A business tip often overlooked by overworked, distracted franchisees is outsourcing their non-core operations, because often the thought of the process of outsourcing this alone seems like too much for a franchisee with a lot on their plate.
However, lots of money is left on the table every year by franchisees who don’t manage their money as well as they could. The trick is to find the person you trust to manage your money enough to outsource your accounting to and leverage all of the benefits that come with outsourcing your accounting tasks to a professional.
Here are some of the major benefits to outsourcing your accounting that you will be able to take advantage of if you find the right person or company.
Leverage Professional Help
Hiring an outsourced accounting company means you can rest easy knowing that the person doing your bookkeeping and accounting is a professional who looks at books and financial statements all day. Getting someone who specializes in franchise accounting is particularly useful since that person would have fewer questions and errors in coding transactions and categorizing your expenses since they are intimately familiar with franchise businesses.
If you don’t have your accounting system figured out yet, having a professional help you set it up correctly the first time is also incredibly valuable for having an efficient and useful accounting system right off the bat. Going back and correcting your system later is hugely painful and not advised.
Don’t Get Caught Off Guard
An accountant will know all of the regulatory requirements your business is held to so that you don’t have to juggle running a business, doing administrative work, managing your employees, and staying up to date on the latest tax code or legislation at all times. An experienced franchise accountant will help you avoid any legal pitfalls and be sure that your business is safely compliant.
Lower Your Expenses
One objection to outsourcing that many franchisees raise is the cost of hiring a full-time accountant to handle their bookkeeping and accounting. However, there are many options to lower the cost of having professional help with your accounting. Many outsourced solutions don’t require having a full-time accountant, just a monthly fee to the company, and they will take everything off your plate without the burden of paying someone a salary or retainer.
Since many of these firms specialize in your franchise brand, they won’t take as much time to learn your business, and therefore they can keep their cost to you low and keep your financials clean and compliant at the same time.
Trust the Accuracy
Your accountant’s main focus is to provide you with accurate financial statements and projections, meaning that you can rely on these for accurate numbers to base your business decisions off of.
Some firms will guarantee a certain level of accuracy that they are liable for, which is great for peace of mind on your end. It’s not easy to give up control over your financial work -- and in the end, you really are not -- but it’s much easier when you are confident that your books are being handled with complete accuracy and precision.
If You Don’t Need a Full-Time Accountant, Outsourcing is a Great Solution
For lots of businesses, a full-time accountant is not necessary for running a successful and legally compliant business. Lots of small businesses might only need someone who is available to answer questions 40 hours a week, but who works on their accounting only 10 hours a month or less, depending on how speedy they are.
For small businesses like this, outsourcing is a great solution for this problem - a small fee gets you all of the communication and responsiveness you need, with an accountant who works on your books for the appropriate amount of time you need each month.
Get the Cutting Edge and Latest News
Accountants at outsourced firms make it their business to stay on top of the latest regulatory, tax, and accounting news. They also try to stay on top of the latest technologies and tools that can help them become more efficient and offer you a competitive price, which is not always true of a staff accountant.
Have Trust in a Brand
One more huge benefit to hiring an outsourced accounting firm is the trust in the brand and the company that you are bringing on to be a small part of your business. They have vetted their accountants and done the hiring process for you, and so have lots of other clients’ of the firm.
It might seem scary to give up control over a piece of your business, but you still make all of the decisions - someone else is just doing the legwork. Using an outsourced accounting firm is a great solution to lots of the problems that come with trying to figure out small business accounting - check out our outsourced solution today and get back to your business.
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