Thursday, 10 October 2013

Why You Should Choose Outsourced Bookkeeping Services

Business decisions can make or break your company and as a small business owner you need to ensure that all your decisions positively impact the bottom line. Research has shown that bookkeeping is the number one accounting function that small businesses typically outsource. A bookkeeper can manage your books more effectively and accurately than you can so don’t make the mistake to do your own accounting once per year during taxation time. This is not a good practice. There are several mistakes small businesses make that could be detrimental to their businesses. The best approach is to engage outsourced bookkeeping services to avoid these pitfalls.

Throwing Away Receipts

Small businesses sometimes operate very informally and believe that they do not have to account for each and every expense. Once you are treating with finances then an informal approach is ill advised. Typically receipts below seventy-five dollars are discarded since they are not a requirement of the IRS. Once you are in the hands of outsourced bookkeeping services you will know that these seventy-five dollar receipts provide back up for tax deductions for which you can claim.

Wrong Classification of Employees

When running your small business it is important to accurately classify employees so that you know for sure who is on your payroll. You don’t want to make the silly mistake of paying taxes for an independent contractor or failing to pay tax for a bona fide employee. Taxation law provides different rules for employees and non-employees. Don’t allow your lack of proper employee classification take your business downhill, outsourced bookkeeping services will ensure that you correctly classify persons who are part time, full time, seasonal, or just an independent contractor working on a project and is being paid for the job.

Reconciliation Woes

Every month your bank statements must match up with your books. With the bank reconciliation process you are required to match balances in your business accounting records for your cash account. This must correspond with information in the bank statement. For your business to run smoothly a bank reconciliation statement should be completed regularly to ensure accuracy of cash records. If you are unable to complete bank reconciliations at regular intervals your best bet is to utilize outsourced bookkeeping services.

Throwing Out the Paper Trail

Many small businesses boast about their ability to be nimble and quick, heralding their paperless sanctity. However, a paperless business entity is a myth. Once auditing still exists then being paperless is an elusive dream. If you have no intention to keep back up documents and filing pertinent financial documents then you could end up in a situation where you have no evidence to support your claims. Some small businesses use a single computer to back up data and this is risky, others do not want to invest in modern backup systems and prefer to use outsourced bookkeeping services.

Many small businesses fall prey to mistakes, and pitfalls that place them at risk. Some organizations have problems categorizing, filing, addressing petty cash issues, and just managing their accounting function. Don’t become overwhelmed with the bookkeeping maze safeguard you business by going the way of outsourced bookkeeping services.

Accurate Bookkeeping Services improves the ability of a firm to focus on business growth while simultaneously curtailing risks and costs. There are many Bookkeeping Outsourcing Firms that work for small and medium businesses worldwide.

Getting Your Accountant Services Right the First Time

Small business owners struggle to effectively administer their own internal accountant services and grapple with managing the books. When setting up a comprehensive accounting department it is important for you to ensure the following five areas are covered: payroll services, tax deductions, incentives and credits, corporate taxes, and financial statements. If you effectively set up your accounting department to cover these core areas you will be able to get your accountant services right the first time. Make sure you recruit someone with the right mix of knowledge, skills and personal attributes.

Some small businesses prefer to outsource their accountant services and focus on their core business instead. However, if you have a general understanding of payroll and can afford to recruit an effective payroll professional you should be able to manage internal accountant service effectively. Make sure that the person you recruit to handle your payroll is familiar with specified payroll responsibilities required by government agencies. They must understand the fundamentals of payroll management and implement options to make the process simple enough for you to follow. Accountant services that are critical to a robust payroll system will mandate accurate and timely submissions; a late payroll attracts penalties and interest charges so make sure to get it right the first time.

Apart from handling payroll your accounting professional must be knowledgeable about taxation principles and practices. Essential accountant services that must be provided are tax strategies, tax compliance and tax planning with an aim to minimize your taxation obligations. Make sure they are versed in assisting you with taking advantage of tax credits, and incentives for which you are eligible. Don’t allow your business to be denied access to these valuable incentives and credits because of a lack of knowledge on the part of your accountant.

Corporate tax obligations must be accurately prepared; this is often an intricate process that must be executed by a trained professional with relevant experience. Preparing corporate taxes to meet compliance regulations can be an onerous task. If your accountant holds the prestigious Big 4 tax credentials you can be sure that your internal accountant service is sound and operating on the cutting edge.

Your financial statements must be prepared in a format that is standard to ensure uniformity. Your accountant will be required to prepare all your financial statements and reports inclusive of the following: balance sheet reports outlining the company’s assets, liabilities, and ownership equity. The accountant will also provide a statement of comprehensive income showing expenditure, income and profit and loss. Other accountant services that must be provided are preparation of your statement of cash flows and associated documents. This will identify your company’s cash flow activities so you know the solvency of your business.

