Accounting & Taxation

All too frequently, the invoicing process is plagued with complications, ranging from inefficient manual processes to the possibility of human error. However, businesses may streamline this process and mitigate risk by using effective electronic invoicing or invoice automation technology. Continue reading this Upflow.io article dealing with past due invoices to learn the obstacles that come with invoicing, and how to optimize invoice management.

How Is The Invoicing Process Carried Out?

Before we discuss how to optimize invoice management, it’s necessary to define what we mean by the invoicing process. While the details vary per company, the manual invoicing process generally consists of the following steps:

A supplier issues a paper or digital invoice outlining the expenses associated with the goods or services delivered.

The invoice is then forwarded or assigned to the appropriate member of the accounts payable department for processing.

The invoice’s data is input manually into accounting software or filed in a paper invoicing system.

The invoice is manually approved internally to verify that it is relevant and accurate.

Payment to the provider is planned or paid promptly, bringing the invoicing process to a close.

That’s a lot of stages for what appears to be a very straightforward operation. When extended to the business level, the invoicing process consumes a significant amount of time and effort. Additionally, each stage of the process that requires human involvement is a potential point of failure. As a result, there are numerous considerations while attempting to optimize invoice management.

What Are The Difficulties Associated With Invoice Management?

For suppliers, in particular, the invoicing procedure is frequently fraught with difficulties. For one thing, mailing a paper invoice costs time and money, while sending an electronic invoice still carries the possibility of error and delay. Additionally, if an invoice is lost or delayed, suppliers may be forced to spend valuable time resolving issues or may even be forced to reprint the invoice.

Additionally, invoice processing offers some difficulties for the buyer. While entering a supplier’s invoice into an accounting or ERP system may appear to be a simple operation, it is frequently inefficient and labor-consuming in practice. Suppliers may send invoices via various channels, ranging from physical mail to PDF invoices sent via email, posing a variety of operational issues. And in many circumstances, manual data entry is employed to enter the required information into the buyer’s system — a time-consuming and prone to human error operation.

How Do I Optimize Invoice Management

Fortunately, you can avoid many of these obstacles by setting out to optimize your internal invoicing process methodically and thoughtfully. The following are all strategies for increasing the efficiency and accuracy of your invoice processing, resulting in a more seamless, less manual, and error-proof invoicing process.

– Eliminate Paper

If you continue to use a paper-based manual invoicing method, going paperless by digitizing the entire invoicing process is the natural first step toward optimization. Without this stage, you will have minimal potential to streamline and optimize the process. There are essentially two ways to become completely paperless: either encourage your suppliers to migrate to electronic invoicing or develop your means of digitizing paper invoices via invoice scanning.

– Reduce Human Intervention

As excellent as your accounts payable department is, they are only human. And that means they’re prone to make errors, which is the polar opposite of what you want in an otherwise well-optimized invoicing process. 

Every stage of the conventional manual invoicing process requires human intervention, from the supplier sending the invoice to the buyer’s final payment. By automating each cycle, this input may be reduced, resulting in enhanced dependability and cost savings.

– Integrate Invoice Management With Your Enterprise Resource Planning System

Invoicing is only one aspect of daily company operations; it is connected to and connects with other processes such as cash forecasting and supplier management. As a result, there are frequent advantages to be gained by integrating your invoice processing system with any other processes managed within an ERP, creating a single platform for gaining operational intelligence and achieving cross-departmental efficiency.

– Establish And Monitor Key Performance Indicators

Finally, one of the simplest strategies for optimizing invoice processing is developing and tracking key performance indicators. KPIs will indicate the overall efficiency of the process and should also provide insight into which phases are falling short. By defining KPIs and then monitoring your invoicing process regularly to identify and rectify inefficiencies, you can steadily improve your system’s efficiency.

– Invoice Automation

That may seem like a lot to tackle at once. Still, you can achieve the majority of the value generated by improving the invoicing process with a single solution — invoice automation software.

