Dan Radak, World Executives Digest | Unless you are running a one-person start-up, sooner or later you will have to start hiring and when this happens, you will have to make a choice. Your core-tasks must be done in-house but what about the other vital departments in your company. We are talking about things like HR, IT and most importantly bookkeeping. Here, you either create a new department to deal with them, DIY them or outsource them. Even though each of the options in front of you has their advantages and disadvantages, most people usually opt for outsourcing to a professional bookkeeper. With this in mind and without further ado, here are five benefits that you can get from hiring or outsourcing to a professional bookkeeper for your SMB.
You save both time and effort
One problem that most start-up owners face sooner rather than later is getting completely exhausted by trying to micro-manage absolutely everything. Seeing as how it all rests on their back, getting burned out can put your business at a significant risk or even be the main reason for its downfall. So, by outsourcing this particular task you get your hands free to attend to other areas of work where you are more needed.
Easier scalability
Another benefit in outsourcing this to a professional bookkeeper lies in easier scalability. Think about it, unless you plan to stay a local SMB forever, at one point during your expansion you will have to pass on this major responsibility to someone else. Sure, at this point you will have more money to allocate to this service or even hire an in-house bookkeeper. On the other hand, doing this sooner means that your business will have a much smoother transition from a local enterprise to a regional powerhouse.
Expertise
The next thing you should keep in mind is the fact that a professional bookkeeper knows this business inside and out, which poses a huge advantage over a layman such as yourself. Same goes for the experience gained through practice. You may have decades of experience in doing your own taxes but these two things are hardly comparable. On the other hand, bookkeeping isn’t exactly rocket science, so if you aim to do it on your own, at least look for an adequate bookkeeping course to set you on the right path.
High-end bookkeeping systems
In the 21st century, not even bookkeeping is done manually and having the right tool for the job can both save time and reduce the potential error margin. Aside from these two advantages, having a proper system can also help you keep all the records organized and in one place. Should you ever need any information for the IRS, you will be able to get in on a second’s notice, which can be quite reassuring for an SMB. Unfortunately, such systems are quite expensive, which means that the only two types of companies who can fit them in their budget are the professional bookkeeping companies and major corporations.
A simple business model
Finally, outsourcing gives you an overall simpler business model, seeing as how you will only have to micro-manage one or two departments instead of several. At the end of the day, you may even find the way to give these two above-mentioned departments more autonomy and therefore get your hands free to focus entirely on the administrative tasks and networking.
Conclusion
From all of this, it becomes more than clear that hiring a professional bookkeeper is always a better option, as long as you can afford it. Still, if this is not the case, there are always a few tricks you can use to get the best out of what you’ve got. With the right (affordable) tool and a proper course to back you up, you should be more than competent to handle your SMBs finances and leave enlisting a professional bookkeeper for another time.
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Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is a coauthor on several websites and regular contributor to BizzMark Blog. Currently, he is working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.