Before your recruit an accountant to provide internal accountant services for your organization make sure that the person is confidential and will operate with a high level of integrity. They must have knowledge of accounting procedures and demonstrate a high level of familiarity with spreadsheet related applications. Finally, make sure your accountant is an effective communicator with great interpersonal skills. If you are unable to locate the right mix of skills your best bet would be outsource your accountant services to a professional provider.

Good Bookkeeper Services work flawlessly and help the business owner make sound business decisions. There are many reputed Bookkeeper Services Firms that help small and medium businesses worldwide.

Key Benefits of Accounting Outsourcing Services

If you are aiming to reduce costs, and improve regulatory compliance in your business, you may need to review your accounting operational model. To achieve operational effectiveness in your business you should consider enlisting the assistance of accounting outsourcing services. Before you outsource your accounting services it is important for you to carefully determine the benefits of such a strategic move. Some of the key benefits include the following: simplification and standardization of accounting processes, core business focus, accounting expertise, cost savings, and accuracy and timeliness. Accounting outsourcing services help small businesses to make informed business decisions based on expert advice.

Simplification and Standardization of Accounting Processes

One of the key benefits your company should reap from accounting outsourcing services is standardization and simplification of accounting processes. Good processes result in more information, better services, and greater cash flow. Simple, standardized, processes reduce the cycle time for closing books, and improve compliance with regulatory requirements. Streamlined processes drive efficiency and promote operational effectiveness through accounting outsourcing services.

Core Business Focus

By engaging accounting outsourcing services an organization can focus on its core business and seek to build its distinctive competency. Building a strong accounting department takes time and attention. If you are not in the business of accounting why divert essential human and financial resources in building an area that does not generate a profit? Your core business focuses more closely on your clients, customers, and profits generating tactics, and strategies. Let the experts in the field handle your accounting so that you can focus on building your core competencies and deliver unique value to your clients and customers. Accounting outsourcing services will allow you achieve a higher level of competitiveness in your market as you focus on your core business.

Accounting Expertise

One of the most critical benefits of accounting outsourcing services is access to expert advice and confidence in financial reports that meet regulatory and compliance standards. A high quality, consistent accounting service gives you the advantage of having experienced and knowledgeable professionals handle this crucial aspect of your business without having to recruit an accountant yourself. You can draw from a wide range of accounting experts who are specialists in different aspects of accounting, these competencies often will not reside at such a high level of proficiency in one individual.

Cost Savings

Accounting outsourcing services result in cost savings. A reduction in human resource headcount is the first cost saving you will reap. Why hire an accountant who will be entitled to sick leave, vacation, health insurance, and retirement benefits? With accounting outsourcing services you can avoid the costly spend on employee benefits; you can minimize your accounting costs and make the most of your bottom line results.

Accuracy and Timeliness

In your business you want to ensure that your accounting outsourcing services are efficient and that you receive reports in accordance with set time frames. Time is money and business decisions are made by reviewing accurate information in a timely manner. You can be sure that your reports are based on expert analysis by a group of persons who are qualified and have the relevant expertise to lead the accounting aspect of your business in the right direction.

Outsourcing Accounting helps many companies cut costs. Amitaabh heads a leading Accounting Outsourcing Service that caters to small and medium businesses worldwide with a structured process to ensure client success.

Bookkeeper Services Keeps Your Business in Order

Bookkeeper services are a necessity for any small business. It allows for the organization to keep track of important financial information as activities of business take place. The provision of these services allows the company to produce much needed financial documentation for assessing the performance of the company as well as for filing documents required by government agencies.

Tracking Financial Transactions

The main purpose of bookkeeping is to keep track a firm's financial transactions. These myriad of transactions are generated by suppliers or customers and include purchases, sales, receipts and payments. Maintaining such financial records is mandatory. However, this could prove to be a tedious undertaking in light the enormity and variety of transactions that are produced. It would therefore be prudent to outsource this function to an organization that is competent in bookkeeping.

Managing the Daybooks

Whatever the organization's purpose, there is the need to record purchases, sales, receipts and payments of an organization on a daily basis. These transactions form part of the day books of the organization. However, the recording of these daily transactions must be performed using an acceptable standard of bookkeeping,applying the double entry and the single entry bookkeeping method. If people are insufficiently knowledgeable about any of these methods then professionals in the field are required to provide expert bookkeeper services. Book-keeping is not a simple process and it requires financial transactions to be recorded in the correct daybook: the suppliers' ledgers, the customer ledger, and the general ledger. The general ledger's is important as it is used for recording transactions as they pertain to a company's assets, liabilities, owners' equity, revenue, and expenses.