By using an invoice automation solution, you may drastically eliminate manual input, significantly optimize invoice management accuracy, and link the invoicing process with the rest of your ERP effortlessly. And, perhaps most importantly, it does not necessitate significant changes in the behavior of your suppliers.

Historically, it has not been easy to develop a method capable of accomplishing this effectively. While traditional optical character recognition (OCR) can help automate invoice data capture, OCR is typically only successful when the correct information is in the precise right location in the invoice file. Manual intervention is frequently required to fix any inaccuracies.

Accounting plays a crucial role in running a business. It allows you to calculate the expenditure and profits for every financial year. Companies are also required to pay taxes to the government, and preparation and filing of the taxes is a time-consuming and complicated process.

If you plan to do it yourself, you will lose focus on revenue generation activities necessary for sustaining your business. The best solution to this issue is hiring expert accountants for your partnership firm.

Get All Your Deductions

Every business owner looks for ways to increase their deductions. However, due to a busy schedule, they cannot do much by the year-end or during tax season. The reason to increase deductions is it helps reduce taxes you have to pay to the government.

When you hire an accounting firm, the agency can identify potential deductions throughout the year. The accountancy firm will also advise you on strategic decisions for year-end deductions.

Many business owners forget to consider expenses like office space, out-of-pocket expenses, and depreciation while calculating deductions. Expert accountants will ensure all deductions are included in your tax filings, reducing your tax amount.

Prevent HMRC Audit

One of the primary reasons to hire an accountancy firm is to avoid an audit. Government agencies are known to conduct an audit when the deductions to income ratio are high. If you have shown excessive deduction in the tax filing form, a government agency like the HM Revenue and Customs may call or write to tell what they want to check.

Many business owners think any problem in an audit can be fixed later. The truth is if HMRC officials find your firm does severe or extensive tax evasion, they might open a criminal investigation. You can avoid this by hiring an accountant firm.

The primary reason for HMRC audits is that the business owner makes too many mistakes in the forms or too many charitable and excessive write-offs. The guidance of the accountant can help you avoid things that will raise any suspicion of tax evasion.

Also, the accountant will ensure the tax forms are correctly filled and there are enough supporting documents to support the deductions mentioned.

Save Time and Energy

Many entrepreneurs hiring an accountant means additional expenditure and might not be able to afford the fees of their services. The truth is accountants charge a reasonable fee to their clients, and their service is real value for money. Accountants can help ensure accurate tax filing and help you get tax refunds that you are eligible for.

Also, many businesses suffer financial losses due to inaccurate reporting or poor financial decisions. An accounting firm will provide you with the right advice in taxation, and you will be free to focus on core business tasks.

Make Real-Time Decisions

When a business grows, entrepreneurs must make decisions like hiring more employees or expanding their operations. However, they fear making decisions to support growth as they worry about the potential consequences and implications of taking such decisions.

An accounting firm can help you budget and monitor the cash flow and help you make the right decisions depending on the latest data.

To sum up, these are some reasons to hire expert accountants for a partnership firm.

All the efforts you spend treating patients wouldn’t keep your business afloat if you fail to get paid for the services rendered. That’s the reason many healthcare businesses are facing economic downfalls. There is a huge gap between medical billing expectations vs. reality.

For instance, you can witness an enormous difference between the customer expectations and the reality of services a billing agency provides. Your medical business needs a reliable billing partner who understands your requirements just as your patients require the best services from you. Professional medical billing companies address your concerns and fulfill your demands according to your expectations. 

However, there are some misconceptions associated with outsourcing that tend to be harmful as they portray a bad practice in the market. For many medical facilities, it could be difficult to gain trust and allow someone to handle medical billing and coding on their behalf_ especially if they had a very bad experience in the past.

It’s important to understand the difference between medical billing expectations vs. reality, uncovering the truth behind them to improve the profitability, productivity, and efficiency of your healthcare business. So, what should you expect from an outsourced billing expert?

