Bookkeeping, Bookkeeping Services, Outsourcing, Small Business
Outsourcing your bookkeeping services has never been so accessible and compelling than it is today. The introduction to new technology, cloud computing has changed the way we do business today. The common reason small businesses neglect their financial accounts is time and cost. They have neither time nor knowledge to carry out necessary bookkeeping tasks themselves. Yet they are reluctant to either outsource bookkeeping services or burden their business with in-house bookkeepers.
Bookkeeping is essential for all sizes of business but it’s also time-consuming. Delegating tasks to a qualified bookkeeper helps focus on the core mission of your business. Outsourcing bookkeeping services can help you save time, money alleviates the hassle of managing books.
The undervalued benefits of outsourcing your bookkeeping are:
-
The value of service-based bookkeeping:
Using an outsourced bookkeeping service doesn’t mean buying software and working the system yourself. The human factor and customer service provided is what creates a dynamic working relationship between your business and your bookkeeper. Bridging the gap between people and software is a great business model and something you should consider when selecting an outsourced service.
-
Saving time and money is just the beginning:
Outsourcing services helps you to offload your financial accounts burden to a professional bookkeeping company that can save you both time and money. You will generally pay less to an outsourcing firm than you would to your in-house bookkeeper or part time employee on the company payroll. This will lower your administrative work and you can focus more on growing and sustaining your business. You will also save on lost productivity cost that comes along with hiring employees onto the payroll. When you outsource you only pay for what you need- nothing more, nothing less.
When you outsource bookkeeping services, you are at an advantage of expertise and better knowledge at your disposal. They are experts who stay updated on all the pertinent financial details so you don’t have to worry about anything. You will learn more about your business and have access to expertise advice. They are proactive and may offer you advice that can affect your overall business operations thus saving you time and money both. It will give you peace of mind that’s often associated with business obligations as government remittances, annual tax returns, ever-looming possibility of an audit.
When you outsource bookkeeping services, you get benefit from the combined diligence and experience of a team of professionals. Some things that may be neglected or go unnoticed by your in-house professionals are far more likely to be spotted and dealt by the group effort that is consistently applied by outsourcing firms.
Your business might not be able to afford the latest accounting tools and softwares, but your professional outsourced bookkeeping firm can. Regardless of the cost, professional firms tend to invest in the latest technology to provide the best possible services to their clients. When you outsource bookkeeping services you tend to reap all the benefits provided by top level accounting systems without having you invest and maintain them yourself. This top level system creates nightly backups and keeps records organized for years, ensuring that if the IRS does come knocking for an audit, you’ll be more prepared than ever.
Wearing and assigning multiple hats in small business can be a hard reality to grow business successfully. Trying to perform bookkeeping services amidst other responsibilities may result in incorrect data entry, reporting or any other missed data altogether. But with outsourcing bookkeeping services, the keeper is focused exclusively on financial accounts, ensuring timely and accurate results.
Full scalability is the biggest advantage when outsourcing your bookkeeping services meaning the flexibility it provides in scaling your business. When you make wise decisions to outsource, it means you can expand and cut back on growth and expenses when and where you see it. Outsourced firms help you to make the best decision for your small business by providing real-time access to facts and figures at any time possible. Saving time = gaining new clients and growing your firm.
When outsourcing bookkeeping there is no threat regarding employee access to critical data and the information can be stored electronically. You should also ask your prospective virtual bookkeeper if they log into secured servers and if there is proper monitoring of the dissemination of data. You can ask outsourced firms about security features to protect against third parties and to limit access to your self or key members of your business.
Companies that use virtual bookkeepers are more successful in growing their business, generating higher margins and increasing revenue. Outsourcing dramatically increases the scalability of options of our business. Whether your business is in growth mode or cost reduction state, the outsourced team can provide you with different plans and best options to achieve your goals.
