Parth Shah

Why accounting outsourcing matters more than ever in 2023

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As accountancy practices chart their growth plans for 2023, the chief question on their minds is, ‘how do I expand my business efficiently while continuing to provide stellar service?’ While big accounting firms commonly answer this with ‘outsourcing,’ the small and mid-sized practices still hesitate to pay outsiders to handle accounting functions for them.

The truth is, outsourcing is not just an ‘option’ anymore – it has been proven to be one of the most profitable, strategic and efficient methods to scale up, optimise processes and access top talent at a reasonable price. Here is why you need to consider outsourcing for your accountancy practice to grow if you have not already:

1. Access to better talent

A prerequisite to growing is having the best accountants on one’s team. And yet, the talent crunch continues to be a core challenge for accountancy practices across the UK. Without enough team members, your existing staff is often stuck handling compliance and admin tasks (which may not be their actual area of expertise or interest) rather than doubling down on high-end or advisory services (which is where the money is).

With outsourcing, however, routine accounting, tax, and payroll tasks are handed over to external experts who can do them faster and better. They can also provide technical higher-end expertise if you need that help too – they do not just do the basics.

2. Access to better tech

Accounting software solutions can be tricky to implement and integrate, especially when one considers that it is a relatively new innovation and that many old guards are not that comfortable with technology. Instead of figuring out which software to buy and how to train your in-house staff, why not get outsourced cloud accountants like Stellaripe’s on board who already have all the top-notch tools and know their way around them? They can help you understand and set up the right processes and app stack.

3. Easier to scale up

It is no secret that the UK accountancy market is becoming more competitive every day. New practices are entering the market at a rapid pace, bigger ones are acquiring smaller firms, and everyone is determined to fast-track their growth after the pandemic slump.

Amidst all this, those caught up in admin work and maintaining their existing client accounts often do not have the scope to scale. Who can blame them? When roles are outsourced, you get swift access to talent and can thus implement expansion plans much sooner.

The more talent you have with you, the faster you can get quality work done for your clients and the more money you can make – in other words, economies of scale.

4. Cost savings

The biggest reason why accountancy practices hesitate to outsource is their assumption that it will cost a lot. And it is true – the best accounting outsourcing firms will charge high prices. The cost, however, will pay for itself in numerous ways, for example:

One – you need only pay an agreed price, and there is no need to pay for benefits, sick and holiday pay, pensions and training costs which you would have to include for a full-time employee, so it is less than taking on a new employee.

Two – the kind of efficiency you enjoy when outsourced accountants handle your work improves the quality of your output and thus attracts higher-paying clients. Outsourcing is a big win for accountancy practices – trust us!

Three – you can take on additional work or even open up new revenue streams, such as offering simple services like management accounts, which you could not deliver in the past.

5. Happier in-house employees

Employees are the happiest when they have sufficient room to grow as individuals. In accountancy practices, however, overwork and a barrage of tedious accounting functions, such as bookkeeping and payroll, often limit such growth.

When you outsource, a good fraction of the burden is taken off the in-house staff. This means you have the space to put in more effort and innovation, learn new skills that will help you grow and take some much-needed time off.

The more employees are facilitated to grow, the more committed they will be to helping your practice grow too, which is excellent news for you when you seek to rise above the competition.

How to start outsourcing clients’ accounts

Of course, outsourcing your clients’ accounting functions requires a plan of action, like anything else, so that you are actually freeing up your time and benefitting from results superior to what you could achieve on your own and not chasing them when deadlines are near or worrying about data security. Here is how to make that work:

1. Examine your current workflow and challenges

Your practice cannot grow unless you have your workflow in order. Adding more clients or team members to a broken system does not fix the system! In fact, it only dries up the profits, increases stress, and stagnates growth.

When you sit down and look closely at what your team is doing on the job, you will be surprised to find how much of it is unnecessary business. The next step is to determine how many of those tasks can be outsourced and find a competent outsourced accounting services provider to work with.

It is crucial to define and delineate the responsibilities of your in-house staff and the outsourced team once you have identified tasks which can be outsourced.

The idea is to put the right people in place to keep processes running smoothly and ensure clients stay happy. A futuristic practice no longer banks on just churning out tax returns and piling on billable hours – such businesses struggle. Instead, your focus must be on bringing more value to the table for your clients. Accounting outsourcing helps you with precisely that.

2. Think of ways to streamline in-house

In addition to outsourcing your clients’ accounting functions, there are several ways to improve your practice operations. For instance, are you using tools like Microsoft Teams to collaborate and share updates? Do you have accounting practice management software that keeps track of your client projects and lets you see what needs to be done at a glance?

How many of your clients are still not using cloud-based accounting? There are many ways to automate every business function, even for those unfamiliar with technology. You need to do the research and find a good fit.

3. Review outsourcing businesses to identify a good fit for your business

If you think having an accounting outsourcing partner by your side can help you reduce the workload that comes with managing time-consuming and labour-intensive client functions such as bookkeeping and payroll and make time for your staff spend more time building client relationships and providing high-end advisory support, then find a suitable third-party outsourced accounting services provider.

Find someone who has experience in handling clients similar to yours. Where are they based? What do their IT infrastructure and data security procedures look like? Can you get hold of a few client testimonials or references? How cost-effective are they?

What is their working style? There are so many parameters on which you can identify an outsourcer. Choosing the right accounting outsourcing partner and moving forward to build a long-term relationship is vital.

4. Consider doubling down on an expertise area

Once you have identified an accounting outsourcing company that frees up a lot of your staff’s time, it could be worthwhile to pick an accounting niche and go all in on it. Having a niche allows you to distinguish yourself in a specific area, target your clients with more precise marketing and enjoy the economies of scale from performing tasks you are extremely good at.

And it is okay if you do not know which niche to pick straightaway. Experiment with a few and assess which ones your practice offers the most value.

5. Attract the in-house talent you do need

Everything cannot be outsourced, and you will want to invest in top-notch accountants with the skills and background to help you grow. This requires you to create a work environment that will appeal to these top candidates.

Offer outstanding salaries, remote/flexible working options and tailored career development plans so that you can attract the best people from anywhere. While accounting often involves long hours, allowing your staff to put in those hours at home could hugely improve their job satisfaction, so find ways to make remote collaboration work for you.

Over to you

In conclusion, building an efficient and future-proof accounting practice requires you to devote time to envision where you want to be. From choosing a niche to streamlining your operations to offering more tailored services, it all requires thought and planning, so start now.

