Outsource Accounting and Bookkeeping Virtual Assistants: Why, How, When, and What?
Business owners and even accounting and bookkeeping services want to cut costs, especially when they amount to 60%-70% of saving on what they would need to pay a permanent local guy. It is why outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping services are in great demand.
Before getting into the nuts and bolts of how to hire virtual assistants for accounting and bookkeeping, let's read on the 'why' of it.
Who needs outsource accounting and bookkeeping
Business owners
As a business owner, you have to take care of your receipts, invoices, bills and bank statements. You will agree that it is a time-consuming and labour-intensive task. It drastically reduces your time and mind space to grow your business.
And you lose in a big way if you hire an in-house accountant. These professionals are costly.
Outsourced accounting and bookkeeping services give you affordable access to an expert team of bookkeepers and accountants.
Firms offering Accounting and bookkeeping services
You wouldn't think it possible that accounting and bookkeeping services also outsource their work to virtual assistants. Well, they also feel the pinch when the higher costs related to local accountants cut into their profitability.
Hiring virtual assistants for accounting and bookkeeping enables them to keep profit margins high. Here is a list of everyday accounting tasks you can outsource to a virtual accountant.
Paying bills on time
If you juggle multiple tasks to conduct your business activities, keeping payment deadlines in mind and acting on them is hard. And not paying your utility bills like electricity and internet on time can hurt you. You can avoid the pain by outsourcing this task to your virtual assistant.
Invoicing & updating general ledgers
Hiring an experienced virtual assistant for virtual assistants accounting and bookkeeping services can reduce your workload.
They can prepare and send invoices to your customers promptly before your transaction goes out of their minds. If needed, they will also send payment reminders and follow up with the clients.
You know it is a lot of work. And getting free of it can enable you to focus on growing your business.
Preparation and sending of invoices
When you are in and out of meetings, it is hard to keep an eye on the outgoing invoices. Sending them promptly is also necessary, increasing the chances of getting paid on time.
You can trust your virtual assistant with the task and focus on getting new customers instead.
Following up with customers
Your assistant can also take an essential but time-consuming task out of your hand. It is also important to send email payment reminders to customers who have missed their deadlines.
If necessary, they can follow up using phones. This is necessary to streamline your accounts receivable.
Maintenance of transaction data
Your virtual assistant can digitise all your financial transactions using accounting software. They regularly update your accounts, financial statements, and invoices.
Preparing financial statements and reports
This data is reusable and can be processed to generate various financial statements and management reports. These documents provide reliable data for making effective business decisions.
Reasons: Why outsource accounting and bookkeeping
You should hire a virtual assistant to reduce your manual and mental work and an opportunity to focus completely on growing your business. The following are the reasons:
- Your company is expanding rapidly
- Your accounting staff is overworking
- To hire the expertise that your team cannot provide
- To reduce overhead costs
As a business owner, your priority should be to ensure business survivability. It comes only when you have to pay customers and an income stream. You should also track your competitors and know how they serve them.
If needed, you must go back to the drawing board and update your products and services. It all takes time. You get it by hiring a virtual assistant for accounting and bookkeeping.