-
Audit and tax preparation:
Compliance and audit preparedness will give you peace of mind that will help you sleep better at night. Bookkeeping firms are always working on your books so that you are prepared fully for the tax cycle or ready for any kind of audit that may come your way. In terms of accounting, this means that someone is making sure a company’s financial matters are handled following federal laws, state laws or local tax laws and regulations.
The bottom line:
Outsourcing bookkeeping services allows you to leverage modern technology and increase scalability of your business. It is a sure way to increase firms profitability and sleep better at night. We provide Bookkeeping Services for Small Business and would be happy to provide you too. Get our team of experts to do your bookkeeping and spend all your extra time more productively.
Bookkeeping, Bookkeeping Services
For Small businesses, capital management is imperative. From shaping an idea into a business model to investing in its growth, every step of the business requires capital. And to keep track of a company’s financial transactions and recording it in the company’s general ledger accounts, businesses need professional bookkeepers.
While many small businesses prefer to do their books by their own, seeking professional help is always a wise option. So what exactly does a bookkeeper do?
Here’s what you need to know about the importance of hiring a professional bookkeeper:
Bookkeeper for a Small Business
A Bookkeeper might have different tasks at his/her hand depending on the size of the business. However, the core responsibility of a bookkeeper includes recording and organizing the company’s financial transactions (income and expenses).
Bookkeeping Services for Small Business
Why should Small Business owners hire a Bookkeeper?
Small Business owners often overlook the importance of seeking professional help when it comes to bookkeeping and prefer doing it themselves. However, it can prove to be a costly mistake at times as well as consumes enough time rather than allowing business owners to focus on core business responsibilities.
Responsibilities of a Bookkeepers at Small Business Firms:
Bookkeepers generally take care of the following for SMEs:
-
Record financial transactions
Keeping a record of a company’s financial transactions including income and expenses is the core responsibility of a bookkeeper. A bookkeeper records and updates the financial data in the company’s general ledger.
Looking for Virtual Accountant?
Reconciling financial accounts is another primary task of a bookkeeper which makes sure that the transaction details of your business on your bank account statements are accurate and matches with that on the accounting software. Regularly reconciling your financial statements is very important since it makes sure that there are no data discrepancies or other irregularities.
-
Billing and following up on Accounts Receivable Accounts Payable
Accounts receivable and Accounts Payable are very crucial to businesses as it defines the financial position at a given point of time. Bookkeepers usually take up this work of recording both AP and AR as they are important financial data and help in determining the debt vs credit owed by a business.
-
Work closely with the tax preparer
When the tax season arrives, it can get pretty hectic for the tax preparer to get the company books organized within a short span of time. However, bookkeepers keep the books well-organized all throughout the year, they serve as a mediator between your business and certified accountant.
At times, Bookkeepers can also take over payroll responsibilities for your small business or they can assist you in payroll data entry on Accounting software since payroll is a part of business expenses and needs to be tracked and recorded while maintaining company’s books.
Summing Up:
Bookkeeping is all about maintaining your books on a regular basis and keep them well-organized for you may need them during the tax season as well as to understand your financial position which will help you in making crucial business decisions.
While it may seem to be an easy job, it requires both precision and expertise and top of that a professional bookkeeper can save your valuable time by overtaking those duties from you and you can take care of other important business aspects.
Accountants, Accounting, Accounting Services, Bookkeeping, Bookkeeping Services, Real Estate Accounting, Small Business
The ‘Bottom Line’, ‘Numbers’, ‘Sales’ are some entities that are self-explanatory in any business. Especially when it comes to real estate, the number of properties sold successfully and an impressive sales record are enough to reflect the business. But, all of this is true if their is uncompromising accuracy, vigilance and standardisation in the numbers presented and their credibility. Which is where experienced accounting comes in the picture. Showing a promising real estate practice on the basis of inaccurate books can be a bane for your business and can tarnish your image in the industry as well as with your clients.