Outsourcing can help you concentrate more on these growth plans by taking many routine/non-core client tasks off your shoulders. Do your research and invest in an accounting outsourcing team today – you will reap the benefits sooner than you think. The future of accounting is outsourcing. Ask Stellaripe!

How to meet and manage Self Assessment deadlines

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Taking up Self Assessment tax filing projects can be stressful for accountants. Individual business owners or those earning non-salary income can often have messy records and disorganised processes that can be difficult to work through, especially as the deadline approaches.

You can make things so much easier for yourself and your practice if you have a system in place. Here is a handy blog to help you build that system for your accounting practice and stay sane and productive during the upcoming tax season:

1. Create a digital system for your practice

If you do not already have a digital accounting system in place, you need one now. It would help if you also pushed your clients to use one.

Modern accounting systems like 1tap receipts that support automatic data extraction and bookkeeping can easily capture transaction data right at the source, either through bank statements or by drawing information from paper receipts, thus saving you and your team much of the hassle of last-minute data chasing.

This is very useful when processing tax returns for self-employed businesses or sole traders. The system also spots errors automatically, thus allowing you to clarify things with the client promptly and store all data safely on the cloud for verification at any time.

2. Add a reasonable cushion to deal with more challenging clients

Every accountant has dealt with a few clients who persistently submit details late. These are the ones you want to start following up with some months before the deadline so you can agree on a date for data submission. If you have not started now; start now!

Analyse the complexity of the work, and estimate a reasonable amount of time needed to complete it. To drive your point home, explain the consequences (such as hefty HMRC penalties) if they do not. Some of your recalcitrant clients might need this extra shaking before they step up.

3. Set a follow-up schedule for more difficult clients

Even if you do not have extra-tricky clients, delays are bound to happen, and that is because clients might genuinely miss your emails or need to remember deadlines for sharing documents with you when caught up with other things. A simple reminder can go a long way in helping you meet your deadline.

That is why you need a system of follow-up emails reminding your clients about upcoming dates. And do not worry about being pushy. Once their tax returns are submitted on time and they are saved from the wrath of HMRC, your clients will thank you.

4. Use a tax return questionnaire to complete each client’s work in one go

Take up each client’s returns only after they send you all the necessary information. Once you have that in place, block off time to complete those returns and commit to that timeframe. Sending a tax return questionnaire helps immensely in this scenario.

Ideally, it should include exhaustive questions requesting details on P60s, P45s where relevant, share certificates, dividend vouchers, interest income certificates/statements, mortgage interest statements, P11Ds, EIS/SEIS certificates, pension, property purchase and sale, foreign income, and so on.

Having a questionnaire is much more efficient than if you were to do bits and pieces of multiple clients’ returns every day. So please list clients in order of how difficult they are or their scope of work and work your way through it.

5. Get tax return information elsewhere

Despite your best efforts to collect all data beforehand, there will always be last-minute omissions to worry about. An excellent way to bypass this is to use public APIs to directly access client data from HMRC, including PAYE information, state benefits, marriage allowance claims and so on.

6. Schedule for other tax projects too

Self Assessment tax filing takes up most of the bandwidth in the winter, but you must remember your corporate clients too. Depending on their year-end filing deadlines, you may need to plan to free yourself so you can spend more time on Self Assessment work.

Try to shift any non-urgent client work to late January or February after the tax season. It goes without saying that you need to communicate with your corporate clients and let them know what you are planning. Keeping them in the loop should help them start collecting their documents for you faster.

7. Work with an accountable outsourcing partner

Meeting a deadline is much easier when someone is holding you to it. Take the help of an accounting outsourcing specialist like Stellaripe and minimise your tax season workload. This is an excellent arrangement when you have your plate full and want to ensure you can meet the Self Assessment tax filing deadline hassle-free without stretching yourself!

Plus, if you outsource now, you’ll have better control over your clients’ accounts and will not have to chase them for anything last-minute. Outsourcing is also cost-effective.

Dates to keep in mind

Now that you know how to get started with Self Assessment tax return preparation for your clients, here is a timeline of the relevant dates for Self Assessment tax filing:

  • October 5 – last date for registering your clients with HMRC for Self Assessment (for business owners, this needs to be done in the second tax year since their business began)
  • October 31 – last date for submission of paper tax returns. Individuals need to request a paper return, and HMRC will do this for people who have been identified as unable to file online.
  • December 30 – last date for online return submission for those clients who (i) have tax liability under £3000, (ii) already pay tax through PAYE, and (iii) wish to pay taxes on extra wages, pension or other such sources of income.
  • January 31 – the date by which you need to finish filing taxes and pay all your client dues

Penalties if your clients miss tax deadlines

As you know, the HMRC is quite strict about tax deadlines. Unless your clients have a reasonable excuse and have notified the taxman of the same, missing deadlines could mean hefty fines. Here are the penalties your client can expect:

  • For missing the deadline by even a day – an immediate fine of £100
  • A three-month delay – £10 per day for up to 90 days
  • A six-month delay – an additional fee of £300 or 5% of the tax owed, whichever is higher
  • A twelve-month delay – all the previously mentioned penalties, plus an extra £300 or 5% of the tax owed, whichever is higher
  • In certain exceptional cases – up to 100% of the tax owed

If your client has one of the following mitigating circumstances, though, you can submit an appeal against the tax penalty:

  • Unexpected postal delays
  • Unexpected, significant illness
  • Problems with the HMRC portal itself
  • Catastrophic events like floods or earthquakes
  • Software or computer failure when filing tax returns
  • Unexpected hospitalisation just prior to the deadline
  • Death of a close family member just before the deadline

Over to you

In conclusion, prior preparation and open communication make the Self Assessment tax filing season less stressful for everyone.

As an accountant, you can make things easier by relying on accounting software and automation for routine tasks so that you are free to focus on trickier tax dilemmas and offer tailored advice to each client on how they can minimise their tax burden.

To alleviate your tax season burden, take help from our expert tax preparers. Let us do all the hard work for you while you focus on building relationships with clients and growing your practice.

Drive higher profitability for your practice with outsourced bookkeeping

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When you run an accountancy practice, providing top-notch service to your clients is the ultimate goal. You want to ensure their finances are up-to-date and compliant, and if you can offer tailored advice on financial planning and strategy, the better.

