When was the last time you came across broadcast advertisements such as “Contact us for your business accounting services needs” or “We provide world class professional accounting services” on printed media or internet portals? Well, with the growing popularity of outsourcing primary accounting functions to expert third parties and service providers, it is common to find services providing firms, offering a wide range of services to global clients. The synonyms for professional accounting services may vary from user’s bookkeeping services to accounting reporting delivery services, but the areas of service delivery are the same.
There is an increasing demand for firms offering world class business accounting services and tax and finance related solutions for entrepreneurs and SMEs. The cost effective and error free services provided by the professional service providers helps business owners save time and energy spent in languishing over the books of accounts and other standardized accounting processes. It is a fact that these non core functions do not add to the bottom line and the resources saved through outsourcing the same can be utilized for more strategic and core processes, that help in generating revenues.
The limited time, energy and monetary resources are encouraging the small and medium enterprises to look towards outsourcing the taxation and accounts related work processes to professional accounting services firms. These third party experts are highly experienced and equipped with the best technologies and software to take care of all the processes related to the handling of accounts, generation of final accounts statements, filing of tax returns, management of accounts receivable and payables, planning of tax benefits and providing valuable consultancy in all matters related to all financial aspects of the client’s enterprises.
The outsourcing of business accounting services helps in cost reductions and efficiency in areas related to accounting software, vacation and sick leaves, employee turnover and training costs, locking of office infrastructure and equipment, employee incentives and medical benefits, etc. The advantages of availing professional accounting services are many and awareness about the same is leading businesses into outsourcing their primary functions to external agencies.
Along with the pros, there are certain disadvantages that have to be kept in mind by the business owners to avoid complications at a later stage. It is important to hire the services from qualified and experienced firms, as mistakes or omissions in the accounting procedures will lead to a lot of mental stress, penalties, punishments due to non compliance and legal hassles. Non timely submissions of the statutory documents and accounts to the authorities and failure to meet deadlines can lead to the loss of reputation of the firm and termination of business operations in certain cases.
The relationship between the business providers and the client establishes the grounds for the safety and confidentiality of the strategic financial information related to the client’s business. The absence of ethical measures in the processes followed by the professional services provider firms may lead to the exposure of highly sensitive data to rival companies and competitors. This leads to litigation and disputes and unnecessary legal hassles for both parties.