Medical billing specialists offer customized RCM services to streamline your workflow and reduce your workload. They are well-versed in utilizing the latest technology and always stay updated with the growing and changing government regulations.

Before further discussions, let it be clear that, no matter whether or not you outsource your medical billing services. You have some responsibilities too. For instance, you must have a complete understanding that the success of your practice depends on many things such as:

• Accurate medical billing and coding.
• Clean claim submission.
• Streamline revenue cycle management.
• Optimize A/R recovery services.

Once your billing procedure gets optimized it can significantly lower down your economical pressures and advance you to brighter opportunities.

Medical Billing Expectations vs. Reality

Less Control Over Business

Many medical professionals thought that by outsourcing they could lose control over their business. But it’s not reality. Outsourced billing companies provide you assistance for a particular practice procedure. They have the right personnel having the best knowledge to handle your billing and coding efficiency.

They provide reliable services for managing billing tasks and boosting revenue streams. Furthermore, the outsourced billing specialists not only look over your medical billing but also optimize the whole process of revenue cycle management.

Billing experts help you save time to stick to a realistic budget and focus on your core objectives too. You can also enjoy the advantages of outsourcing your medical billing services to an agency that understands how to work or how to make your business successful?

Some of the major benefits are;

Act as an Extension

Find the best medical billing agency that meets your expectations and cares about your business growth. Billing professionals act as an extension to your business. They drive you to the right way so you may enjoy the highest financial success.

At this point, you can see how outsourced billing specialists address your pain points and provide solutions accordingly. They provide customized medical billing solutions that best fit the financial needs of your healthcare business.

With the right partner, you can gain full control over your practice and this will also positively impact your business.

Prevent Revenue Backlogs

Do your practices work on regular operating hours? It would be advantageous if you outsource your medical billing & coding services. The efficient billing teams provide effective strategies and help you capture accurate data to update patient claims efficiently.

This helps your team to work at a consistent pace throughout the day and also prevents revenue backlogs. In this way, they reduce the chances of costly billing/coding errors, prevent denials, and help you recover payments significantly.

Ability to Upgrade

Contrary to medical billing expectations vs. reality, outsourcing provides you complete control to keep a better track of your revenue cycle. Billing specialists will truly expand your business to new horizons.

Cut Operational Expenses

The most compelling reason to outsource your medical billing services is the reduction in operating costs. Spending extra costs to recruit, train, and hire new staff to get the billing procedures done on time can impact your budget drastically.

Reliable medical billing companies eliminate all these expenses. They have trained teams that help you streamline your revenue cycle management effectively.

Therefore, practitioners can save a lot of their costs and avoid making major investments like installation of billing software, infrastructure, maintenance, upgrading, etc. Without having to hire full-time employees, getting the assistance of medical billing experts can enhance your business proficiency.

Moreover, outsourcing can allow you to better manage your time and focus on the core competencies of your business respectively. Besides, with a trusted partnership, you’ll be amazed by how much more profitable your practice will be and what you will save.

Lacking Industry Experience

The most crucial and most abundant aspect that can be considered is that the practices that outsource are inherently lacking in knowledge in some way. When you outsource, you get help from certified billers and coders who have vast industry experience and in-depth knowledge.

They stay up-to-date with the billing industry regulations that keep changing and help you keep up with the innovations. In addition to this, they help you make use of the latest technology and integrate EHR/EMR systems to automate the entire billing cycle.

Thereby, they help you submit faster, error-free claims electronically. In addition to this, a skilled medical biller helps you keep track of your finances by providing regular financial reporting and analytics.

Conclusion

Hence, outsourcing medical billing services bridge the gap between medical billing expectations vs. reality. The certified billing experts are committed to providing extraordinary and compliant services to their clients.

If you are considering starting an investment path with commercial real estate (CRE), you should know that there is software designed to help you with every part of the process. CRE software, when top-quality, is all-in-one. From giving your data and important information (and documents) a safe place, to helping you walk through the steps of a loan. CRE software is a necessity if you want to get into the real estate scene.

