want to have someone else prepare your payroll, prepare your bank reconciliations, check account coding, prepare analysis or even enter your raw data from checks you have a hand-prepared. Be clear on what you will you do, what your in house staff will do and what you want someone else to do.
- How will you get source documents and information to your virtual bookkeeper? This is a simple step, but very critical. If there is no information, there are no results.
- What is your bookkeeper’s experience with businesses like yours?
- What is your agreed-upon turn around time with your bookkeeper?
- Will your bookkeeper create nexus for you in another state? (If you don’t know what that is, please check out the free webinar on http://www.CrossBorderTaxGrab.com)
Once you have found a virtual bookkeeper to work with, consider what reports you want to see and how often. Will your bookkeeper also provide virtual CFO services for you, reviewing the results of the financial statements? If so, you’ll want to go over key performance indicators (KPI) for your business to determine what you’re tracking and why.
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