In this blog, we will talk about the common real estate accounting mistakes that your business needs to avoid in order to get through the tax season seamlessly. If you are cautious to dodge these commonly encountered errors, then not only will your books be accurate, they will also be dependable and actionable.
Mistake No 1: Realigning Funds Before the Transaction is Complete
This is a very common business error, if we may say with property and real estate accounting. The entrepreneurs are seen to be disbursing the funds before the deal is closed. This not only is a malpractice, but at the time of doing the books, is an additional wastage of time for your bookkeeper, as they need to go back and check the completion and the authentication of each transaction that you have made. In accounting terms, a transaction is considered revenue and can thus be acted upon only when the chain is complete, in real estate terms, it is when the keys are finally exchanged.
It is important for real estate entrepreneurs to keep this in mind at all times while confirming a transaction to be a revenue or before its disbursement. So that, your Accounts Payable are accurately aligned with your Accounts Receivable.
Other Blog – IRS Tax Relaxation Deadlines for Covid-19 (With State Regulations)
Mistake No. 2: Tracking Commissions Additionally From an Accounting Software
When your brokerage is tracking commission additionally and alternatively from the main accounting software that you are using, then you are backing up on age-old data entry to pay those commissions. Honestly speaking, this redundant data entry puts you at a greater risk, with your books being rampaged with human error and threats.
Ideally, using accounting software or any accounting technology is a matter to make things simpler and more convenient. Therefore, you need to have a commission management system in place that can seamlessly integrate with your accounting system and help make things more convenient for you.
Mistake No. 3: Insufficient Training of the Accounting Software
If you have an in-house or a local accountant, who you are presuming will be on track with the technological developments and has a proficiency in the accounting software of your choice, then you might be going far-fetched. The idea is that you need to have someone who is an expert and a thorough professional when it comes with dealing with your accounting tools so that bookkeeping is an easier and more convenient feat. If you take it into consideration, having someone who is not-well versed and trained in these tools, will not be able to optimize the efficiency of the same and might make errors. Therefore, it is essential to have someone who is trained and has a smooth knowledge of state-of-the-art accounting tools and technology, especially the ones preferred for use by your business.
Mistake No. 4: Not Taking Backups
This is a mistake that cannot be stressed-on enough. If you are an entrepreneur, then you need to know gone are the days, when people had stacks of paperwork in physical form, that they could go back to and tally whenever needed. This was not only time consuming, but took a lot of space and was adept with errors on all levels. With the coming in of the right accounting technology, you need to save time, effort and error. Taking backups of your data is ever-important so that you have securely kept all your essential financials readily available whenever needed. Real estate businesses are generally seen to lack in this imperative feat.
Real Estate is an exhaustive and a challenging field. You need to constantly be at your alert-best and on your toes. But the accounting part of it, need not be that dreadful if done the right way. Being on the right road of accuracy, having a dependable team that backs your efforts and avoiding these common accounting mistakes can help you keep up with your books and also get through the year-end stress-free. We hope this blog will help you highlight some common errors, and avoid them in your future accounting journey.
Accountants, Accounting, Accounting Services, Bookkeeping, Bookkeeping Services
The financial tasks of a business are handled both by bookkeepers and accountants, yet, when we are required to outline the differences between the two, it generally is a hard one. The fact is, that their goals and ambitions for the business are the same, but the way they achieve them are different. In a simple sense, bookkeeping is primarily concerned with transactions while accounting deals with the insights that are drawn on the basis of the information obtained through bookkeeping.
If you are a small business owner and are wondering, “how exactly are the two different?” and what is the right choice for your business, then you have come to the right place! In this blog we will outline all the differences between an accountant and a bookkeeper and how each benefits and adds to your business.
What is Bookkeeping?
