If you’re a business owner, you’ll know just how important it is to keep on top of bookkeeping. Without conscientious attention to collating receipts, timely invoicing and tax demands, a cashflow problem which could have been easily sorted can spiral rapidly out of control.
However, there are orders to despatch, a marketing strategy to plan, customers to visit, and you keep meaning to expand your social media presence, but that job keeps drifting to the bottom of the to-do list. It’s the usual dilemma; there aren’t enough hours in the day. In addition, even the most successful business owners find that however much they try to get to grips with it, they can struggle with the complexities of keeping the books in order.
So, should you manage your bookkeeping in-house, or would it be sensible to outsource it? In this blog we examine the advantages of each approach.
In-house bookkeeping
The decision to undertake your own business bookkeeping shouldn’t be taken lightly. However, if you’re organised and meticulous and are prepared to put in the time and effort, it does have advantages:
- If you have an aptitude for bookkeeping, you will gain a thorough understanding of your business finances, an extremely useful accomplishment which will help you plan your future business growth.
- You can choose your own method of bookkeeping and install whichever accounting software you find most intuitive and which suits your business best.
- You will save money on outsourcing costs.
- You have instant answers to any queries – it’s right there in front of you!
Outsourcing your bookkeeping
Using an external bookkeeping service can be surprisingly cost-effective when you think how much time you spend trying to balance the books – time which would be better spent servicing customers. Other benefits include:
- A raft of expertise at your fingertips – even if you can manage cash flow, how much do you know about workplace pension contributions?
- Rigorous quality checks in place to guarantee accuracy.
- Scrupulous data security.
- Up-to-date knowledge of frequently changing tax regulations, ensuring avoidance of penalties for non-compliance.
- Advanced accounting systems and tools.
- The ability to pick and choose which services are right for your business, whether that’s maintaining and balancing the books, undertaking the payroll function or preparing balance sheets, income and cash flow statements.
- A genuine understanding of the issues facing business owners, and an abundance of ideas and solutions to help sort them out.
At AMR Bookkeeping Solutions, we have a wealth of experience in helping business owners keep their finances on track. Sometimes clients tell us making a decision to outsource their bookkeeping took them a while, but it was a huge weight off their minds to know their finances were running like clockwork in the background. We like to see ourselves as an extension to your business, enabling you to get on with what you do best – growing it! Call our friendly team on 01892 559480 or get in touch through our website.