About CRE Risks

Now, we would be remiss to not speak about the risks associated with CRE. Before you begin the dive into the area, you should consider looking into real estate notes and the risks of it. The short version is that there are different types of risks that should be considered before getting into a property. There are generally three types of risks, each of which will be spoken about here, and the rule of thumb here, is that the return you get from your investments will be proportional to the amount of risk you take. Risk more, get more. And luckily, with the help of a good CRE software, the risks diminish greatly. So, despite the risks, investing in CRE is a viable and great way to grow wealth.

Credit Risks & CRE Software

This is the risk that is associated directly to the borrower’s credit on a note. Basically, you will need to calculate and assess the borrower’s ability to make payments, and the likelihood of that happening. Most of this risk is foggy since nothing is really in cement until post-investment. The risk involves the borrower’s credit score, their income, and their property income. Every note carries some sort of credit risk with it, since nothing is ever for sure in this life.

CRE software will help you assess the credit risks and choose if the borrower is a good match for you. You can set your own, custom rules for what you consider to be credit consistency, and that will help you filter out the possible people to invest your time and money with. Doing it like this, eliminates most of the risk, and will help you to make your CRE more profitable.

Collateral Risks & CRE Software

Collateral risks are, really, for you more than the borrower. That is, the risk assesses whether or not you can use the money of the property as a liquid asset to pay back whatever investments that need repayment. So, it is the ability for the property, once sold, to return your entire investment in a worst-case scenario like a foreclosure. This is important to keep tabs on because your property acts as a liquid value, and if your borrowers destroy it, that value lowers.

CRE software helps you here by giving you consistent access to every part of your collateral considerations. From being able to review your commitments, to drafting and figuring out loan paperwork, and giving you tools to be a better manager to keep that property value high—CRE software helps you holistically with every part of the process.

Investment Risks & CRE Software

Every investment is different, so there is no way to give one situation and then a solution for it using CRE software, like the past two. Instead, what needs to be known about these risks is that there are many possibilities, and they all work like terms and conditions. Most of the time, these risks come from terms reaching their maturity, interest rates changing, late payments or defaulting clauses in the agreements, payment histories, and loan-to-value or invest-to-value on a property. All of these are risks because they impact you and your ability to do future investments when they go wrong (or right!).

 CRE software can also function as a commercial loan software. Your entire investment is essentially a loan broken up into fragments. The software will help you by keeping all of the contracts and loans and essential information that you need, in one place. Further, it will help you to benefit with profits by letting you understand more about the things you have agreed to, and the things that everyone else has agreed to too.

Things to Keep in Mind

Many people approach CRE as the Wild-West. They want to pick up as much property as they can, ‘flip it’, and then spit it backout at the nearest, highest, bidder. This works well for short durations but can work out poorly for long term investments. You don’t want to be churning through so many houses that work is not completed, or it is poorly done. Further, there are a lot of other risks which come from a CRE; a significant number of them can be solved using the correct CRE software.

Tax planning is an essential aspect of every business, both big and small. However, when you want to expand your business, it becomes necessary to plan your taxes properly. Taxes can take up a considerable chunk of your investment returns, and only through strategic planning can you save this substantial amount. When you are a small business, any savings are helpful as you can invest the money in other ventures or just improve your business.

Tax planning for small business is much more than managing your investment and affects every single aspect of your business, from salaries to income sources, expenditure, and financial decisions. It is bout analyzing your financial profile and creating a strategy to minimize your tax liabilities.

Many tax-saving benefits are legally available to small businesses. Consider the following points while planning your taxes.

Figure Out What Tax Deductions Your Business Qualifies For

You can deduct 20% of qualified business income while calculating your federal taxes under the Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). But you qualify for this only when your business is a pass-through entity, a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or an S corporation. Ask a professional to help you determine the best classification for your business.

