With the success of the organization’s finance department resting on the Chief Financial Officer’s ability to manage the business finance operations properly, it is crucial that the CFO is supported with a team that is equipped and experienced. As the leader and financial officer of a growing business, the CFO faces many challenges, as they carry the responsibility of the company’s financial management, overseeing the organization’s financial actions, achieving financial stability and scalability that will lead to business growth.
But what if the company doesn’t have the budget to maintain an in-house finance and accounting department? What if they cannot afford the advanced accounting software and tools that reduce overall costs, improves accounting accuracy, speeds up completion, and frees them of manual processing? In this guide, we will list the benefits of outsourcing finance and accounting and explain how the right outsourced finance services provider can help the CFO manage the financial actions of the organization.
Focus on High-Value Strategic Work
Today’s CFO’s need to focus on high-value activities like ensuring the company’s financial health, analyzing its strengths and weaknesses, looking for growth opportunities and ensuring it’s adequately capitalized. However, high-volume transactions and time-consuming transactional processes can prevent the CFO from making optimal business decisions and strategic plans. Outsourcing allows the CFO to move away from the accounting function to operate in a strategic role where their expertise and insight are most needed.
When you outsource to a reliable Finance as a Service provider, the CFO is supported by a team of finance experts that will work to ensure the company’s financial reports are accurate and completed on time. Because the CFO is freed from the burden of time-consuming work, they can focus their efforts on financial planning and revenue generation, proposing strategic initiatives.
Cost Savings on Recruitment, Training, and Full-Time Employment
Maintaining a full-time staff to support the CFO can be both expensive and time-consuming. The HR department and recruitment team would need to spend on hiring costs, such as placing job ads to attract the right candidates. They would have to screen resumes and interview shortlisted applicants. And once they’ve hired the right person to fill the position, resources need to be allocated to ensure the new hire is onboarded and trained. The productivity loss turns into financial loss, as you need to factor in the learning curve and time it takes for the new employees to get used to your processes.
An in-house, salaried finance and accounting staff also means having a budget for payroll and employee benefits, such as sick and vacation leaves, retirement contributions, and payroll taxes. You also need to equip each employee in the finance and accounting department with the tools they need to perform their jobs. This not only includes a laptop or desktop but the space for their workstation and the relevant software. Maintaining software and all your data inhouse also means having to keep an inhouse IT team, which can also be costly.
With all these expenses to recruit, train, pay employee salaries, and maintain hardware and software, there may be little funding left to allow your company to upgrade to better accounting software and processes that will keep you competitive and running efficiently.
Modernize Back Office Operations and Streamline Processes
When you outsource your finance and accounting, you can finally let go of clunky, outdated accounting and bookkeeping systems. The right outsourced Finance as a Service provider can take a company with weak processes and controls and improve them with robust technology solutions and systems, streamlined processes, and proper controls. A consolidated financial platform is agile and strategic, ensuring transactional work and processes run smoothly. The CFO will benefit from the outsourced partner’s ability to solve process and operational hurdles that keep a company from scaling effectively.
The best part is that your company can achieve all this and benefit from advanced software and streamlined processes without purchasing the technologies or maintaining them inhouse. The right outsourcing provider of finance and accounting services is a strategic partner that gives you access to their modern solutions and processes. You also capitalize on their specialized team’s expertise, which means minimal errors and improved compliance. And with the digital taxation revolution underway, you need to ensure your business is equipped to comply with new compliance models of tax reporting.
With cloud-based solutions and services, you have access to centralized operations that minimize the risk of errors, duplication of jobs, and other bottlenecks. As industry experts in automation, you benefit from the outsourced accounting services provider’s knowledge in process improvements and best practices.
Because mitigating the probability of fraud is crucial, a good third-party Finance as a Service provider will ensure that proper controls are put in place to ensure you reduce the risks of becoming a victim of fraud. This involves advanced data security and protocols to protect your confidential financial information and give you peace of mind.
When the Finance as a Service partner implements their enterprise accounting software and establishes financial controls, your non-integrated solutions and paper-based processes that are prone to error can be eliminated. The result is a centralized dashboard that offers transparency and the ability to view your financial narrative at a glance. Increased visibility into your accounting and financial information leads to strategic problem solving and decision making, which results in increased revenue.
Controller Services to Help Take Up the Slack
Controllers within the Finance as a Service model can offer analysis and strategic guidance and cash flow management that provide insight and lead your company towards financial stability and scalability. As the CFO, you can delegate certain tasks to an outsourced financial controller to ensure you’re not taken away from your high-value activities and financial strategies. Finance as a Service controllers can handle monthly close and reporting, compliance management, employee and vendor communication, and management reporting. Commonly outsourced controller services also include overseeing transactional processing, policy and procedure adherence, and offer internal audit support.
Conclusion
As the Chief Financial Officer, there are many reasons to outsource your finance functions and accounting, beyond saving on hiring and labor costs. Hiring an outsourced accounting and bookkeeping service provider is a strategic approach to support your accounting processes needs that leads to better, proactive decision-making and improved financial health.
Whether you are a full-time CFO, part-time CFO, or a Controller who wants to advance within the organization and get involved in strategy, an outsourcing provider of finance functions helps you as a strategic partner to help your company grow. The benefits of outsourcing include having more time and energy to focus on high-value work, raising capital, financial strategies, and company goals that will help your business operations grow. When you outsource your finance operation and accounting processes to the right Finance as a Service provider, you benefit from their advanced software, streamlined operations, and best practices.
