A business is only successful when it has the best people, processes and data. Without accurate, reliable data, a business has no solid base on which to make any informed decisions regarding sales, marketing or people. This is why making a decision to outsource your bookkeeping can be a beneficial and profitable thing to do.
Accurate Data Relies on Accurate Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is so much more than just running invoices and clicking ‘OK’ to reconcile transactions. Many business owners like to do their bookkeeping themselves, they often shouldn’t. Most business owners are no more expert at their bookkeeping than an accountant or bookkeeper is at building a house or fixing a car.
Bookkeeping feels easy. It feels like you’ve got your hands on your business finances. It feels like you’re saving money by doing it yourself.
In our experience, it’s best to outsource your bookkeeping to an expert.
Why You Need to Outsource Your Bookkeeping to an Expert
Better Data, Better Decisions
Bad bookkeeping leads to bad data. When you are looking to make informed decisions for your business, you need the best data possible. When you make decisions based bad data, you make bad decisions.
Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping is Cheaper than DIY
Yes, you have to pay for bookkeeping. However, a Certified Bookkeeper is quicker than you. This means far fewer hours spent by outsourcing your bookkeeping. You can then better invest your time in the activities that you love and that increase your turnover and profitability.
Expertly Implemented Automation can Streamline Your Business
When set up properly, there is a lot of great modern tech solutions that can help to automate your bookkeeping and streamline your business. An expert bookkeeper can help to highlight solutions that can best work for your business and implement them properly to automate parts of your business. Automation drives accuracy and helps to keep your data up to date.
Your Outsourcing Bookkeeping Questions Answered
Surely my software does my bookkeeping for me?
Software like Xero is an awesome tool for bookkeeping. But that is all it is, a tool. Bookkeeping (and accounting) is a lot easier with the use of tools like Xero. However, there is still a real need for quality control and insights from experts.
Software can be a dangerous and messy trap for DIY Bookkeepers. The ‘OK’ button in Xero, for example, can be addictive and misleadingly easy. Just because the ‘OK’ button has popped up doesn’t mean that the suggestions that the software is making are correct. Modern accounting software has good and improving AI ability to learn. However, it learns from its users so it and its suggestions are only ever as good as its users. If the users are making errors, the software will suggest that you continue making these same errors. This saves you time but compounds your errors and can create quite an expensive mess to clean up.
How can outsourcing my bookkeeping be cheaper than doing it myself?
It might seem impossible that paying someone else can actually be cheaper than doing your bookkeeping yourself. An expert, Certified Bookkeeper can often actually save you both time and money while boosting your bottom line.
Your time is one of the most important assets you have. Your time is best spent being invested on productive, value adding activities. Bookkeeping is not a good use of your time. A Certified Bookkeeper is going to be a lot quicker than you, meaning a fraction of the time it takes you to do the same tasks.
Let’s run some numbers. In 2019, the average salary in New Zealand was around $76,397.00. This translates to about $39.00 an hour. As a business owner you should be aiming to be above average to compensate you for the added risk of being self employed, but lets stick with the average. We find that a professional bookkeeper is capable of processing data two to three times faster than a DIY bookkeeper and with no errors. This highlights an average DIY time cost of $97.50 for each hour of professional bookkeeping time. The errors that DIY bookkeepers often make are generally fixed by accountants at end of year at accountants rates. If we assume three hours of accountant clean-up per year, this is likely to be around $345.00 at least.
Most small business owners can save at least 20 hours of admin time a month by outsourcing their bookkeeping. This equates to $808.75 a month in average DIY cost per month. If the work is then done on average 2.5x faster by a Certified Bookkeeper then the cost of outsourcing is likely to be roughly $520.00 a month, plus gst. This equates to savings of at least $288.75 per month, or $3,465.00 per year.
These savings can be even greater with MBP. Our bookkeeping service pricing decreases the longer the work takes us. Our entry-level plan to outsource your bookkeeping can help you to save an extra $80.00 a month plus gst.
The added value from having quality, reliable data to make informed decisions is priceless.
Why would a bookkeeper do themselves out of a job by automating my business admin?
Some don’t. You shouldn’t be working with these bookkeepers. It is important that you are working with a tech savvy bookkeeper who can advise and leverage technology to streamline your business.
It is also important that your bookkeeper is able to comprehend your overall business strategy. With this understanding, they will be able to best advise on the solutions to best automate your admin and free up your time to move towards your goals quicker.
What is automation?
Modern software like Hubdoc, Zapier, Receipt Stash, Fergus, and many others can make manual data entry a thing of the past. This saves you time, money and improves the accuracy and reliability of your data. These software solutions are like your silent assistants, working quietly for you 24/7. They help to keep your business books tidy and up to date and streamline the processes for your bookkeeper.
In order to benefit from automation, you need to select the right solutions and implement them properly. An expert MBP Business Support Advisor will be able to help you identify and implement the right solutions for you. No solution is set-and-forget.
Outsource Your Bookkeeping for Better Data and Reliable, Accurate Bookkeeping
To find out more about the benefits of outsourcing your bookkeeping to an expert, get in touch with the expert ICNZB Certified Bookkeepers at MBP. The great thing about working with MBP is that the longer it takes us, the less you pay. We therefore have a vested interest in working for you in the best, quickest way possible. Our fixed price bookkeeping packages start from just 45 an hour plus gst.
One of our Business Support Advisors will be in touch with you for a free consultation. They will review your business processes and identify activities you can outsource to boost your bottom line. They will also look for opportunities to automate processes using leading technology solutions. Click here to book in a chat with an advisor at a time that is convenient for you.