When hiring a bookkeeper, you should consider whether it is more beneficial to hire in-house or outsource. There are many factors that play into why you might choose one over the other, such as the size of your business and the tasks you need completed. In this blog post, we're going to talk about the benefits of outsourcing a bookkeeper, especially for a small business that is hiring a bookkeeper for the first time.
An outsourced bookkeeper may work onsite at your location, work from their office/home, or access your desktop remotely. At Summit Bookkeeping, we offer all these options to our clients. In addition to this flexibility of location, outsourcing a bookkeeper has many benefits.
1. Flexibility as You Grow
As your business grows and evolves, what you need from a bookkeeper may change. If this is your first time hiring a bookkeeper, you may only need them for a specific task, such as bank reconciliation. But as your business grows, you may need them to help perform additional tasks such as accounts payable and accounts receivable, payroll processing, or filing quarterly reports. Outsourcing a bookkeeper allows for a seamless transition when you need to add additional duties since they most likely already have the knowledge to perform that task.
2. Minimal Training Required
When you outsource a bookkeeper, you are hiring a highly trained professional with experience in a wide variety of industries. While you may need to do a little bit of training to get them comfortable with your business and how it operates, they’re usually able to hit the ground running. As a professional bookkeeping firm, we stay up to date on tax laws and industry changes to ensure we are always in compliance with federal, state, and city regulations.
3. Cost and Time Effective
Outsourcing a bookkeeper is typically more cost and time effective. If you’re just getting started with a bookkeeper, you most likely don’t need a full-time employee and even a part-time worker with 20 hours may not be needed. When you outsource a bookkeeper, you are only paying for the time they are working on your books, known as billable hours. While the hourly rate for an outsourced bookkeeper is typically more expensive, they also are generally more efficient and can get the job done in less time. Of course, the cost depends on your needs as a business, but as a small company, outsourcing is typically the cheaper option.
4. Avoid Service Gaps
When you work with a bookkeeping firm, you can avoid gaps in your service. If you hire a bookkeeper in-house and they quit, you’ll have to spend time hiring and training a new employee. If your bookkeeper takes time off, either you or an employee that might not have as much experience in bookkeeping will need to cover that time period. At a bookkeeping firm, there is a team of experienced bookkeepers who can easily handle your books in case your primary bookkeeper is absent.
5. Fraud and Error Reduction
To prevent the chance of fraud, it’s important to separate financial duties between two or more people. You never want to give an employee complete access to all your financials. This is why outsourcing can be a great way to ensure honesty and accuracy in your business because you have an extra barrier to catch any fraud or errors. You can also leverage outsourcing to prevent an employee from having access to everyone else’s personal information, such as pay rates, social security numbers, or other sensitive information. For more information on fraud prevention, check out our blog post on 9 Ways to Protect Your Business from Fraud.
Is Outsourcing the Best Option for You?
As you can see, outsourcing a bookkeeper has many benefits. If you think that this is the best option for you and your business, we’ve got a solution for you! Summit Bookkeeping is staffed with a team of experienced bookkeepers and we’d be happy to discuss how we can help you. If you’re interested in learning more, please feel free to give us a call at (360) 756-5020 or contact us here.