Take General Business Credits

With tax credits, the federal government encourages businesses and individuals to adopt certain policies that promote a larger good. For example, you can qualify for tax credits for going green, providing health coverage for employees, or promoting employment to the disabled. All these tax credits come under General Business Credit. It can help you lower your taxable income and save money.

Benefit on Deductions For Equipment

Section 179 deduction is a great thing as you can take deductions for the equipment or property you’re using as a service. You can get a federal tax deduction of an amount up to $1.04 million if you buy equipment and place it in service before the year-end.

In addition, you can take up to a 100 percent bonus deduction on specific equipment bought and put in use after Sept. 27, 2017. You can use this deduction to save money on your business tax return.

Set Up A Retirement Plan

You can save money by setting up a retirement plan for yourself and your employees.  Any contribution you make to these plans is tax-deductible. Besides, you can also get a tax credit to pay for certain retirement plans.

There are several retirement saving plans that can help get valuable tax benefits, including SEP-IRA, SIMPLE IRA, 401(k), and other profit-sharing plans. But remember, some plans need to be established before this year to get the tax deductions in 2022.

Understand Taxation On PPP Loans

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) enables you to cover employee salaries and other expenses through small business loans. In addition, under certain conditions, these loans can be forgiven too. Forgiven loans are not taxable, but the complete tax picture can be more complicated. The IRS states that deductible expenses like payroll costs are not tax-deductible if they are funded with PPP loan proceeds.

The sooner you plan your taxes for the year, the better prepared you’ll be to prevent any cash flow disruptions. With proper planning, you can distribute the tax burden throughout the year. So, instead of looking for full tax payment at the end of the year, you can pay off the estimated taxes to the IRS. This will help you avoid any penalties later.

Besides, you can delay the billing for work done and write off bad debts to lower your tax liability in the current year. So, practicing early tax planning for small businesses can reduce your taxable income and help keep more of your money in hand. This will enable future investment or expansion decisions.

What is Bookkeeping? Who would deny the importance of keeping financial transaction records? Businesses experience thousands of financial transactions daily, and keeping a record of it is important for financial analysis and determining a company’s financial position.

Bookkeeping refers to the recording of a business’s financial transactions on a daily basis. The process is one of the most crucial processes as a company’s decision-making, investment, and position are determined by bookkeeping results.

Broadly, bookkeeping is classified into two types depending upon the way the tasks are performed. Let’s find out what these types are:

Types of Bookkeeping

1. Single Entry Bookkeeping System

If you own a small business, then you might choose a single-entry bookkeeping system. There is only a  single entry recorded for every transaction in this type of bookkeeping, which means a transaction only affects a single account.

Single entry bookkeeping is the simplest way to record transactions and only maintains a record of cash disbursement, sales, receipt, and expenses. If you have accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory, etc., the system will not record these transactions.

Single-entry bookkeeping only records the transactions when they have actually occurred. The system consists of a cash disbursement journal, cash sales journal, and your business’s bank statement. The entries in the journal should match the entries associated with your bank account.

Advantages

• Recording transactions is easier and requires less time.
• Profit and loss calculation for a defined period is easier.
• Single entry bookkeeping is less expensive to maintain.

Disadvantages

• No proper system for tracking the entries.
• Higher chances of fraud.
• The results do not generate an accurate prediction of a company’s financial position in the future.

2. Double Entry Bookkeeping System

For big companies with complex transactions, the appropriate bookkeeping method is a double entry bookkeeping system.

In this type of system, an accountant creates a single transaction and then creates a second entry to trace those transactions. This means the chances of fraud minimizes, and each entry can be easily traced.

If your company buys goods on credit and sells goods through account receivable, then the double entry bookkeeping system will record two entries to trace the transactions easily.

A double-entry bookkeeping system promotes complete information associated with a transaction. Suppose you sell a product in cash, then the accountant will record one entry as a debit in revenue and one in the customer’s account.