Financial Vital Signs

The recording of a company's financial transactions is vital as these records represent the data used for the accounting function of the organization. The accountant uses the information from the bookkeeping records to produce the company's financial reports. These financial reports will assist the organization in gauging its level of success and analyzing it business practice and so determine its next steps. Another very important function is that the financial records are used by the accountant to produce documents for filing forms with the necessary government agency.

Trial Balance and Ledgers

Additionally, the provision of bookkeeper service swill allow the bookkeeper to bring the books to the trial balance stage. The trial balance lists all of the general ledger accounts, that is, both revenue and capital that is contained in the ledger of a company. The trial balance is where the organization sees whether the business has a debit or credit balance. After the trial balance is produced and the ledgers are prepared by the bookkeeper then the accountant can prepare the balance sheet and the income statement. The trial balance is also used to generate reports that give a view of the business' performance.

The provision of Bookkeeper Services is an essential function of any organization and needs to be performed by competent staff that possesses the crucial knowledge to ensure that the generated financial reports are accurate.Filing of accounting documentation must meet government agencies standards and a small business can adequately assess its business performance.

Good Bookkeeper Services work flawlessly and help the business owner make sound business decisions. There are many reputed Bookkeeper Services Firms that help small and medium businesses worldwide.

Due Diligence Checks for Bookkeeping Outsourcing Services

It is no secret that many small firms are migrating to bookkeeping outsourcing services to manage their accounting function. Bookkeeping outsourcing services is a trend that is rapidly growing among the small business community and many different packages, terms and conditions exist. Virtual bookkeeping services are offered and many different rates can be negotiated for different aspects of the bookkeeping function. Make sure to evaluate the outsourcing company well before you sign on the dotted line. Some of the areas you may want to review are the rates, security and privacy, accessibility to your data, accounting software, and turnover. With this in mind you can check the viability of the bookkeeping outsourcing company before you enter into a contract.

Lowest Rates

Don’t just go for the lowest rates in the industry, assess your outsourcing company and determine the details of what you are paying for. Even though you are engaging bookkeeping outsourcing services and the rate is lower than normal find out the number of years experience this firm has in the business and review the levels of expertise available. For a low rate, will all yours or some of your bookkeeping needs be addressed? Check the credentials of the company, the qualifications of the professional staff, customer reviews, and customer complaints. You must be sure that this company is the right one for your business.

Security and Privacy

With bookkeeping outsourcing services you want to be sure that you place your books, your, accounting, and your livelihood in the hands of a reputable firm, one that will not share your information with at third party. Confidentiality is important and you want to rest assured that your privacy is maintained and that your books are secure. The data you provide to your bookkeeper is very sensitive and could have an impact on you, your employees and your business. Find out from your bookkeeping outsourced provider what mechanisms they have in place to protect your data to ensure security and privacy.

Accessible

When you outsource your bookkeeping, is access to your data readily available. If you are dissatisfied with the bookkeeping outsourced services you receive, can you readily download your data and end the contract or will you be locked into an arrangement where you are dissatisfied with the service and cannot access your data? Make sure to conduct due diligence before you outsource your bookkeeping.

Accounting Software

What software is being used to manage your data? Quickbooks is one of the most widely used software applied by bookkeeping outsourced services. Make sure that your bookkeeping service provider is staffed by professionals who are versed in Quickbooks or another reputable software that can effectively manage and track your data.

Turnover

When assessing your bookkeeping outsourced services try to find out the turnover rate of accounting staff at the organization. Some companies provide two bookkeepers to your account so that if one person is unavailable, on vacation on leaves the job your account is not left out in the cold. This kind of personalized attention is what you need to ensure that your bookkeeping is being given the consideration and interest it deserves.

Accurate Bookkeeping Services improves the ability of a firm to focus on business growth while simultaneously curtailing risks and costs. There are many Bookkeeping Outsourcing Firms that work for small and medium businesses worldwide.

Business Accounting Services that Can Make Your Company More Profitable

In order to manage your business profitably it is necessary to have access to the appropriate financial data, advice and services. For small business in a very competitive market you are faced with the challenge of constantly improving profitability, the need to decrease taxes, eliminate tax surprises and free up time for other competing interests. Using business accounting services will make your company more profitable by reducing staffing cost and attaining cost savings based on expert advice.

Business Accounting Defined

Business accounting is the process in a business that tracks and communicates financial information. This consists of three basic activities: identifying, recording and communicating the economic events, such as transactions and investments of a company. Bookkeeping techniques are utilized to record these economic events. A key business practice for profitable small businesses is outsourcing business accounting.

