People start their own businesses for many reasons. But rarely, if ever(!), do they start a business so they can spend time keeping their financial records up to date. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. At JRMA we provide bookkeeping support in Worcester and surrounding areas. Below we set out several reasons why you may want to consider outsourcing your bookkeeping activities.
For many business owners, bookkeeping is a necessary task that is often left to the last minute or done during the evening or weekend. By outsourcing your bookkeeping to a qualified accountant, such as JRMA, we could save hours of your own time each month. These hours could be put to better use elsewhere in the business or carrying out other activities that you would prefer to be doing.
As accountants, we undertake bookkeeping activities every day for small and medium-sized businesses. We know how everything should be processed, which nominal codes to assign invoices and receipts to and ensure everything is entered correctly. You can therefore have total peace of mind that your books and records are accurate and provide a true picture of how well the business is doing.
Many of our bookkeeping clients come to us because they have found doing their own books to be very stressful, particularly if they are faced with a deadline such as filing VAT returns. In such circumstances they find they don’t tend to be as thorough as they would like to be, can easily make mistakes and are concerned they are submitting incorrect information. By outsourcing the bookkeeping to us, we keep on top of everything on a monthly or quarterly basis. Our customers tell us it is a huge relief that we have taken this burden away from them. We’ll also work to your deadlines, so you don’t have to worry about missing HMRC, Companies House, or supplier deadlines.
By having up-to-date books and records you will also have better quality financial information to assist with making timely business decisions. By undertaking regular bookkeeping you will have the information you need to make decisions such as investing in plant and machinery, reviewing expenses and identifying key customers based on their spending patterns. As an extension of our bookkeeping service, we also can produce regular management accounts which provide a more detailed analysis of how the business is performing. Details about our management accounts service can be found here.
You may currently employ someone as your firm’s bookkeeper. However, if you are reviewing your staff and payroll costs, outsourcing the bookkeeping to a qualified accountant is likely to be a much cheaper (and easier) alternative. As well as not having to pay someone a salary and all the associated costs of NIC and pensions it is also one less person to have to line manage and arrange holiday or sickness cover for.
You may already have an in-house bookkeeper. However, if they are on long-term sick, going on maternity/paternity leave, retiring or leaving the business, you may find yourself temporarily without bookkeeping support. In such circumstances, we are happy to step in and take on the bookkeeping processing for as long as is required before the person returns or you arrange a replacement. In doing so, you can be reassured that the financial side of your business can continue to operate effectively, and it is one less thing to worry about.
Many businesses are now using online accounting packages to run their bookkeeping tasks. Those that haven’t, or who are struggling to get to grips with online accounting, can benefit greatly from outsourcing their bookkeeping to an accountant who can make this transition for them. By using a cloud accounting package such as Sage Business Cloud, Xero or QuickBooks, the bookkeeping activities of running a business can run seamlessly. Not only do cloud accounts packages help to achieve all the benefits we have mentioned above, but once the system has been set up correctly, you can pretty much run the financial aspects of your business from your mobile phone – just as the software companies adverts suggest! However, the setup phase is not always straightforward. But don’t worry; we can do this for you and then give you training and provide ongoing support.
If you already have an accountant who prepares your annual accounts, calculates your tax and handles all your company filings, you don’t need to change. We can handle the bookkeeping aspects of your business and then hand over the completed records to your accountants for them to take care of everything else. In some cases, this can help reduce your accountancy bills, as the information they receive is presented in a correct format they can easily process.
Business owners are increasingly looking at ways to run their enterprises more efficiently. Outsourcing the bookkeeping element can help free up your time, reduce your costs and help you to make better business decisions. If you are looking for bookkeeping support in Worcester and the surrounding area, we would be delighted to learn more about your business and to give you a quote for handling your bookkeeping requirements, whether weekly, monthly or quarterly. Please contact us at 01905 796512 or email info@jrma.co.uk for a free, no-obligation discussion.