Debit and credit are the two concepts on which double-entry bookkeeping is done. A transaction associated with an increase in revenue is debited, whereas a transaction related to the rise in the cost of business is reported as a credit.

Advantages

• This system helps in the accurate reporting of financial information.
• It allows a business to understand financial systems more efficiently.
• It eliminates the chances of fraud or any misleading information.

Disadvantages

• The type of bookkeeping is harder to understand and maintain.
• Double-entry bookkeeping requires more time to record a single transaction.
• The cost of double-entry bookkeeping is generally high.

Importance of Bookkeeping

No one can deny the importance of bookkeeping in today’s complex world. A system that helps better understand financial data and improves strategies of a business is used by both small and large companies and is known for its proven importance.

Helps in Financial Management and Analysis

Having a detailed view of financial transactions in the form of financial statements will help companies track people who haven’t paid the amount or the position of revenue or cost of goods sold. The analysis will help a company better financial management by asking for payments and adopting strategies to minimize COGS and maximize revenue.

Helps in Creating a Budget

Bookkeeping majorly helps a business view its financial position, keep track of cash inflows and outflows, and take necessary actions based on the results. Therefore, by looking into the financial statements deeply and applying analysis tools, a company can easily determine its next step and the possible money that it can spend on it.

Helps in taxes

When you are doing bookkeeping of your business, you are not only keeping a record of financial transactions but calculate profit, assets, liabilities, income, expenses, and taxes. Therefore, when you have to pay taxes at the end of the year, your bookkeeper can quickly notify the amount to be paid for taxes based upon the yearly income.

Conclusion

No one can deny the importance of bookkeeping for a business. This article reflects how vital and crucial bookkeeping is and how it not only helps in financial management but analysis and strategy making.

Both Single Entry and Double Entry types of bookkeeping methods have some advantages, but the double-entry bookkeeping method is more secure and provides better insights and results.

When it comes to business development and growth, many business owners focus almost entirely on the development of products and the advertising of these products. However, with growth down the line expected and being the driving force to keep entrepreneurs going, it is vitally important to prepare for the expenses that come with this growth. 

As you would expect, there is the potential of moving from one tax bracket to the next, and thus having a higher withholding balance needed for these purposes, though there are a few more expenses out there in the world of business that comes with growth and we will take a look at these below. 

Employee or Contractor Expenses 

One of the biggest and most important expenses from a growing business is the need to delegate to those capable of completing tasks on your behalf. 

With many business owners simply following the ‘I can do it all’ attitude falling into failure, it is imperative to recognise that you simply can’t do it all, and must work to ensure you can afford to outsource certain activities to others. 

For this tip, we suggest that you begin to offset a small percentage of your business’s profit to build up a fund to pay for contractors when the time comes. Of course, depending on your industry this amount may need to be smaller or larger than others, though it is still vital to have such a cash reserve for urgent times a project must be completed, and you don’t possess the skill or the time to undertake it. 

Cutting Back or Being Smart 

One aspect of growth that is often forgotten about in the business world is essentially the importance of being wise and frugal with income streams and maximising income. 

As an example, for businesses operating with a range of computer systems, or car fleets there is the option of routinely replacing these assets or making use of efficient and affordable platforms to get on top of maintenance tasks without blowing the bank. A fleet of vehicles could be effectively serviced with a local mechanic, rather than more costly sales-based maintenance service providers, for example. Added to this, offloading costly in-house workflows for affordable outsourced solutions may also be the key to cutting costs and redirecting cash flow from these, and back into the points, we outlined above. 

Management Solutions – Both Digital and Employee-based

In line with the delegation of low priority tasks, there will eventually be the requirement for you to have another team member or software solution to rely on which enables your business to better function and get work done in shorter periods of time.

For many businesses, this is a project manager, either on-contract or in-house. Though there are also well-rounded project management service solutions too. 

It will be important to weigh up the pros and cons as a business owner or manager and to determine which is the better option for your business’s size, though regardless of what you choose, you will have to ensure that your business has enough cash on hand to pay for a subscription-based project management solution, or a contracted employee to take care of these integral tasks. 