What this often means, however, is that accountancy practices branch out and offer more services than they can handle in a bid to be ‘comprehensive.’ The result? Mistakes, delays and a drop in the quality of your usual services, which means unhappy clients, which, in turn, means a decline in profitability.

The truth is the accounting world is evolving. The ‘conventional’ way of doing things is no longer the way to become successful. The rise of AI, ever-growing competition, automation, and the freelance economy have made it much harder to become profitable and maintain that level.

In this volatile climate a.k.a VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity), how can you boost your bottom line? Do you double down and increase your clientele? Do you shift your niche or offer a broader range of services? You cannot always do everything on your own!

Eliminate stepping-stone services like bookkeeping.

Instead of moving straight to raising prices, evaluate each service you offer and divide it by the total amount of time your accountancy practice spends completing that task. Which one is delivering the greatest profitability per hour? In all probability, bookkeeping will be eating up valuable time for your staff – without driving higher profits.

It may be advisable, and even necessary from a profitability perspective, to rely on an outside expert to handle your client’s books of accounts from start to finish. So why outsource bookkeeping, you ask? Let us dive deep into the “why:”

But is bookkeeping not an essential function? Anyone can do it, right?

We would first like to clarify that there is nothing ‘basic’ about any aspect of bookkeeping. It is a core function for any business and requires a thorough understanding of accounting principles, experience with how they specifically apply to the client’s industry, meticulous attention to detail, a track record of accuracy and strong communication skills to guide the client through understanding why the financials add up as they do.

So, can you hire an in-house bookkeeper?

Good question. And if building a complete team of in-house talent is essential to your goals, go ahead and hire an in-house bookkeeper. Do not forget, however, that the salary you pay the bookkeeper is only part of what they will cost.

There is also the time and money involved in onboarding and training them, as well as any other benefits, their salary, pension, holiday and sick leave and so on. All of this requires considerable cash planning – and entails a cash outflow that you have to keep up even if your firm is not doing as well as usual.

By contrast, working with an outsourced bookkeeping firm entails a fixed fee every month. You get access to highly skilled, tech-savvy and experienced bookkeepers to whom you can assign projects immediately without any training period.

In case your firm is not doing well, you can easily pause the service agreement and resume when business picks up again. Plus, that fee you pay guarantees that they will deliver results as and when you want them – no unexpected vacation days or hold-ups due to staff meetings.

And when you pay lower fees for the bookkeeping, your client’s bills go down or your profitability increases – which is a good idea in either case. An outsourced partner will bring up anything they find dubious or need revision because the two of you are equals working towards the same goal – getting the client’s books in ship-shape condition.

As specialists, they may also notice specific details you may have missed about expenses, tax savings or eligible benefits simply because they’re looking at the client’s books with fresh and experienced eyes. This enables better collaboration and a stronger long-term working relationship.

And finally, outsourcing frees your team up to focus on your core service offerings, be they tax advisory sessions, start-up consultations, niche accounting services or anything else. Greater focus drives higher-quality results, which improves your profitability.

Benefits of outsourcing bookkeeping services

Suppose you are convinced by now that bookkeeping outsourcing is the way to drive higher profits; excellent! However, there are certain things to cover for the relationship to be strong.

You are still responsible for your client’s books of accounts, which means you need to choose a partner with whom you can work effectively. Keep the following pillars in mind when planning for the transition and to enjoy the benefits of outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping:

1. Resources

Talk to prospective bookkeepers and verify that they have the expertise you need for your client roster. In addition, discuss the software resources required for the collaboration, including accounting tools, security, document management and information exchange. As far as possible, choose bookkeepers whose suite of tools are most integrable with your own.

2. Communication

Agree upon the nature and frequency of updates, and ensure that the bookkeeper is always accessible through at least one channel of communication. You must also have full access to the books of accounts through an online dashboard – especially if you are collaborating on critical projects like end-of-year tax filing or periodic management accounts.

3. Fee structure

In most cases, a flat monthly fee structure is ideal when outsourcing your bookkeeping. Carefully examine the scope of work included in the fee, and check the surcharge rates in case the billable hours or work completed go beyond that scope. Price your bookkeeping services accordingly.

4. Service structure

This involves determining how the day-to-day of outsourcing relationships will work. Generally, it is a good idea to fully delegate the function and let the bookkeeping expert take over. Micro-managing or overtly frequent check-ins tend to reduce efficiency and create unnecessary friction.

Over to you

In conclusion, outsourcing is a profitable way to manage your client’s bookkeeping expertly without diversifying too much yourself.

Ask around about the top bookkeeping service providers, and do not be afraid to hire someone from another country or even a different continent. It is a global ecosystem, especially since the pandemic, and collaborating with the top talent worldwide is now easier than ever, like the Quickbooks, FreeAgent and Xero-certified Stellaripe accountants.

Get your books managed by us – at a quarter of the hiring cost of in-house practice staff. Seriously. Enjoy the benefits of outsourcing bookkeeping services. Contact us today!

How to convince your clients that real-time bookkeeping matters in MTD

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Since HMRC announced its Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiatives, accounting processes have changed in multiple ways. Companies everywhere are gearing up for the big MTD for ITSA migration scheduled for April 2024.

It is interesting to see that even long-time traditional accountancy firms are moving to digital platforms, no doubt driven by these changes. Perhaps most noticeably, a significant fraction of accountants now offer bookkeeping as a service to their clients – and those who are not yet, plan to do so within the next couple of years. And this is mainly driven by the need to be compliant with MTD.

How real-time bookkeeping matters in MTD

By April 2024, all qualifying UK businesses, including self employed businesses and landlords, must be fully MTD-compliant. Your accounting firm will play a significant role in making that happen, which is why you should be deep-diving into your clients’ current bookkeeping capacities to assess how well they can adjust to the new regime.

In particular, there are several new rules that a company’s books must comply with, which involve extra effort on the company’s part or will require bringing in a specialist to take over. Some companies with smaller budgets might decide to handle it themselves – with all the compliance requirements.

However, they need to know that any mistakes could end up being extremely costly for them. Overall, therefore, and as you already know, trusting an expert like you from the get-go is the more reliable and cost-effective option. Here are four reasons you can use to convince them why real-time bookkeeping matters in MTD:

1. No more last minute chasing for paperwork

Real-time bookkeeping aims to eliminate the use of physical financial records and maximise the use of cloud receipt management and extraction technology. It requires a transition to keeping the records electronically and there are lots of different software out there like Dext, Hubdoc, AutoEntry, Xero, and many more which will make it easy for them.

