Your accounts are the life blood of your business.
Money goes in and comes out of your business bank account; tax has to be paid as do your invoices.
The simple truth is that you need to get your accounts in order to keep the business running.
However, accountancy can take up a huge amount of time for any business.
And so when a business grows to a certain size, they have a consideration to make.
Do you hire an internal accountant, one that works in-house?
Or do you outsource your accounting to an external accountancy specialist?
In this article, we will explain the core benefits of outsourcing your accounts and why it is the smart business choice.
Ready?
Let’s do this.
1. Internal Staff Have Hidden Costs
The first thing to understand is that hiring any member of staff requires time and money.
Some things that people do not consider are as follows:
Employer National Insurance Contributions
Pension contributions
Employers Liability Insurance
Holiday pay
Sick pay
Maternity pay/ paternity pay
And then, of course, we have the human resources time and also the cost.
Those hours spent doing staff appraisals, performance meetings and of course dealing with employee personal issues in the workplace all add up.
And as time is money, this is going to cost you both.
When you outsource your accounts, you do not suffer from any of these issues.
You pay for the work and get the results, plain and simple.
2. You Hire A Team Of Experts
We all know that two minds are better than one.
Well, what about 3, 4 or more.
Because this is exactly what happens when you outsource your accounting.
You go from having one experienced person working on your accounts to an entire team, full of experience from working with other businesses.
Just consider how powerful this is.
An accountancy firm will have seen a wide variety of business issues and be able to help you to understand and overcome key financial problems you might face.
3. Improve Cashflow
Money, money, money.
Without it, your business cannot survive.
But sadly we know that not everyone pays on time, not every client or customer will play by the rules and when the staff are expecting their wages on payday you need to have the money there and then.
This is where your outsourced team of accounting Ninja’s come in.
Calling on a wide array of financial wizardry, we will be able to look into the future of your business and forecast accurately when the bad times might be coming.
This will help you to improve your cash flow and above all else keep your business alive.
4. It Frees Up Your Time To Do What You Are Great At
Time is a commodity and you need to be careful how you spend it.
If you have an internal accountant, you will be using up your time in the management of that staff member.
And while this might cost you money if you manage them directly, it will undoubtedly cost you more in the time you spend away from doing your key tasks.
This is called ‘opportunity cost’.
So if you go in for that management meeting or performance review with your internal staff member, you aren’t growing your business, speaking to potential clients or looking after your current clients.
You only have a certain amount of time, and you need to maximise it.
Outsourcing your accounts will help you to achieve this.
5. Internal Security
A staggering 75% of employees steal from their employers.
In 2017 there were over 10,000 recorded employee theft incidents in the UK alone.
Your accountant has a lot of power over your business, and this was evident in 2017 when an internal accountant stole over £200,000 from her employer.
When you outsource your accounts to a team such as MI Accountancy we are ‘away’ from your business with a focus on the finances.
We can alert you to any strange financial issues that we see, spotting risks and as a third party, we will advise you as to the possible causes and next steps.
It is your business, and you need to protect the revenue.
6. Reduced Technology And Office Costs
A brand new Apple iMac will cost you around £2300, a new desk a few hundred and a new office chair can add up from a few hundred upwards.
Before you even invite your new accountant into the office, you need to spend around £3000 on office equipment.
And what if the machine goes down, that is a day of unproductive work.
You get the idea.
7. Your Business Stays Legal (And Compliant)
It is a fact that every company director has a judicial responsibility to file an annual set of accounts.
This is the law, and there are quite hefty penalties for not doing so (ones designed to hurt your bank balance)
You also have to file your tax computations with HMRC on time and again if you don’t you can expect to be in trouble.
An outsourced accountancy service (like us) can do that, as well as everything else.
We are truly the ‘one-stop-shop’ – an internal accountant can’t always boast that!
Conclusion
There you have it, our seven surprising reasons you need to outsource your accounts.
There are loads of roles that you will not be able to outsource in your business.
Things that make your business specialised. Accounting isn’t one of them.
By outsourcing your accounts you will benefit in many ways, but above all else, it makes sound financial sense.
MI Accountancy is based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire providing a tailored accountancy solution for businesses across the UK.
To learn more about our range of services and see how we can help you, please get in touch.