For the last few years, the murmurs have been growing. The newest trend in accounting isn’t compliance related; rather, it is an accounting service that provides sleep at night, often quite literally. Outsourced accounting services (OAS), sometimes known as client accounting services (CAS or CAAS), is one of the fastest growing practice areas in public accounting firms.
Here are six reasons business owners are choosing to move their back-office accounting functions to OAS practices.
- Broader Expertise – Compare the knowledge of a single bookkeeper or controller to the knowledge base of an entire public accounting firm. Your OAS team is made up of talent who have a broad range of experience and resources at all different levels. Not only that, but they have the support of the entire firm. When technical questions come up, there are team members at the firm with that subject matter expertise.
- Reduced Risk of Turnover – Let’s be frank. It is difficult to attract and retain talent right now. In addition, most small to mid-sized companies have an accounting department made up of just a few people. If one of those employees decides to leave, you are left with a big hole to fill, not only for tasks that need to be completed but also the knowledge lost in the transition. By outsourcing these services, you don’t have to worry about turnover headaches. Outsourcing will allow you to have multiple team members assigned to you, and in many cases these team members have been cross-trained to ensure that if someone is unavailable, another team member can step in.
- Cloud Based Accounting – If the past two and a half years have taught us anything, it’s the importance of being able to work from anywhere at a moment’s notice. Moving your systems onto the cloud ensures that work doesn’t stop just because someone is out of the office. This also allows for real-time collaboration with your OAS team and full access to your books whenever is convenient for you.
- Timely Financial Reports – The value of timely financial reports cannot be overstated. Whether it’s a banker, an investor, or a prospective buyer, the perceived value of your business is impacted by the state of your financial reports. Quick and tidy reports show a third party that you run an organized business.
- Customized Services – No one wants to pay for things they don’t need. The processes and systems that are implemented were chosen because of their scalability. They were also chosen because of their ability to integrate with other programs for added features specific to your business. OAS is a model that can grow with your business. Alternatively, the model also works well for businesses that are winding down.
- Optimized Tax Planning – When an OAS provider sits in the same office as the tax preparer, the opportunities for collaboration mean better outcomes for you and your business. Your tax team has reports they can rely on and someone they can come to with questions.
Business owners are losing sleep at night because they don’t have clarity about the state of their business or because they’re going through the mess of invoices and paperwork that they didn’t get to during the day. Oftentimes, it’s both! However, a wave of business owners has decided that enough is enough and have made the move to OAS. Whether it’s a pre-revenue start-up or a multimillion-dollar mature business, there are options available that will be highly beneficial to you and your business.
If you have any questions about outsourced accounting services or would like to discuss the potential benefits for your business, please reach out to Lisa Cattie, Manager, at Email or contact any member of our Outsourced Accounting Services Group.
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