Clients upload invoices and receipts directly using these software and therefore save themselves (and you) both time and money from all that manual record keeping. (Do not forget the associated storage cost either!). And since you will be working on the clients’ data more frequently it reduces the stress of chasing clients and juggling with deadlines.

Having instant access to their financial status rather than rifling through a carrier bag of receipts will bring numerous benefits for them and you. While changing to digital tax filing may seem stressful for them, once they get on board with it, they will realise how easy it actually is.

2. More accurate, powerful and timely insights

Digital tax management is far more efficient than sifting through physical documents or trying to manage multiple spreadsheets which can lead to errors, missed information.

Help your clients understand that real-time bookkeeping involves leveraging future-proof software to keep all their financial data consolidated and categorically organised on the cloud.

The data is entered once and both you and they have access to it. Monthly or weekly record-keeping creates better outcomes for your clients and your practice, and thus helps you in improving client relationships and of course, profitability.

3. Faster tax process and accurate provisioning

MTD empowers them to complete their tax reporting activities quickly. They have all their financial data ready through real-time bookkeeping and reporting, so all that you and they need is instantly available for review. This further helps in accurate provisioning of taxes and managing other short term and long term liabilities.

You can submit their taxes and reports without having the legwork of doing it manually, chasing them for information or risking potential fines for late submission.

4. Money saving

The enhanced accuracy and timeliness of their bookkeeping will help them avoid costly issues like revenue drains, avoid tax mistakes, and enable them to make stronger business decisions. Who does not want that? Think this will convince them? Real-time bookkeeping puts the time and controls back in your clients’ hands – even when they have delegated MTD to someone else.

Tips to smoothly automate real-time bookkeeping for clients

Building a real-time data stream for your clients’ transaction inputs makes bookkeeping for MTD much smoother. Here is how to set it up:

  • Connect your clients’ bank feeds with their accounting software so that all transactions are automatically logged.
  • Ensure all purchases and sales are either entered in the accounting ledgers or brought automatically from e-commerce and point-of-sale platforms or inventory management tools.
  • Use a data capturing app to ensure that all transactions, including recurring ones like rent or utility bills, are recorded at the source. Make sure paper-based transactions are scanned and recorded, too – choose an app with handwriting recognition capabilities.
  • Choose a solution that can learn how to categorise transactions based on your client’s accounting system so that all your books are quickly reconciled with minimal effort from your team.

This is also an excellent time to consider working with a specialised bookkeeper if your accounting firm is not entirely confident about handling the function. And do not worry about what your clients might say – they want their finances in order, even if that means you split the load by onboarding an expert of your own.

Is outsourced bookkeeping the way to go in MTD?

With outsourced bookkeeping, you can charge a substantial fee from your clients that covers the actual bookkeeping function and the effort you take to onboard them to digital. Once MTD kicks in, they will have to move to digital anyway.

Why not take over their bookkeeping and have enough time to handhold them through the process? Experts estimate that the need for personalised attention will go up hugely in 2022-24. So this is your chance to hike your fees and set the process in motion.

Another big advantage of outsourcing your clients’ bookkeeping is that you can get it all right the first time rather than fixing all the mistakes the client made and then doing it again. You can save a lot of time for your staff when they do accounting production work. No one likes to do repetitive work or clear someone’s mess. Plus, outsourcing your bookkeeping work is way cheaper than you getting it done by your in-house staff. Charge-out rate matters!

Over to you

In conclusion, clients and accounting firms that went through the 2019 round of MTD for VAT prep already know the importance of planning early, and those gearing up for the 2024 round would do well to start preparing soon.

An outsourced bookkeeping practice streamlines processes, removes ambiguity, ensures 100% accuracy and helps build closer relationships with clients. If you want to help your client roster transition smoothly to MTD, now is an ideal time to buck up with the help of outsourcing specialists and offer real-time bookkeeping as a core service.

Improve your existing tax processes and transform them into an efficient, future-proof system with Stellaripe. Bank on the positives of real-time bookkeeping asap. Get in touch with us to minimise your MTD workload considerably. Good luck!

Payroll outsourcing: What every accountant should know

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It is becoming more common than ever for companies to outsource functions that are essential to running their business but peripheral to their core business and expertise. In-house accounts and payroll teams are a luxury that many businesses feel are a stretch too far for their bottom line. But, however they resource it, it is their responsibility to make sure everyone on their team is paid on time and in a manner fully compliant with the regulations.

As an accountant, you no doubt have clients that approached you about taking on their payroll.  However, the payroll function is far from simple and if you have not got the people in place in your own team, then it is likely you have shied away from taking this part of their business.  Perhaps now is the time to reconsider.

How? From tax calculation and wage policy implementation to HMRC liaison, there is a lot to do even for accountants. The sensible way to take this forward is to assess the practicalities of payroll outsourcing for accountants. Adding a new service without taking on the overheads is a quick and straightforward way to increase your turnover.

But what does it mean?

Simply put, payroll outsourcing refers to using a third-party service provider to manage the task of processing payslips, paying employees, including admin work and compliance. It allows workers to be paid on time and consistently.

Choosing a specialist outsourced payroll provider means you will be working with a team with all the expertise of UK payroll, who will deliver the service on your behalf.

What payroll functions can be outsourced?

There are a number of tasks which form a part of the payroll process and a good outsourcing business should be able to provide all of these with arrangements made separately to make the actual salary payments:

  • Auto-enrolment
  • Administering employee benefits
  • Creating payslips, P45s and P11Ds
  • Year-end processing, including P60s
  • Calculating and withholding relevant taxes
  • Salary calculations including part-time workers
  • Calculating sickness, maternity, paternity pay, etc.
  • Withholding pension and social security contributions
  • Creating and submitting the documents HMRC requires
  • Running supplementary payroll for late starters or leavers
  • Paying salaries via BACS transfer or other appropriate means

All functions require a high level of knowledge of current legislation together with the terms and conditions of employment a business provides to its employees. You will also find that all good outsourcing companies use primary UK payroll software such as Brightpay, Intuit or Xero.

SO, How does an accountant know when to outsource payroll?