Bookkeeping as a Financial task in a business, records the daily transactions that occur in a business in a standardised and regularised manner. It forms the base for any other financial function of an organization. Their tasks include:
- Recording Financial Transactions
- Assessing the Debits and Credits of a business
- Generating invoices and handling a business’ receivable funds
- Maintaining the General Ledger
- Organizing and administering payroll
Out of all the tasks mentioned above, maintaining the general ledger is of the prime importance. This is where all the transactions are recorded. How dynamic and complex an organization’s bookkeeping is, is primarily dependent on the size and stage of operations that business has.
What is Accounting?
This is the advanced financial task that works on the information and insights provided by a bookkeeper. This information is then used to draw future budgets and forecasts and other such financial models. Some of the tasks that are primarily typical to accounting include:
- Reconciling and entries that are mistakenly omitted.
- Financial Preparation statements, records and reports.
- Analyzing operational costs
- Completing, preparing and filing tax returns
- Draw the financial blueprint of a business.
It is an accountant that draws the key financial indicators of a business and determines an analysis of the cash flow.
Therefore, it is an accountant that takes the information in the General Ledger provided by the bookkeeper and takes it forward to the larger insights drawn through those recordings. Where bookkeeping ends, accounting begins.
Accountant vs Bookkeeper
The work of an accountant and a bookkeeper are often seen to be overlapping. In fact, some can say that bookkeeping is a sub-task of accounting only. The only difference is that bookkeeping is a financial operation that needs to be undertaken on a daily basis and is regularized. Therefore, it is imperative to do it in its regularized manner. Only, when this is done accurately, can an accountant work on the information provided by the bookkeeper.
|
Bookkeeper
|
Accountant
|
|
Records the financial transactions that occur in the business.
|
Work on the financial transactions recorded to provide broader insights.
|
|
Recording the debits and credits of a business.
|
Curates the financial statements, records and reports.
|
|
Generates invoices, sends them ahead and tracks payments.
|
Prepares taxes and files them.
|
|
Maintains the general ledger.
|
Uses the general ledger to prepare financial analysis and strategy to support the business.
|
|
Administering Payroll
|
Administering Tax strategies
|
|
Determines where a business is standing.
|
Determines where a business is headed to.
|
|
Financial record keeping in a business
|
Financial forecasting and overall financial administration of a business.
|
What Do You Need For Your Business?
Now comes the burning question. What do you need for your business? An accountant or a bookkeeper? Before you ask yourself that, try assessing answers to the following questions:
- What industry is your business in?
- How large are your operations?
- How many employees does your company currently have?
- What is your business’ goal?
Why these questions are necessary is to make you understand where your business is currently standing and where it is headed to in the future. Now, the fact of the matter is that a bookkeeper and an accountant are co-dependent and cannot exist without one another. Additionally, it is always a perk to have a team that can handle both. Not only does it help save costs, but it also leads to better accuracy, more coordination and an overall synchronization of timely deliveries and compliances.
Another lucrative option that businesses have these days, is the option to seamlessly integrate the tasks of an accountant and a bookkeeper, by outsourcing these activities to a bookkeeping service provider. What your business thus gets, is:
- A team of expert bookkeepers and accountants.
- Someone who can handle both administrative tasks like payroll and financial tasks like taxing effectively.
- Increased cost and time savings.
- Savings on overhead and operational costs.
- State-of-the-art accounting technology and tools.
Now is the time to get better control of your business’ financials by outsourcing it and gaining the expertise of industry leaders. No matter the stage and size of your business, it is never too late to have the professional support of ace bookkeepers and accountants on your side.
Bookkeeping, Bookkeeping Services, Small Business
Bookkeeping can be an intimidating and a time consuming task for a majority of entrepreneurs, it is majorly for this reason that it is pushed behind on the task sheet, and that is when the problems begin to creep in. Another important factor is that as your business grows, your bookkeeping needs have to be more organized, streamlined and updated. With expansion comes the need to spend more time handling the core operations of your business, and less time on administration and financial logistics. This is where the need to outsource your business’ bookkeeping issues and accounting needs come into the picture.
