The time off business owners have between Christmas and New Year is a good time to reflect on all that is good and not so good with the business. Its a chance to step back and take time to look at what works, what doesn't and what could be better as well as planning for the coming year.
Outsourcing what you don't have time to do, what you don't like doing or what you know someone else can do better and quicker than you is the first step to growing your business.
Knowing how your business is actually doing is vital to its success and growth. and keeping your accounts up to date regularly enables you to identify what you can do to improve your cash flow and your bottom line. Once you know that it will enable you to grow your business.
Outsourcing your accounts and payroll or just one of them will give you more time to work on the other things you need to do for your business. But outsourcing either of these business tasks will not only release your time but will add value in terms of knowledge and expertise.
Outsourcing is a cost effective solution to free up your time
Where is the value in outsourcing?
As a business owner myself I know how many tasks and responsibilities we have just to keep our businesses running and there comes a time when you realise you just can't do everything. It is not always feasible to employ someone as there may not be enough work for them but outsourcing provides you with extra skills you can use when you most need them. Employees move on and it can be difficult to replace them with someone with the experience you need. And you may not know whether they can do what they say they can do.
I have learned the value of outsourcing.
I have outsourced my IT since I first moved into our office in 2008 because our computers and systems and vital for the work we do. I need to know there is someone I, or any of my team, can call as soon as we have an issue. They keep our network up to date, source new equipment when we needed it, upgrade our hardware instead of replacing it and generally make sure everything runs smoothly. I outsource my IT because it gives me expertise and peace of mind and they can sort out issues far quicker than I would be able to. That is valuable to me.
Everything you outsource will have a different value to different people. If you can do accounts yourself you won't consider outsourcing it and instead will choose to outsource something else. But for someone who just doesn't do numbers outsourcing their finance tasks is valuable to them because they are guaranteed that what needs to be done is done and they have peace of mind.
We give the clients who outsource to us peace of mind, whether that is accounts or payroll. We give them the freedom to not worry about VAT returns, deadlines, errors or changes in legislation. We have been supporting businesses for nearly 20 years and some of our clients have been with us from the start.
We work with businesses across the UK which are just starting out as well as those who have been trading a while but have realised their time is better spent growing their business than doing their accounts and payroll.
Accounts
We use Xero accounts software to maintain our clients' accounts records. Our clients can access it if they want to so they can raise and send their sales invoices and chase up any which are outstanding. Most of our clients take responsibility for their sales invoicing whilst we take on the rest of the accounts ensuring we have supporting electronic documents for transactions, especially where VAT is claimed, and recording transactions accurately within the accounts so you can see just how much certain aspects of your business costs.
Your business may be VAT registered or need to become VAT registered and having a bookkeeper take that responsibility from you will give you a sense of relief.
Regular, accurate management reports enable you to see how the business is doing, where your costs are, and which are your most profitable income streams if you have more than one. Not everyone wants or needs these but if you want to keep track of how your business is doing so you can work on its growth, they are important.
Payroll
Sorting out the pay for your employees is a finance task that can be easily outsourced. We work with businesses who have between 1 and 50 employees so regularly have to deal with situations which will occur infrequently in your business but may be tricky. Calculating starter and leaver pay, holiday pay, termination awards, statutory payments such as maternity, paternity and sick pay almost every month means that we know exactly what to do and it doesn't cost you any more for us to do those calculations but it would certainly cost you more of your time to do it yourself. There are frequent changes to payroll legislation which we keep up with and advise our employers of.
Running payroll can be straightforward until you find out that you have been doing it wrong or not claiming what you are entitled to (or claiming what you are not entitled to).
It makes sense to outsource payroll and once you compare the cost to the implications on your time and the cost of software you will see how cost effective it is. The knowledge and expertise we have ensures your employees are paid correctly.
Save time, reduce your workload AND get peace of mind!
If you are ready to make a change for 2023 get in touch with us. It could be solution you need.
Give us a call on 01722 341820
We have a team of award winning bookkeepers and payroll administrators and our sense of achievement comes from working with you to provide you with efficiency, reliability and friendly support. When you outsource you never know whether the business has the skills you need but if you choose an established business with a team of people you will not only receive the knowledge and experience they have gained over the years, but can be sure that there will always be someone to manage your accounts or payroll.
