What is Outsourced Accounting and How Could It Help You? Bench Accounting

The typical cost for outsourcing bookkeeping, accounting, and similar services ranges from $500 to $5,000 per month. There is a massive price difference based on complexity, transaction volume, and many other factors. You can hire local bookkeepers or a bookkeeping team located near your company. The main benefits of such an approach include meeting with the bookkeeper face to face, using physical records, and relying less on online payment and banking systems. Many business owners hire full-time in-house bookkeepers, but this isn’t the most cost-effective solution. You won’t have to spend time and money finding and hiring the right employees – just hire an outsourced team and get started immediately.

Get Inside Outsourcing

Outsourced CFO services are much more advisory in nature than outsourced bookkeeping or controller services. Additionally, when you outsource bookkeeping, you lose the ability to walk over to your bookkeeper’s desk and ask them a quick question. However, provided your outsourced bookkeeping partner embraces cloud-based accounting software, you’ll have access to your books 24/7.

But for many businesses, the process of arriving at that point of financial clarity is lined with challenges. The size of one’s business and volume of work required will determine the size and structure of an outsourced accounting team. Not every business requires the same level of support when it comes to outsourced accounting. As your company faces a high level of regulation, you can sit back and let your outsourced accounting professionals adhere to compliance requirements with the various regulatory bodies. Small businesses and entrepreneurs can hire remote accountants to help them operate whenever they are. It can also address the shortage of accounting skills in the in-house team.

Reduced Overhead Costs

These tasks are more strategic in nature than the work typically performed by bookkeepers. These are all expenses that go into hiring an employee, and if you want to run workers compensation coverage through a peo accounting entirely in-house, it’s likely you’ll need more than one team member. If you haven’t worked with an outsourcing provider before, you might have some doubts about how well this relationship will work for your business.

1. If you use accrual-basis accounting, you’ll need the Growth plan, which starts at $990 a month.
2. Ultimately, all this may veer you away from your core function and lead to increased operational costs.
3. Unlike most other outsourced bookkeepers on our list, Merritt Bookkeeping doesn’t offer any in-house add-ons for payroll and tax services.
4. Thanks to the availability of full-integrated accounting platforms, accountants can help update your books every time a transaction occurs.

How AI is impacting the accounting and finance sector

Working with an outsourced CFO offers business leaders the opportunity to access this financial expertise at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time CFO to work for their business. Controllers are more advanced finance professionals that are usually responsible for managing the day-to-day financial operations of a business. They have a wide range of responsibilities, from managing bookkeeping staff to working on more strategic initiatives. It’s true that many large companies outsource portions of their operations, although accounting is typically one of the areas that tends to be handled by internal teams. But the fact that public companies are embracing outsourcing shouldn’t dissuade you from exploring outsourcing elements of your own business. You may think that outsourcing is only a practice for large, well-established businesses that offshore basic operations.

But in reality, many businesses across the country, big and small, are embracing outsourced accounting. Prices start at $500 a month for the Essential plan, which is geared towards startups that use cash-basis accounting. If you use accrual-basis accounting, you’ll need the Growth plan, which starts at $990 a month. And the Executive plan, which is built for larger companies that need CFO services, has custom pricing.

Today, many outsourced accounting providers are purpose-built for the needs of private businesses, from closely-held family businesses to well-established mid-market firms. The accounting needs of these types of businesses are different from those of larger firms, and the services available to clients reflect that. If you need help with CFO-level strategic initiatives but have the resources to handle bookkeeping in-house, a good provider will have no hesitation in working with you. All great outsourced accounting providers offer a suite of services that are customizable to the needs of your business. If you’re curious about what that process looks like, you’ve come to the right place.