There are various Bookkeeping issues that can be solved just by outsourcing it to the right Bookkeeping Service providers. Here are the key issues of any business’ bookkeeping, that can be solved by outsourcing it:
Bookkeeping Issues Solved by Outsourcing Experts:
-
Making the Tax Filing Process Easier:
Filing taxes is one of the most intricate and challenging tasks in a business’ financial calendar. Being tax compliant is ever important. Outsourcing Bookkeeping tasks helps you prepare accurate statements and reports as well as being timely and scheduled with its submission. These experts know detailed tax laws and regulations be it on the federal or the state level and help you gain the maximum benefits and savings during the tax season. Not to miss, you also get to be free of the stress that the tax season brings with itself.
-
Scale Your Bookkeeping Effectively:
Business’ are dynamic in nature and are ever-evolving with time. Therefore your operations also need to be of the type where they adapt to the changing times and keep scaling. Outsourcing bookkeeping can help with these scalability needs. It helps you transition seamlessly into enterprise-level systems by updating the software infrastructure, daily tasks and consequent reporting that can help you in your expansion. Get ahead in your business, with outsourcing your bookkeeping operations to experienced professionals who can handle your business at every stage and status of operations.
It is very well known that if you are running a business, there is never enough time to do everything effectively. Therefore, finding strategies to maximize the time at hand is more important than ever. Bookkeeping, as said before, is one of the most common tasks that is sidelined at the time of delegating time for an entrepreneur. But, this leads to future issues and confusions. Therefore, by outsourcing your bookkeeping tasks to the right professionals can help you take off an average of 4 hours every week, to delegate to the core operations of your business like sales, production, marketing, etc. With more time at hand, and less points to stress about you will always be ahead of your schedule while running your business.
-
Access to Key Information:
With outsourced bookkeepers, you do not have to swim through pages and pages of unending financial data to do your business, instead these experts give you comprehensive reports, actionable financials and accurate financial statements that can help you with the key indicators that are of importance to your business, they organize it into blocks of the most relevant information that is essential for you to run your business effectively. This helps you make better sense of where your business is currently standing and where it is headed to in the future.
-
Gain Access to Updated Financials:
The most important factor to be kept in consideration while bookkeeping is to have books that are updated, accurate and error-free. Additionally, there are new advances in the bookkeeping industry, accounting software and regulations. Being abreast with them all, is a challenge in itself. By outsourcing your bookkeeping operations to experts, you get updated, accurate and relevant financial information that helps your business keep up with the times better. Not just that, you are able to be a step ahead with state-of-the art accounting technology and tools that help you gain better control over your bookkeeping and accounting operations.
Wrapping Up
Outsourcing Bookkeeping is the way ahead in the financial market. Running a business is becoming a strenuous and all-inclusive job that requires an entrepreneurs complete dedication 24×7 365 days a year. Therefore, having a team that makes running your business easier and adds the necessary value base to all that you do is key to the success of your business and increasing your financial health multifold.
Accounting, Accounting Services, Bookkeeping, Bookkeeping Services, Finance, Invoice
The base purpose of being a part of any transaction of goods and Services, or as we call it, doing ‘business’ is to be paid for it. Any transaction is considered complete and worth to be added in a business’ revenue, only when there is a final transaction of payment made. Now it is easy to go on any word processor, draft an invoicing and send it to the concerned party to wait for the payment. Or, you can always use an invoice generator and fast track the whole process.
In this blog we will tell you the best free Invoicing Software there are in the market, that you can avail and make your payment gateway easier. But before that it is important to know what are the key features that you need to look for in these software.
Some of the factors that you should keep in consideration before going ahead with a free software that aids you with invoicing are:
- You should be able to generate unlimited invoices without having to upgrade to a premium plan and pay a fee later.
- It should be simple, intuitive and fast. The learning curve needed to get a hang of the software should be minimum.