Marketing Against Rivals 

Another key expense to keep in mind when it comes to the growth of businesses is fighting off competing businesses and ensuring you have a firm place in the market. 

Much like our tip above, this will be important to keep your business afloat down the line. You don’t want to have a rival business simply ‘copy’ your product or service, then out-advertise you to their customer base and effectively cut you out of the market. 

And with that in mind, another fund or routine expense will need to be factored into your business operating expenses when growth is concerned. 

Keeping on top of advertising and marketing is going to be integral to maintaining a top spot in both the online and physical worlds of business. 

Make Use of Digital Finance Solutions 

Another key preparation when it comes to dealing with growing businesses and success is ensuring you have the correct tools to handle finances with efficiency. We suggest relying heavily on all-digital solutions here which take care of the monitoring of cash inflow and outflow and give you the chance to simply watch, monitor and make changes rather than spending countless hours working out these things on your own. 

With that in mind, you will have a more streamlined automated solution that is less likely to make mistakes and more able to keep you in the green should things begin to heat up from a financial standpoint. 

Develop a Growth-focused Plan

Our final tip in preparing for growth-related business expenses is to formulate a plan that is specifically focused on these expenses. 

As you would with a marketing or business plan, also set aside some time to develop a plan that features all of the things that are looking to crop up and cost money in the future  – if your business is bigger than it is today. 

Of course, you can’t predict the future here, however, you can make educated guesses and work out whether a larger customer base will require more customer service staff, for example, and integrate this added cost into your future expenses plan. 

If you’ve decided that it’s time you engaged an accountant for your business, then it’s time to look at who would be the right person for you to work with.

Having someone confident, qualified, experienced and capable is essential to oversee what is, after all, one of the most vital areas of your business because maximum revenue equals maximum survival rate. Which didn’t used to be such an important matter, but if there’s one thing that the COVID pandemic has taught us, it’s that smaller businesses are typically going to struggle to stay afloat. Which is why having an experienced, savvy accountant on your side is the best way to protect your business. The right person will be saving you both time and money year after year.

Carrying out careful research is imperative to make absolutely sure that you’re choosing the best person for your business – there are all different types and what works for one business might not work for another. So, go through the selection process carefully and make sure that you consider all of your options. For example:

• Are you confident that they can reduce your business taxes?
• Where are they based?
• How big is their firm? Big isn’t always better, but it does indicate experience and probably expansion to a certain degree.
• What type of accounting software are you hoping to use?
• How expensive will they be?

1. What about their location?

This isn’t as important as it once was. It used to be that a local accountant was necessary for face to face meetings and taking with you to visit clients, but times have changed and proximity is not so much of an issue now. A lot of business can be carried out remotely through online collaborations and managing your business through cloud-based technology.

This means that no matter where you are, you will be looking at real time, identical data, at the same time. Plus, moving towards remote collaborations means that the field of choice for you in terms of choosing an accountant opens up dramatically and gives you maximum flexibility to hunt and seek the right person for your own business. It doesn’t necessarily matter where you are in the world, for example, so you can select the accountant who suits you best, rather than relying on the five accounting companies that your town might have available.

 Again, the last year or so has meant that as we moved to mostly remote working, it has honed, refined and massively advanced things like videoconferencing, emailing and using accounting software. However, if having face to face time is important to you then you’ll have to stick with your local options, or find someone who is prepared to travel to you on a regular basis.

2. Taxes?

It goes without saying that your accountant will need to be an expert in the tax laws that are applicable to you. These can sometimes be tricky waters to navigate and having someone who is on top of the relevant taxes for you is essential.

3. Their expertise

Do make sure that you check out their expertise in your particular field of work, because not all sectors have the same requirements. Look at whether they have experience with businesses that have a similar revenue and size to yours. Plus, looking at whether they have relevant knowledge and wider experience in your market sector is a good indicator of whether they could adequately handle an expansion in your business.

