1) Is outsourced
bookkeeping the best solution for my company?
The answer is probably "YES" if
you fit the following profile:
-
You are a service business where
payroll is the single biggest cost.
-
Your revenues are over $250,000 and
less than $5,000,000 per annum.
-
You have sophisticated information
requirements.
You need a balance of skills not
available from a single accounting resource. Outsourcing is the most
cost-effective way of getting what you need and helping you to grow.
2) How much does it cost?
This depends on the volume of
transactions to be processed, the frequency of visits to your place of
business and the complexity of any special reports you need. We agree a
fixed monthly fee with you in advance so there are never any surprises. The
fee will always be value based to ensure that you are getting the highest
level of service for a lower cost than hiring your own accountants.
3) How does this make sense
economically?
Small businesses need a mixture of
different skills in the bookkeeping and accounting field. You need someone
to record transactions regularly into the accounting system. You need
another resource at a more advanced level to prepare your financial reports
and ensure they are accurate and you need a third more senior accountant to
answer the trickier financial questions that come up all the time in
business. You will never be able to hire one person to do all of the above
and the least you will pay for a junior accountant is $25,000 plus benefits
while a senior accountant will cost you upwards of $75,000. Since we can
usually provide everything you need for less than the cost of the cheapest
internal resource, the financial benefit is obvious.
4) We have a CPA, do you
replace what they do?
No. Your
external accounting firm will prepare your annual financial statements and
append an opinion. Brink's Business Solutions does not do assurance work. You
will retain your external accountants who will work with Brink's Business
Solutions in the same way they work with an in-house accountant. Many of our
clients have been referred to us by major CA firms and we will be happy to
recommend one of these firms should you need or want independent assurance.
5) Do we need to change our
software?
Maybe. We use QuickBooks for the
majority of our clients. We have chosen this program after extensive
research into the products available on the market at this time. QuickBooks is far and away the most user-friendly and flexible small business
accounting package available. The inherent effectiveness of the software
keeps our prices reasonable. QuickBooks is ahead of any other "generic software"
package out there and much easier to use. Intuit has been able to produce
a quality product and keep their prices less expensive than other comparable
software programs. They also offer "perks" to our company, through their
QuickBooks Professional Advisory program, such as discounts in the purchase of
their software and Federal Express..
QuickBooks Pro, which has multi-user
capability for up to 5 people working simultaneously, costs less than $250 for a
single user with the flexibility to add new users incrementally as your business
grows. QuickBooks products are fully Y2K compliant.
We are members of the QuickBooks
Professional Advisors Program but otherwise have no commercial relationship with
the manufacturer, Intuit. We recommend QuickBooks only because we believe it to
be the best solution for our clients.
6) Are there any hidden
costs?
No. Depending
on the state of your existing accounting system, there will be a certain amount
of setup work to be done. This would normally be equivalent to about one month’s
billing. Apart from that, your monthly charge covers everything.
If special
work is required, for example new information reports or a year end file for
your auditors, we will be happy to quote you in advance.