- And the most important thing in today’s day and age, is that it should be open to accepting online payments easily! Be it credit card payments, bank transfers or wire transfers.
Best Free Invoicing Software for Business in the Year 2020:
Paypal
Payment and Paypal are almost synonymous at least for millennial. This is true because it has been on and dominating the business of free invoicing software for almost 20 years now. It has a lot of recognition, credibility and the added advantage of a fully functional mobile app, that can help you with invoicing on the go! There is a dedicated tab on paypal just for invoicing where you can see the paid and the unpaid invoices easily. The customers who you send the invoices to, will also receive it on their paypal accounts, where they have the liberty to make the payments through any mode of their choice.
Shopify
This online invoice generator will make your life so much more easier. Be it from generating the bills to finally collecting the payment, Shopify makes the process increasingly easy. There is always additional credibility that it already has by being one of the greatest e-commerce platforms in the world, their custom invoice generator is of a premium standard and can do away with all your invoicing woes.
Online Invoices
Whether you are planning to create tax, simple or business invoices, online invoices has you covered. In fact, it is so organized that you do not even need to make any modifications from your end. It can support mobile devices to give you added flexibility and it also has a very convenient preview button that helps you assess the invoices before you send it to the clients.
Billdu
If you are looking for a combination of convenience and efficiency then Billdu is your go-to option. It brings in enormous ease into the process of generating invoices. There are many forms of billing included in this software. Some of them are
- Budget estimating
- Expense reporting
- Alternative forms of invoicing
There are three products that form different intensities and user bases of Billdu; these are, Billdu Online, Billdu Mobile and Billdu Page.
Zoho
Zoho is already known in the accounting business for its accounting software and wider efficiency. Because of their expertise in the business, they have now come to spread their wings wider and work in more niche fields in accounting. Their invoicing system is one such presentation. You can create invoices easily be it whatever your requirements are. From freelancers, to SMEs, Zoho’s invoicing system has something to offer to everyone.
Wave
As an accounting platform, Wave is known widely already. It is made keeping in mind small business owners and freelancers. You can track your outgoing expenses, create subsequent reports and connect your bank details as well. There are unlimited capabilities that you can get out of this software for all your invoicing needs. Be it unlimited customers, invoices, or expenses, it can handle everything.
Invoiced
If you are a freelancer and want to create invoices that are readily available then Invoiced is the right choice for you. With every invoice, you can create additional terms and conditions or notes that need to go with the bill. You can use the software to either send it via email, or download and directly send it.
Invoice Home
As a freelancer, if you need to create an invoice generator that is fast and convenient then Invoiced Home is your option. It is a beginner-friendly option where you can make invoices easily where there are templates and personalizing options. You can add logos and make it fancy. Make things uncomplicated in your billing process with invoice home.
The Invoice Machine
Again, a great deal for freelancers and businesses who want it easy. Generate invoices, manage their organization and send those invoices as well. This although is not necessarily a software as it works directly on the web browser.
Invoice Ninja
If you are looking for a premium option, then this is the way to go. Invoice Ninja has a free version as well, where there are 4 pre-assigned templates. Well, it doesn’t just end there, it also has 30+ payment gateway options and it practically accepts all of the client preferences possible under the sun. Although, if you upgrade to the premium version, you will get ten more of these templates as well as removal of the software limitations.
The Way Forward
The best way to run a business is when your logistics are not just practical, but efficient and operational. Having automated invoice processing, that is not just free, but time saving and prompt is the best way to make sure that your business transactions get the accurate and active closures it deserves. To add to that, when you have consecutive reporting, and the ability to please your customers instat\ntly by incorporating multiple payment gateways, there is nothing to stop you!
We hope that this blog helped you zero down on the best choice for your free invoicing software that can make your invoice generation stronger, accurate and faster. With seamless billing, your business can touch new heights of efficiency.
