Outsourcing Can Increase a CPA Firm’s Productivity

Most CPA firms constantly face one critical challenge: ensuring their own finances are on track in the same manner as those of their clients. Efficient accounting and bookkeeping is the bedrock of sound finances and it can be easy for CPA firms to get immersed in managing clients’ books to the extent that one of the following two scenarios plays out:

• Either they lose track of their own accounting and bookkeeping
• Or they lose focus on business growth because their time and attention is taken up in maintaining the CPA firm’s own accounting

Losing out on new business development opportunities can prove to be damaging to the health of the business. On the other hand, if accounting is neglected, it can directly affect the firm’s financial health.

The Productivity Challenge and Outsourcing

Burdened with doing too many things, including their own accounting within the same span of time as that of their clients, CPA firms lose out on several advantages:

• Applying their own expertise to their business
• Pursuing the original business goal and objective established by the CPA firm: business development, and not just practicing CPA work
• Bringing profitability, sustainability, and growth to their business, while ensuring their own CPA skills keep the financial health of the firm steady

Maintaining productivity can be a continuous uphill challenge for CPA firms, especially if they are poised for growth. The struggle between growing work demands and client needs can be matched only by growing the firm’s resources and infrastructure. If there is any lapse on this front, the productivity of the firm can plummet, threatening the business.

Outsourcing is a way out of this dilemma, helping to increase productivity for the CPA firm reliably. Outsourcing allows CPA firms to access expertise as well as sheer manpower within a short span of time, thus helping to reduce the burden of multitasking on the firm overall.

Access to Current Technology

Outsourcing provides help in much the same way as an experienced permanent hire would by being able to hit the ground running from day one. An outsourcing firm is outfitted with a technical infrastructure that is not just current but also diverse, providing CPA firms with the option to leverage the outsourcing firm’s technology and software.  This allows the streamlining process to begin rapidly and without interruptions, because of the dedicated manpower resources they have to tackle troubleshooting and issues that arise.

Moreover, because they are tuned into modern technology, they are also abreast of the latest security measures and technologies. This allows CPA firms to access these benefits.

The Advantage of Scalability

If a CPA firm needs help with only a particular service, for example tax filings, outsourcing offers the advantage of scalability. Depending on what is offered by the outsourcing services provider, the scalability may extend to pricing or to services used.

Scalability may also extend to particular services, for example, utilizing CFO services at a given period of time, while also benefitting from the provider’s established infrastructure and manpower expertise. CPA firms can utilize outsourcing during tax season, choosing to scale back services when no longer required. Both CFO and resources for tax time require highly skilled professionals which can prove to be expensive if they are permanent hires.

Providing Clients with Additional Expertise

Outsourcing can also help a CPA firm extend offerings to clients by simply reselling services provided by the outsourcing agency.

This can prove to be immensely beneficial to both the CPA firm and their client. While the CPA firm extends their services, the client in turn receives the same level of reliability and efficiency they have come to associate with the CPA firm.

Cost Benefits

The most obvious advantage of outsourcing is saving on expenses. What may cost a CPA firm a significant amount of money to set up and operate in-house, an outsourcing provider or agency may have already invested in, thereby enabling the firm to extend these services to their clients.

However, the key to successful outsourcing is choosing a trustworthy and reliable agency.

List of Services CPA Firms Can Outsource

Here are several services a CPA firm can successfully outsource to harness the benefits outlined above and to increase productivity. All of the services listed can be used to supplement existing infrastructure or resources and then scaled back when no longer needed, depending on the options provided by the outsourcing agency.

• Tax season assistance
• Part-time CFO
• Accounts receivables management
• Tracking billings and accounts receivables
• Basic bookkeeping
• Help with an entire accounting solutions module, complete with reporting, for features like tracking sales, reconciling card accounts, tracking other financial transactions, providing basic analytics and figures in the form of easy-to-track graphs and charts, etc.

At Analytix Solutions, we help businesses, including startups, efficiently manage their growth. Our breadth and depth of experience helps us to better understand clients’ unique accounting requirements. We formulate customized solutions and incorporate industry best-practices. This allows business owners to address their challenges in a systematic manner, helping to streamline operations.  For more information on our services or to find out more on our complementary assessment of your accounting procedures, visit us at www.analytixaccounting.com.

Written by

Analytix Editorial Team