When an accountant starts to think about outsourcing, he may not realise all of the benefits it will deliver to their practice. We consider some of the main reasons to outsource.
A beginners’ guide to outsourcing
A frequently heard concept of the rationale behind outsourcing is that you can just get rid of the rubbish jobs that take up time. Well yes, there is an element of passing over time consuming work to focus on other, more profitable work, though we would never describe it as ‘rubbish jobs’. But in reality, accounts outsourcing brings so many more benefits that accountants never even consider. We will run through a few here:
Review and improve processes
We all get stuck in the rut of doing something in a particular way because we have always done it that way. Hands up anyone who religiously reviews their work on a regular basis. One of the first things that happens when you outsource is there is a full review of your work and how you do it, the steps you take and so on. Whilst an outsourcer should never insist it is ‘their way or the highway’, they will definitely suggest any improvements that could be made to your processes and the way they deliver your clients’ accounts. They will have a broad experience from undertaking work of numerous other accountants and are well placed to know what works well and what doesn’t.
Free up time to focus on business growth
Once an outsourcer is working for you, you will begin to have the time to clear the decks and look at the opportunities you have for growing your business. Never offered payroll or bookkeeping to your clients before? Well now you can – new profit lines delivered by your outsourcer with no need to take on additional staff, software etc. Now you can properly look at your clients’ accounts and begin to help them to grow and deliver more profitable business with advisory services.
Eliminate staffing problems
When one of your accountants or team leave your business, it presents you with a costly nightmare – trying to find a suitable replacement can be time-consuming and recruitment it costly. An outsourcing company will provide as many accountants as you need, almost immediately who are trained, competent and capable of undertaking your accountancy work. You can be involved in the recruitment process if you wish, or you can leave the entire process to the outsourcer.
Lower your overheads
Outsourcers will cover holidays and sickness, software and training too so you don’t have those expenses on your bottom line.
And of course, you do hand over those repetitive, low revenue jobs that you UK team will be very pleased about.
If you would like to investigate whether outsourcing some of your accountancy work would be a good fit for your practice, why not give us a call now?
