What Questions Should I Ask When Outsourcing Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and Bookkeeping?

You’ve finally grown your business to a point where you think it’s smart to bring in outside accounting help.  Now comes the hard part.  Who should you choose to help you with accounts receivable, accounts payable and other bookkeeping services?  There are a lot of choices out there, and it’s important that you ask the right questions so that you can make sure the partner you pick is the best fit for your business.

Here are three questions you should ask when choosing an outsourced option for accounting.

What data security measures will be put in place?

Sharing financial data, no matter how big or small is always risky business.  That’s why it’s important for you to ask what protocols are put in place to keep your financial information safe and secure.  A good accounting service for Australian businesses will ensure they comply with ISO information security standards, Australian Data Protection laws, and any other relevant standards ensuring security of your confidential data.

What will be the benefit of your service?

You’ve probably already figured out why you want to outsource accounting functions (which is why you’re looking), but this is a good question to ask so that you can hear what they have to say.  If they can clearly explain and show you how they will bring value to your company, that’s a good sign.  If they don’t have a clear answer, that’s a red flag.  Cost savings and benefits will vary depending on the size of your business, the number of transactions and the number of vendors you deal with, but there generally can be cost savings generated by outsourcing instead of having internal accounting resources.  Outsourcing also provides benefits such as streamlining processes, improving efficiency and the management of a function by an expert.

Do you have the ability to scale with my business?

When choosing an outsourced accountant, it is important to understand their ability to grow with your company.   The last thing you need is to find out a year into the partnership that they can no longer provide what you need.  Conversely, it should also work the other way around. If you need to ramp down, you need to make sure that they will be able to scale back and reduce fees if needed.

By asking these three questions, you will be able to weed out the accountants who aren’t the right fit and find one that delivers exactly what you need.