There are numerous benefits to outsourcing payroll for accounting firms. It is a simple, cost-effective way to manage a necessary but often cumbersome administrative task, for starters.  The advantages of working with a payroll service provider include:

  • The time and energy of the staff currently working on the area can be focused on more strategic tasks
  • Reduced software costs as you will be able to remove the payroll software from your books
  • No need to worry about late payments, filing mistakes, or tax compliance penalties

How to choose a good payroll service provider

Payroll is a critical part of any business, and you do not want to disappoint your clients by handing over their accounts to an outsourced partner that does not do a good job. Here are a few points to consider when choosing a payroll provider:

  • Make sure your provider offers the right level of service. Understand what you are paying for and how you will need to support them to do their job. Stellaripe, for instance, takes care of end-to-end payroll processing, auto-enrolment, CIS, client liaison, HMRC correspondence, and reporting – all under the same roof.
  • Your provider must have proficiency in commonly used payroll software such as FreeAgent, Xero, QuickBooks, and so on. Stellaripe is tech-savvy, and with a little bit of training, we can work with most unique payroll tools.
  • If you want to migrate to a new payroll software, your service provider must have the capability to do so.
  • Ask what processes the service provider has for checking and updating employee information. Do they have a proper reporting system?
  • Data security is a big deal, and ever since GDPR entered the picture, its significance has doubled. Ensure your service provider has all the safeguards to ensure your client data is secure.
  • Find out how adept the outsourced partner is in handling pension portals. Can they help gain real-time financial visibility with tools like Smart Pension and True Potential?

Questions to ask when outsourcing your payroll to a third-party vendor

Payroll outsourcing can provide manifold benefits that outweigh the cons. For it to work, however, your accounting firm needs to do its homework and select the most experienced and reliable payroll outsourcing service provider available. Some of the questions to ask up front when choosing among various options are:

  • Do you help with generating and filing tax forms?
  • What are the essential services you offer? What add-ons are available?
  • What measures do you take to secure employee and compensation data?
  • How many payroll clients do you have, and how long have you served them?
  • What are your rates per employee for running payroll? Do you offer discounts for higher volumes?

Over to you

In conclusion, outsourcing payroll tasks offers significant advantages to any accounting firm regarding time saved, laws complied with, and processes accurately handled.

Assess your needs, work out a reasonable budget and explore the various engagement models within which you can outsource. Choose a service provider most aligned with your needs. You will take a breath of relief with the proper support!

If you are looking to change how you do payroll for your clients, the time is now. Ring us at 020 3475 3537 or drop your details here to book a free consultation around how we can keep all your payroll woes at bay.

5 tips to help your practice prepare for the new financial year

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Who says it isn’t fun being an accounting firm owner? You are on your toes 24/7, helping clients efficiently sort out their accounts, taxes, and payroll. Besides managing clients and practice staff, you have to keep up with the changes from a tax and legislative perspective.

One cannot say the past few years have not been busier; the transition to Making Tax Digital, the added burden of Coronavirus financial support measures, and of course, Brexit red tape has led accountants to nudge their clients to make considerable business adjustments.

It has been a stressful time and you have no doubt had your share of highs and lows, ups and downs; we hope the experiences have only made you a stronger accountant!

Now that the financial year 2021-22 is almost over, you should consider a myriad of things if you want 2022 to take you places.

Simply waiting for April to arrive and depart while going with the flow is unlikely to get you where you need to be, but a strategic approach definitely will! Hence, it is time to pull up your socks and start preparing for what is to come. Here is what you should do:

1. Analyse your performance in the previous financial year

Just like doing a SWOT analysis, accounting firms must resort to reviewing their entire financial year. That is because when you reflect on the year gone by, you can see what has worked well for you and what has posed challenges for your practice.

Therefore, assess your financial statements, internal processes, staff performances, staff training and other parameters like how much time did you take to turn around a specific project, and so on.

As a result, you will have a clear picture of what your accounting firm needs to improve upon and which business practices need urgent reconsideration. Put a plan of action for those opportunities and get ready to capitalise on the same.

2. Leverage your target customer’s outlook

As theoretical as this may sound, leveraging a third person’s perspective for business evaluation is not a bad idea, and what is better than your target audience! Get their viewpoint on what their accounting challenges are. Is there any specific legislation they are particularly dreading?

What do they expect from their accountant? This exercise helps you identify which financial decisions, lead generation strategies, and project management cycles should or should not have been a part of your business model in the year gone by.

Moreover, applying your newly planned business initiatives is essential to delivering fantastic customer service. It is easier to determine what is lacking in your accounting services, support services, and other vital factors from their outlook.

3. Review your existing clientele

Now that your target customer has spoken, it is also essential to review your existing clientele. Of course, client retention strategies are here to stay, and one must prioritise them to enhance your client acquisition strategies further.

Prepare diligently for 2022 by listening to the people and businesses you work with as it can bring a totally different perspective, including:

  • Should you explore new client segments?
  • Should you start focussing on upselling strategies?
  • Do you have the strategic cushion to drive greater sales?
  • Is your clientele too limited to award significant returns in 2022?

If the answer to these questions is a ‘yes,’ you have successfully unlocked a new business objective for 2022! All in all, reviewing your client-oriented practices will open doors of innovation and growth for you.

4. Elevate your decision-making process with data analytics

With technology facilitating a plethora of accounting work, the entire industry has started to give attention to data analytics.

Moreover, accountants are happily embracing new roles such as financial advisors and financial analysts — roles that go beyond the usual accounting parameters and dive deep into high-end areas like investments, estate planning, tax advisory, and so on. So, how does this work?

Accountants use data analytics to help their clients uncover valuable insights within their financials, in addition to identifying process improvements that can increase efficiency and reduce overall risk.

The data is used to understand trends that can help enhance business operations, processes, and risk management functions. So, if data analytics is not what your accounting firm focuses on going forward, now is the time to get started!

5. Benefit from the power of outsourcing

Accounting firms across the UK and globally have started to outsource their functions. The benefit of accounting outsourcing is that you can get access to a trained professional who has a deep understanding of routine and specialised tasks and more.

Through modern accounting outsourcing, you relieve your in-house practice staff of functions that they would earlier perform themselves. That frees up their time and lets them focus on other critical activities that they are better qualified to do and will likely enjoy more than those routine and repetitive tasks. 

Your accounting firm can thus be assured that your clients’ work will be completed accurately (as long as you supply all the correct information to the outsourced accountant).

Outsourced accountants are highly professional about deadlines and ensure that they return completed work to you on time — without you having to chase them.

