Functions That CPA Firms Should Consider Outsourcing

For various reasons, the practice of CPA firms to outsource core functions has been on the rise.  There are greater client expectations on CPA firms to provide financial transparency and compliance. Simultaneous to this, the firms are also faced with complex and time-consuming accounting and bookkeeping tasks that limit their growth and ability to expand due to bandwidth. In addition, administrative functions often derail the firm from business development activities. The firms are still challenged with successfully completing operational tasks while simultaneously growing the business.

The least leveraged solution to this situation is for CPA Firms to outsource some of its core operational functions to expert accounting and bookkeeping firms. Businesses can realize improved productivity when they incorporate outsourcing in their strategy. Outsourcing helps the firm address scalability of services, gain better access to technology, extend their offerings, improve cost-effectiveness of service delivery, and much more.

Here are four common business functions that CPAs can outsource to help increase their productivity.

1. Accounting & Bookkeeping Services

Accounting firms can benefit from outsourcing these functions in two ways. First, they can leverage the expertise of an outsourced accounting and bookkeeping provider to handle their own firm’s bookkeeping, thereby freeing up resources to work on client related work.  Secondly, they can leverage that same outsourcing expertise by delegating the more task oriented bookkeeping and accounting work to an outsourced provider, allowing the CPA to work on higher margin activities for clients.  This is one of the core functions that can be delegated by CPA firms to experienced accounting firms. Both options reduce the need for firms to focus on operational task and increases their bandwidth to focus on business expansion.

2. Payroll Processing and Reporting

CPA firms can outsource payroll processing for their firm to a reputable provider.  The payroll provider can handle paychecks in addition to a periodic report for ensuring compliance measures. The payroll provider manages issuing all the employee paychecks regularly, while the CPA firm itself can focus efforts elsewhere.

3. HR Support

It is important for CPA firms to focus on their business and its success.  Human Resource functions often can be time consuming.  Although screening, hiring and retaining competent employees is critical to business success, it is a function that the firm can benefit from outsourcing. Outsourcing some of the HR support functions to a professional who is well versed in recruiting strategies or benefit packages allows firm employees again to focus on business growth activities within the firm.  Outsourced HR tasks can include hiring, screening, benefit plans, training, and onboarding processes, too.

4. Technology

Put simply, outsourcing IT implementation and ongoing management of computer software and network support to a professional team can have a huge impact on a firm’s productivity.  Firms may not require a full-time IT professional or have the budget to support it; yet when a crisis occurs or a system fails, professional expertise is required. Designating an in-house employee to manage IT in addition to many other varied tasks for which they may be responsible can be risky, as that employee is not full devoted to upgrading and maintaining the system. However, hiring a true IT expert may be too expensive of an option.  Outsourcing IT services to a reliable provider is a great solution, as the firm can leverage the expertise and technology upgrades offered by the provider while being able to scale services up and back as needed.   

Analytix Solutions offers a comprehensive range of accounting and bookkeeping solutions, in addition to IT solutions including Managed IT services. For more information on how we can help, contact us at on 781-503-9002 or email at sales@analytix.com.

Written by

Analytix Editorial Team