Bookkeeping services have been growing their markets tremendously in the last three years. No surprise, much of the sudden launch forward from the previous, maybe half-hearted use of outsourcing in bookkeeping came with a pandemic.
However, even with the 2020 event definitely finished and past, many companies are still utilizing remote bookkeeping because it works. Put aside the debate about return to work, the fact is that remote resources provide a greater amount of flexibility in getting scheduled work done. Even better, remote work allows use of staff around the clock, so more can get done on a 24/7 cycle versus just an eight-hour day alone. So even if there are crucial personnel needed back in office, surely there are aspects of your business like accounting and bookkeeping that can keep their remote status and be no less productive as a result.
What Can Be Done Remotely?
Because accounting by its nature involves a standardized process of financial data treatment, it can be easily shared and used as a “data-processing” commodity. There’s no proprietary nature to bookkeeping. As long as the standard principles of entry, posting, balancing and reconciliation are followed, the result can be produced in-house or across the world. The staff involved just need to have access to the raw information to be able to process it accordingly.
Remote bookkeeping service can handle data entry, error-checking, adjustment processing, validation reviews and reporting. The support can easily provide the direct management of entry data, or it can take on surge needs and help with critical deadline pushes. The same can’t always be said for all other work types, but with accounting there is no unique nuances. The only thing that makes one company different from the other is the volume or size of the money involved in terms of transactions.
Bookkeeping can also provide critical help with tax documentation and record-collection processing for the same. Then imagine having to check thousands of receipts and payment records for items that specifically qualify for deduction. This is doable by scaling up with outsourced bookkeeping. It’s not so easy with static in-house staff already working full-time on everything else in their daily shift.
Areas of Bookkeeping Easily Handled Remotely
Some accounting aspects work far better for remote work than others. Payroll processing definitely is one such example, and the 24/7 cycle allows companies to handle the payroll cycle with more ease as turnaround takes the pressure off of in-house staff to meet critical end-of-month deadlines. Having a service level agreement from a service that does this for you remotely is often the best guarantee you can get that your employees get paid on time. Crossing the DOL is not recommended.
Ledger-posting of high-volume transaction packages as well as their reconciliation can definitely be handled by bookkeeping too. This becomes extremely useful when processing bank statements that can include hundreds or thousands of transactions in a single-month period. All of that data has to be entered correctly so that company ledgers are updated for where finances are at each monthly cycle. In those cases, is it better to have someone on staff or a whole team with dedicated, proven processes?
Why Leave Flexibility on the Sidelines?
Again, the big advantage of remote bookkeeping comes in the added flexibility it provides. Ignoring this available opportunity is literally leaving efficiency on the table, which can make a big difference in success for small and medium-sized businesses.