Outsourcing helps your accounting firm better manage the workload and cut down on its costs that come in the guise of employee wages and training expenses.

Over to you

Simply jotting down your strategies, goals, and objectives will not help you move an inch; you must have a proper framework for growth in place, starting with outsourcing. Let Stellaripe take many menial and time-consuming accounting tasks from your hands so that you can focus on scaling heights in the new financial year.

At Stellaripe, we leave no stone unturned in delivering flawless accounting services, from conventional to tech-focused ones. Get in touch with us today!

 

MTD for VAT: How to guide your clients today

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Starting from April 1, 2022, MTD for VAT will start applying to voluntary VAT registrations by organisations earning taxable income up to £85,000. HMRC has stated one of the objectives behind this amendment is to address the tax gap caused by errors and careless mistakes.

Even though that means stringent digital record-keeping for businesses, it does have positive implications for keeping returns accurate and boosting productivity. It also means that accountants need to take extra care when handling their clients’ books.

Once you are done filing Self Assessment tax returns for your clients by Feb-end, help them prepare for MTD for VAT. This article discusses practical tips to help out with all the nitty-gritties related to the new VAT requirements:

1. Make sure your client is signed up

Existing businesses falling into the criteria will need to visit the UK government page ‘Sign up for Making Tax Digital for VAT’ to sign up for the new requirements. As the accountant and the agent of the company’s finances, you have the option of registering on their behalf too. Any new businesses setting up operations after April 1 will automatically be signed up if eligible.

2. Check if they can be exempted

The HMRC has laid out certain conditions under which businesses can be exempted from MTD for VAT, such as remoteness of the location where broadband access is not available, people who are digitally excluded for other reasons, or disability. These are extremely exceptional reasons.

Remember to check with the HMRC in advance whether your client is eligible. However, please note that factors like the time and cost of compliance are unlikely to be viewed as good reasons for an exemption.

3. Check which period MTD applies from

The new rules will come into effect on or after April 1, 2022. For a voluntarily registered business with periods ends of February, May, August, and November, the start date will be June 1, 2022.

For instance, if a business is registered for quarterly VAT and that period runs from June 1 to August 31, the August end data, due to be submitted by Oct 7, 2022, should be maintained and submitted digitally to HMRC.

Therefore, do the calculations accordingly for your clients and make sure everything is ready in time for them.

4. Consider VAT deregistration, if necessary

If your clients are reasonably confident that their taxable income will be less than £83,000 over the next twelve months, you can discuss deregistering them from VAT.

However, it does not necessarily exempt them from MTD as the requirement to maintain digital business records for income tax will be introduced from April 2024.

MTD for income tax applies to all businesses with gross income of more than £10,000 per annum. Lay down the pros and cons and help your client make an informed decision.

5. Keep retailer records accurate, including cash transactions

Make sure that all your retailer clients digitally record their daily gross intake of money, even if they transact in cash. They need not upload each individual transaction, just the overall totals for the day.

If the client is worried about non-compliance this way, reassure them that the HMRC will only have access to the figures recorded in the nine checkboxes of each period’s electronic VAT return and would not be looking into individual transactions.

6. Check that tax points are mentioned for non-retailer clients

According to VAT notice 700/22, all sales records for your non-retailer clients need to include the tax point for sale, VAT rate charged, and the net figure excluding the VAT amount.

All purchase invoices must mention the tax point, net expense value, and claimed input tax figure. For non-retailer clients, too, the HMRC can only access the figures mentioned in the nine checkboxes, so reassure them on that point.

7. Have bridge software for your spreadsheets

Spreadsheet accounting will be allowed under the new regulations, but make sure you have appropriate bridging software. The relevant VAT totals can be automatically linked to the figures on the electronic VAT return. There would not be any copy-pasting allowed, so give this high priority so that your clients’ spreadsheets are in order.

8. Have API-enabled software

The accounting system that your client makes use of needs to be able to digitally send and receive information to and from the HMRC through its API. If your client uses spreadsheets to manage their accounts, ensure that their bridging software is API-enabled.

9. Be ready well in time

The HMRC has clearly specified that there will be no grace period of any kind to allow clients to copy-paste figures between spreadsheets and VAT totals. So, make sure your client’s digital audit trail is complete and in place from the get-go when the laws come into force.

Over to you

With less than three months left for MTD for VAT to come into effect, we advise all accountants to have a discussion with their clients to understand how much they know about MTD in the first place. Before implementation comes education in MTD.

Getting your clients’ records sorted digitally is an added workload for you for which you may not have time as the tax deadline for filing Self Assessment has been pushed to February 28. Fret not; Stellaripe’s MTD experts can help.

We will do it all for you and more, from doing end-to-end digital record-keeping to compiling and submitting monthly/quarterly VAT returns to providing periodic business summaries and reporting.

Categories MTD

What accountants should do to market themselves in 2022

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It is safe to say that it is an exciting time to be in accounting. Now that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us (*fingers crossed*), it is time to make more long-term plans about your business and where you want it to go.

Moreover, with several new changes coming in, such as MTD for ITSA and the growing popularity of cryptocurrency, you will have many more potential clients who need guidance with their finances and whatnot.

To be their go-to accountant, you will need to win them over with how good you are, and a big part of this involves marketing yourself and your practice.

If you are new to marketing, no worries — it is not that hard. Just like how you advise your clients to keep planning for more efficiency and control, you will need to take out the time to craft a marketing plan that takes you to the top of search results.

With the new year around the corner, now is the time to take a hard look at your marketing strategy. Here is an actionable, step-by-step guide to getting you started:

1. Set your marketing vision and goals

You have almost certainly heard this before, but every significant business change needs a vision. Where do you see your marketing plan taking you in a year? Five years? Fifteen years? Set down the dream vision in clear terms that everyone on the team understands and is on board with.

Then, list out goals that take you closer to that vision. When we say goals, we do not mean vague statements like ‘increase client base’.

We are talking about specific, actionable and time-bound goals. This gives you points of reference that you can come back to at intervals to check whether things are moving according to plan.

2. Know who your clients are

You may think you know your clients. After all, you have the list of their names right there with you. However, we are talking about detailed insights that let you see who your clients are — in terms of their characteristics, wants and expectations — versus who you think they are.

So, go out there and conduct some quick interviews and supplement it with general market research on your industry.

3. Chalk up your buyer personas

These include both the ‘ideal client’ whom you would love to work with, as well as the ‘not-so-ideal client’. Typically, as an accounting business, you are likely to be excited by clients who want a variety of services from you, are happy to pay for those services and are personally pleasant to work with.