Interpreting Business Accounting Reports: Internal Users

Data collected from bookkeeping is used by accountants to generate financial statements that are then presented to the internal and external users. Accountants can also analyse and interpret these financial statements and explain the meaning of reported data. Internal users, such as marketers and supervisors, of small businesses would need the expertise of a managerial accountant to interpret these financial statements. If such staffing is not a part of your small business it is then pertinent to gain the services of business accounting professionals with the requisite qualifications and experience who will assist small businesses in understanding the economic status of their company, and, by extension, run the company profitably. Without the expertise of accounting professionals your business could run the risk of failing to meet legal and regulatory standards, this mistake could potential eat away at your profits.

Interpreting Business Accounting Reports: External Users

The external users vary. Investors who are seeking to expand his/her investment portfolio would need financial information on an organisation as well as creditors and government agencies. Government agencies typically seek out tax accountancy information of an organisation. Small business that seek profession tax accounting services ensure that they are advised on using the most tax effective strategies so that they pay the correct amount of taxes, and are compliant according to government standards. Financial accountancy services are required to manage and produce the reports needed by the various external users. Accurate data drives profitable business decisions, and that’s why small businesses must ensure their books are in the hands of experts.

Financial Reports Produced

Business accounts are usually kept in the form of financial statements that show all of the financial resources within the organisation and how these resources are being allocated. Accounting records typically filed are balance sheets that give a snapshot of a business’s financial information from the period of the snapshot through the end of a specified accounting period. Additionally, profit and loss statements, and cash flow statement are produced along with an analysis of the business’s performance by applying ratios, benchmarks in their reports so as to enable their performance to be improved.

Business accountancy should be outsourced for small businesses as there is a variety of financial expertise required for tracking and communicating analysing and reporting financial information about the business. Typical services provided are in the form of accounting, bookkeeping, taxation and business consultation. This information is generally sought out by shareholders government agencies and business managers to keep track of finances of the business. Basically, business accounting services provide an important function in empowering small businesses understand their financial reports to make decisions that positively impact the bottom line.

Outsourcing Accounting helps many companies cut costs. Amitaabh heads a leading Accounting Outsourcing Service that caters to small and medium businesses worldwide with a structured process to ensure client success.

What to Expect from Outsourced Accounting

You just decided to focus on your core business through an outsourced accounting strategy. It is important for you to identify which areas you need to outsource to obtain the best value for money. Find out what outsourced accounting services offer and know what to expect when you outsource this aspect of your business. Review the services that are being offered so that you can be sure to access all that is available for you on the outsourcing market. Some outsourced accounting services include: start-up services, bookkeeping services, controller and CFO services, and advisory services. You can take advantage of all these services or you can decide to select from the menu based on your company’s needs.

Services for Start-Up

With start-up services an outsourced accounting firm will offer entity selection and structure as well as IRS and states registration. Additionally, you won’t have the headache of assessing and deciding which accounting system is right for your business, your accounting service provider will identify your needs and select the most appropriate system for your organization. If you are a start-up company you will be able to benefit from accounting procedures and policies tailored for your organization.

Bookkeeping Services

Many small business owners struggle with managing their books and cannot afford to hire an accountant so they use outsourced accounting services to effectively manager the books. Bookkeeping services will include preparation of bank reconciliations, job costing, accounts payable, recording of journal entries, equipment usage, depreciation of equipment, and preparation of balance sheet and income statements. With these critical accounting activities in the hands of a professional firm you can rest assured that legal, regulatory and compliance matters regarding your books are intact.

Controller and Chief Financial Office services

With CFO services you are assured of the expert preparation of monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements. In this arena outsourced accounting will ensure intricate analysis of your general ledger accounts, and reconciliation of your job cost reports. No longer will your work in progress reports be late, and your budgets and projections will be accurate and timely. Your CFO service will liaise with the bank, insurance, and bonding agents on your behalf. Your cash flow analysis with be in-depth and accurate, and you will not have to worry about bonding company requirements.

Expert Services

One of the most important aspects of outsourced accounting is advisory services. You will have access to leading and best practices to ensure that your organization is operating on the cutting edge in terms of financials. Tax projections can often be difficult but you can take advantage of your outsourcing company’s expertise to make sure you don’t miss the mark. Benchmarking keeps you up to date with certain standards and leading practices in the financial arena. You will no longer be lagging behind but on the leading edge, with access to specialist advisory services. Some other pertinent advisory services that you can access on the personal side include personal financial statements, estate planning, and transition planning.

When you know what to expect from an outsourced accounting service, you are well on your way to making a decision to place your business on the cutting edge of accounting best practice.

Outsourcing accounting improves financial operations as well as increased the level of efficiency, adaptability and ability to wok with the market conditions while at the same time curtailing risks and costs. Brow website for outsourcing accounting.