What’s the difference between hiring an Accountant and outsourcing my accounting?

When it comes to all the financial stuff it takes to run a business, you have three main ways to get it done:
 
  1. Do it yourself or give the responsibility to a current employee
  2. Hire a dedicated accountant or bookkeeper in-house
  3. Outsource your accounting function to a team of experts
It can be hard to decide what’s best for you as you go through the phases of business. When you’re starting out and bootstrapping it, it feels natural to do everything yourself, because you don’t have the income to hire or outsource the parts of the business you’re not into. 
 
But as you grow, whether fast or slow, there’ll come a point where enough is enough on the DIY. And unless you have a particular penchant for bookkeeping and cashflow forecasts, your finance function is inevitably going to be on your list of things to drop. 
 
You’re right about dropping it. Lots of people will tell you “you didn’t go into business to do Accounting” and that’s true (unless you’re us). We’ve probably said it in our own blogs. But we’re telling you what you already know. What you may not know is the best way to get yourself out of the DIY trap. What is the most productive, cost effective and long-term sustainable solution?
 
We believe it’s outsourcing. And we’re going to cut through the bull and tell you why. 
 
First, let’s clear up a few points of confusion.

Outsourcing doesn’t mean offshoring

When we talk about outsourcing your finance function we don’t mean sending all your accounting responsibilities to another country. We call that offshoring, and though offshoring is an option on the table for some business processes, there’s a distinction. Outsourcing means you’re contracting work out to a third party company.

Outsourcing doesn’t mean “less personal”

It may be more tempting to think you’d have more of a relationship with an in-house employee, but when you outsource your accounting to Golding, we become like an extension of your team. Whether you just need support with the bookkeeping for now, or you’d like us to take all the financial stuff off your hands, we’ll be your dedicated partners.

Four reasons why outsourcing may be more beneficial than hiring

We see four major reasons why outsourcing is the most beneficial option for growing your business, and meeting your obligations.

Outsourcing will:

1. Save your dreams

You started out with a purpose, a vision, a goal. We’re interested in asking what do you actually want? So we can help you achieve it. When you’re wearing all the hats (running operations, doing the finances, serving customers and clients) you can lose track of why you started a business in the first place. 
 
When you’re dependent on hiring in-house employees, scaling up can be a slower, more difficult process. If you’re a fast growing business, and you don’t have the workforce to keep up, you could find yourself seriously stretched as you take the time finding the right team. When you outsource your finance function, you can get a dedicated team up and running fast, without having to train them or handle everything involved in setting up an employee in the business. 

2. Save your sanity

If you didn’t go into business to be a bookkeeper, accountant, financial adviser – it’s likely you don’t enjoy the tasks you’re obligated to carry out. Some business owners are content doing the books themselves at the start, and that’s fine! We have clients who handle the books, but need the reassurance of a review from us, to feel secure they’re doing things right. You don’t want to be worried about penalties and inaccuracies. You want numbers you can rely on. Numbers you can make strategic decisions with.

3. Save your time

Your time is your most valuable asset. How are you spending it right now? To extract as much value as possible out of your every day, you want to spend on business strategy and team, and delegate the rest. Though some input will be required from you when you outsource, you become more of an overseer than the person doing the financial stuff. When you outsource to us, you all gain the benefit of using the best technology to get the accounts done. Data entry becomes so simple because of the tech we use.

4. Save your money

Though hiring in-house may seem like the standard way of growing a team, there are costs involved with employment. For the cost you’ll be paying for one employee’s salary (plus benefits) you can get support in all areas of the finances from an accounting team. You won’t need to think about training them up, or how you’re going to develop them in their career. All the expertise is there, ready for you to utilise.

You may wish to outsource everything now and bring some tasks in-house in the future

As you grow, you may find there are some tasks you want to keep in-house. You might want to stay on top of your invoicing to keep your connection with the clients. You might grow the point where you take bookkeeping back in-house, but still require a strategic call to talk cashflow and analyse financial reports. 
 
All of that is okay – and we can support you with hiring the right kind of person for the job too. But for now, get the expert support you need so you’re not hiring out of a desperate need to save yourself time. Your business (and your family, friends, dog, cat, hamster) will thank you.

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Or, email us at info@wearegolding.com
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