On the other hand, you may currently have several clients with whom the work is less intellectually stimulating and who are bad-tempered or otherwise unpleasant. With this clarity, you can start thinking about how best to cater to the ideal client and market your services accordingly.

4. Choose a business niche

Even within your ‘ideal client’ vision, you would not necessarily be able to fulfil all their needs. You could theoretically opt for a generalist business.

But then you will be competing with thousands of other companies like yours, many of which may have more resources and more extensive networks.

Therefore, it makes more sense to choose a niche and market yourself to clients in that niche. Choose something based on your expertise as well as what you are interested in, and tailor your content and keywords to appeal to that niche.

5. Set clear objectives

Objectives are more granular than your business goals. These involve periodic deliverables (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) to get your marketing plan going. An easy way to start is by just brainstorming all the possible deliverables you could have.

Then, in collaboration with the team, assign priorities to each member to whittle the list down. Finally, fix deadlines for all the most critical deliverables and assign ownership for them to someone. There — you have your objectives.

6. Have a marketing plan

Your goals and objectives are for you and your team. However, your marketing plan is a crisp yet detailed statement that shows your investors, stakeholders, and colleagues what you are up to.

It should highlight your vision st
atement, marketing objectives, notes on campaigns, SWOT and PESTLE analysis and so on, along with dates and timelines for everything.

If the plan seems too extensive, consider having sub-plans to deal with each part. Moreover, when setting timelines, be sure to factor in enough time for reviews and any delays.

7. Draw up a content plan

A significant part of marketing is putting out the right content at the right time. Based on your deliverables, you need to have a calendar for a regular content flow on the channels you are active on. Try and keep it as uniform as possible, such as a set of two Instagram posts, two LinkedIn posts and one blog post for a week, with more to mark special occasions.

8. Build your brand

When most people think of brand-building, they picture a fancy logo. And while there is nothing wrong with a nice logo, real brand-building goes far beyond that. When clients think of your brand, they should instantly be able to recall the values and principles you promoteas a firm.

It could be clarity of thought and precision of insights. It could be the warmth and mutual trust of your relationships. It could be the lighthearted cheer you bring to meetings, even in the face of difficulties. Whatever marketing material you put out needs to embody these values.

In conclusion: Always measure your performance

As with any business venture, your marketing requires periodic analysis to ensure that you are on target. Decide in advance what metrics you want to focus on: customer lifetime value, cost per acquisition, marketing/sales qualified leads, website conversions, or a combination.

Then, invest in an analytics tool that draws up detailed reports for you. This gives you the visibility you need to do course correction wherever things are not working as per plan.

With January 31 around the corner, it can be challenging to balance priorities. If you want to increase your capacity to think about scaling your practice but are drowning in client paperwork for Self Assessments, shave off your workload by outsourcing to us. Book a free consultation.

 

Let us tackle MTD for ITSA together: Top accounting tips

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After several delays over the last few years, HMRC’s MTD for ITSA project is finally set to have a go-live date in April 2024.

One of the most significant changes to tax law, it affects all businesses and landlords with an annual turnover greater than £10,000. It will require them to make the necessary preparations well before its launch.

Essentially, MTD for ITSA means that all affected business owners and landlords need to share quarterly summaries of their income and expenditure to HMRC by means of MTD-compliant accounting software.

In addition, they will need to submit an End Of Period Statement or EOPS after every fourth quarter with a complete account of all their income sources and a declaration of all other sources of taxable income, such as investment returns.

With this new change coming, accountants and bookkeepers will be in high demand to navigate it and ensure that businesses are compliant from the get-go. Here, we share our top tips to prepare your accounting practice for MTD for ITSA and manage the workload efficiently:

1. Get your mindset ready for digital record keeping

Unlike what many might believe, your practice does not have to have a digital copy of literally every receipt and invoice you work with. You simply need to maintain a digital summary of all business transactions.

Many opt to do this on a spreadsheet tool such as Excel and use a bridging tool thereby, and you can take help from an accounts outsourcing company to do the same. While this is an improvement over paper records, maintaining a spreadsheet requires great human effort and leaves room for errors when manually recording transactions.

By contrast, efficient accounting software will allow you to periodically import bank statements and directly upload all expenses and incomes in one go in the appropriate format.

This will take much of the stress out of quarterly reporting and ensure that everything is accurate. There are several accounting software options in the market — if your practice does not already use one, evaluate your options and pick the one most suitable for your needs and budget.

2. Prepare your clients for the same

By April 2024, you will need to move all of your clients to the use of accounting software in order to be compliant with MTD for ITSA.

Therefore, now is the time to segment your client list as per those who already maintain complete digital records, those who maintain partial or incomplete records, and those who still do things the old-fashioned way on paper.

This will help you identify in advance which of your clients need extra help and training with digital migration so that you can budget your hours optimally.

3. Prepare to benefit from the opportunities offered by MTD

It is natural to view MTD for ITSA as something of an annoyance. It does, after all, mean a lot of extra work for you and your clients over the next couple of years. However, try to think of it as a chance to modernise your practice and offer extra value to your clients.

For instance, quarterly reporting makes filing tax returns much easier, as you already have a lot of the information and can avoid the last-minute January rush to fetch records from your clients.

As an accounting practice, you know the trouble of following up with clients about their records all too well. This way, you need not wait on them to get back to you.

Plus, with up-to-date business records on hand, you can make timely recommendations to your clients about new ways to save on taxes or be eligible for grants or relief.

And there is no denying that every business, large or small, likes to reduce its tax bill. Your clients would like that as well.

4. Encourage your clients for early registration

There will likely be many accountants signing their clients up for MTD for ITSA in April 2024. This could lead to system delays and failures and be unnecessarily stressful for your practice regarding administrative burden.

There is also the headache of rounding up your clients at the last minute and following up with those who will inevitably delay. Instead, consider registering your clients early so that everyone has enough time for their registration to be confirmed.

You can even incentivise early sign-up by offering a competitive package deal for the service for the first few clients to do so.

Over to you

Education plays a crucial role in MTD’s implementation, and without consulting for your good, you would not be able to help your clients properly. Therefore, it is wise for you and your practice staff to speak to an MTD expert and get all the doubts out of the way.

Our team can also create a blueprint for you regarding approaching your clients for MTD registration and what steps you need to take first.

