For everything from small businesses to large corporations, outsourcing bookkeeping can make sense for a variety of reasons. Bookkeeping is a fairly complicated task that isn't always best suited to internal departments. Not only does an outsourced company provide vitally needed third-party review, but they also have the resources required to complete accounting tasks with minimal overhead. 

The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping

• Getting expert help. An outsourced bookkeeping firm often gives you access to a CPA and certified bookkeepers -- something that would be prohibitively costly to maintain internally. These expert professionals will be able to complete everything from your monthly bookkeeping to your tax services.
• Reducing your overhead. It costs more to keep a bookkeeper on staff than it does to outsource your bookkeeping. A bookkeeper will need to be paid a salary and benefits, even if they don't have enough work to keep them busy constantly. A third-party service will only pay based on their hourly rates.
• Improving accuracy. Outsourced tax preparation experts and bookkeepers will be able to devote 100% of their time to improving the accuracy of your books. Maintaining your books on an as needed basis, on the other hand, could potentially lead to transactions being missed and inconsistent reports.

Finding the Right Third-Party Bookkeeping Service

There are many bookkeeping services available. You may want to look for bookkeeping services near you specifically, if you're interested in interfacing with your accountants directly. On the other hand, there are also national and global services available at very competitive rates -- the only challenge is that they may not know enough about your local and state taxes and regulations.

Every bookkeeping service should have a solid reputation, guided by testimonials and user reviews. If a bookkeeping service has negative reviews, they should be able to explain the circumstances around these negative reviews in addition to how they were resolved. 

Third-party bookkeeping services will additionally need the right technology. Ideally, they will be able to interface directly with your accounting system or be able to create an accounting infrastructure for your business. They will be able to provide reports in a timely fashion and they will be able to complete payments and payroll dispensations as needed. 

Reasons Not to Outsource Bookkeeping

Outsourcing isn't always the ideal situation. Rarely, it can be beneficial to continue the use of an internal accounting department. If a business is able to support the costs of a completely internal accounting team, it may be feasible to do so. Businesses that deal directly in the financial industry may also need to retain stricter controls regarding how they manage their financial information. 

On the other end of the spectrum, a company that has very little financial information to manage -- such as a self-employed individual -- may not yet need to outsource their bookkeeping services. However, they may need to consider it as they grow.

Whether or not outsourcing your bookkeeping makes sense to you depends on many factors. If your company is currently spending too much time and money trying to ensure the accuracy of its books, a third-party service makes sense. If your books are currently unreliable or outdated, a third-party service may be the easiest way to catch up. If you're interested in finding out more about outsourced accounting services, contact the DoTax team today.