Basically, the more experience the better (if you’re near the Northwest of England, I can personally recommend Daniel Sam Bolton accountants). Have they worked with larger clients? If so then it shows that they could cope with the growing demands of your business as it gets bigger over time. You could even look at their client list and their individual growth to give you a better idea of how the accountant has worked for them and whether that translates into good business practice for you.

4. Qualifications

You almost certainly will need someone who is chartered or certified, regulated by a professional body and/or recognised by the government. Not only will this speak volumes about their qualifications, it also gives you redress if something goes wrong. Chartered accountants are generally highly experienced, they will have completed post-degree study, as well as a professional competency programme.

5. Finding the right person

Take advantage of what could be right under your nose, in terms of social media and professional connections. Obviously, steer clear of things like Facebook and Instagram, but LinkedIn for example is a great, business orientated platform where you can explore any existing connections you might have or those of people working in the same market sector as you.

6. Think about your exact needs

If you’re a smaller outfit, or you just need someone to book-keep, do general financial management or prepare the taxes, then someone less qualified could be the ideal solution for you. 

Ultimately, once you’ve found a likely candidate, you should consider:

• Are they interested and enthusiastic about their services?
• Do they have a strong network of professional people to engage with?
• Do they have any published recommendations from either previous or current clients? If so, what are the details?
• What is their length of experience in the accounting field and what did they do before they started practicing as an accountant?
• Exactly what qualifications do they have?

Putting in the work now could mean that you find a perfect candidate for the role and your business thrives, going from strength to strength and you can maximise the potential revenue.

The idea of outsourcing certain business needs and requirements isn’t new – in fact, a lot of businesses have been doing it for years, even decades. Outsourcing your business’s accounting can give you plenty of great benefits, including savings on your overhead expenses, no more headaches when it comes to contributions for employee pension and National Insurance, no sick leaves and holidays, and access to a superior team of experienced accountants. But you may already know this – so the next step would be to choose the accounting firm with whom you would like to work. There are many out there, but not every firm will be a good fit for every business.

Here, then, is how you can choose an accounting firm to help your business: your step-by-step guide.

1. Determine the accounting responsibilities you would like your chosen accounting firm to handle – be it basic bookkeeping, tax returns, business plans, credit control, and so on. Make a list of the level of expertise you are looking for, and decide on your requirements based on the kind of business you have as well. Are you looking for the full package or a specialist service? Once you have decided on this, you can narrow down your choices and only meet or speak with those who can deliver.
2. Research the various accounting firms that are suited to your business based on the type of company you have, your business’ size, and your needs. You may want to do research depending on where you are as well, especially if you want your chosen firm to be nearby. If you are in London, for example, then you can search for central London accountants such as those from the highly-respected firm of www.gsmaccountants.co.uk.
3. Get quotes and relevant information and details from potential accounting firms. During this process, it would also be wise to check for reviews about the firm online so you can get a better sense of their expertise, reputation, and service level and support. Remember to ask about the firm’s qualifications and accreditation. Accountants are not generally required to have qualifications, but if you want someone who is qualified, ask them if they are members of a UK authority such as ICAS, ACCA, CIMA, or ICAEW.
4. If you can, try to meet your prospective accounting firm in person – or at least in a video conference. Your prospective firm will usually be your partner for the long term, so it’s best to make sure you have a good connection with them. It’s also important to ask them questions and voice out your concerns so you can gauge their skill and expertise from their answers.
5. When you have already selected the accounting firm you would like to work with, make sure to carefully review the terms and contract. The fees should work according to your budget as well, and ensure that the contract includes all the services they will be providing.
6. As soon as you have come to an agreement and signed the contract, provide the firm with whatever information they would need. Some common documents would include bills, bank statements, receipts, invoices, purchase orders, and credit notes. If this is your first time hiring an accounting firm, they can guide you through what you need to provide and present you with a checklist.