Besides, we can do it all for you and more, from doing end-to-end digital record-keeping to compiling and filing monthly/quarterly VAT returns to delivering periodic business summary and reporting. Click the  CTA below to get in touch with us!

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Categories MTD

Modern outsourcing: Your answer to talent crunch and building the firm of the future

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As accounting takes on more of a specialised role focusing on strategic decisions and overall capital optimisation, the case for outsourcing part of the client accounts to a third party rather than managing them in-house has become stronger in the past decade.

Here are five myths in outsourcing that previously pushed away many accountants from the option:

1. Knowledge about UK accounting

Since the function was outsourced to countries like India, Thailand and the Philippines, there was a concern about their proficiency in UK accounting. Outsourcing does not mean having to take the trouble of walking the third party accountant through how the function works.

There was a time when many accountancy practices still hesitated (some still do) to outsource their workload. Naturally, several myths circulated about its alleged risks.

The thing is, outsourcing has evolved a great deal and is by far the most efficient option for accountancy practices alike that wish to focus on their core business rather than spend hours doing their clients’ books or payroll.

Experts in their field have extensive experience in how accounting works across different countries and industries and can take over with very little hand-holding. Much of the time, the handover takes only a few days.

2. Control over the quality of output

Many accountants have shown their reluctance to outsource as they fear that they will no longer have control over the output of their client’s accounts. That is simply not true.

Outsourced accountants receive continuous training on the latest tax laws and topical industry-related issues and best practices to deliver the best possible service to accountancy practices. They understand the implications of accessing sensitive information remotely.

However, despite the geographical gap, they regularly share financial statements and provide real-time glimpses whenever the accountant wishes it.

Besides, modern outsourcing firms all have cloud presences. Stellaripe has a team of cloud accountants, for instance. That means, if you and your staff are not adept at using the cloud, Stellaripe can step in and pick up any accounting task for you — anytime, anywhere, from any cloud-enabled software.

That also means that with a little bit of training, you can also access the data on the software as and when you like. Moreover, the ownership of all data remains with you, and you can request alterations or new operational modes whenever necessary.

3. Data security

One of the biggest deterrents to outsourcing is fear about data security when accounting and financial data goes to a third party.

The truth is that outsourcing firms invest considerable amounts of money in top-notch accounting technology with the most secure encryptions.

They can even work remotely, so the data never leaves your servers. You, therefore, can rest assured that their client data is as safe as it can be. Stellaripe, for instance, logs in to your system using remote desktop software.

We access your clients’ files on your system without having to transfer them to our servers. Once the job is complete, we notify you so that you can review it. Simple.

In addition, we have taken various data security measures such as IP address restrictions, firewall defenses, 256-bit bank-level encryption for data transfer and management, biometric scanners and access card-based security, VPNs, and disabled USB ports to ensure the data always stays protected — no matter what!

4. Deadline management

It is wrongly believed that outsourcing to a third party means losing control of when deliverables come in. Just like you, outsourced accountants are aware of all relevant due dates for filing compliances and will complete and prioritise tasks accordingly.

Moreover, modes of online communication and access to direct UK phone lines enable prompt follow-ups, and outsourced accountants can quickly convey any specifications about deadlines.

5. Cost-effectiveness

Perhaps the most common myth that circulates about outsourcing is that the third party will charge exorbitant fees.

However, most such services are competitively priced. They will bring about overall cost savings for you and your client by accessing efficient, trained and qualified offshore talent resulting in a cost effective solution. For instance, Stellaripe doesn’t charge any set-up fee, unlike many other outsourcing firms.

Moreover, the accountancy practice can scale down the number of outsourced people at any time and pay for only the resources used. It is thus a much cheaper option than hiring a full-time team of expert accountants.

Accounting outsourcing today

Recent advances in technology have enabled outsourced accounting to grow considerably from the early days of offshore outsourcing. While the original principle of cost-effective operations has remained the same, technology enables it to happen faster and with stronger results. Here is how third-party accounting today can support your clients:

1. The shift to the cloud

The cloud enables accountants to log in from anywhere and complete a wide variety of tasks. Anyone with an internet connection can do it, from data entry to balancing books to accounts and tax return production to even personal assistant tasks. This technology has made real-time accounting and accessibility a possibility.

2. Automation

AI and machine learning have brought about prodigious improvements in the speed at which routine tasks can be completed. In addition, AI and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) have also been applied successfully to speeding up problem-solving tasks and predictive data processing.

Efficiency is always touted as one of the primary benefits of automation and its integration into financial systems. For instance, various receipt management tools like Dext, Autoentry and similar apps save your practice valuable hours every week and free up your best people to concentrate on what really matters.

Similarly, accountancy practice management cloud based software like Accountancy manager, Senta, and Pixie and many more like these supports automated onboarding, reminders, workflows and chasing, and help you drive excellent service delivery and focus on adding value to your clients instead of just providing compliance services.

3. Process improvement

With their expertise in accounting processes, outsourcing firms such as Stellaripe can assist your clients with process improvements in functions across the board.

Particularly for legacy accountancy practices that may rely mostly on traditional processes, outsourcing firms can use their experience to analyse their current operating model and provide an appropriate roadmap for process automation and the removal of redundancies.

And for digital-first clients, such assistance can help them become even more operationally nimble because of outsourcing.

In a nutshell, outsourcing firms work with all types of accountancy practices — small and big, fast-growing and established.

Hence, they can share their opinions and expertise in implementing the industry best practices and suggest what may work well and what may not for your practice and clients.

4. Advisory

Advisory accounting involves providing accounting support to practices and other value-added services such as strategy, consulting, automation and use of suitable tech and app advice.

It can help widen the revenue stream and start a forward-facing conversation for the accountants as it allows their clients to make smarter and more profitable decisions than if the practice provided simple compliance accounting services. Today, most accountants aim to deliver advisory support to serve their clients better.

Over to you

It is projected that employment for accountants will go up in the coming years, with a focus on advisory roles and the application of sensitive information.

There is already a sustained need for data-focused smart professionals who can quickly gather and process business intelligence from a range of sources and communicate strategic insights.

Moreover, technological advancement is no longer an option but the surest way forward for business success.

With accounting outsourcing and the judicious use of automation, accountancy practices can help businesses stay on top of their finances and be free to focus on core activities and strategic decisions. A systematic, goal-oriented partnership between people, resources and technology is important.

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