Monday, August 25, 2008

Try Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping Services

Unless you have the required skill to maintain proper bookkeeping and accounting services, you should think of outsourcing it to specialized bookkeeping firms.

The specialized bookkeeping firms have the know-how and the infrastructure to handle such outsourced jobs. They offer the best available technology solutions and accounting packages that deliver desired results within the stipulated timelines. In short, you get quality service at reasonable cost.

Bookkeeping services include all the tasks for maintaining different records of financial transactions. All businesses, big or small, need quality accounting services for maintaining records.
Small businesses everywhere are facing an acute shortage of perfessional bookkeepers. There are several advantages in using certified bookkeepers such as more accurate bookkeeping and less year-end headaches at the time of tax preparation.

Bookkeeping services are really cumbersome and time consuming. But because it is so essential for any business that it cannot be taken lightly. It reflects the exact financial position of any business. You would need to keep a proper financial record of all income and expenditure related to your business. All the records need to be updated regularly by a bookkeeper.

If the business is small, then you can opt for manual bookkeeping, though it may still be quite cumbersome. Also in case your bookkeeper leaves your books in a mess, it is much more difficult to verify and fix than an online bookkeeping system.

For a mid sized or large business you would have to opt for computerized bookkeeping services because it makes the whole process of recording easy.

Bookkeeping firms dealing with outsource bookkeeping services have various software designed specifically to suit your business needs. These firms are experts in handling different kinds of software. So, instead of taking the headache on your own you should outsource the service.
Outsourcing of bookkeeping services is a very commonly used option used by many companies. This helps them manage their accounts in an organized manner as well as curb unnecessary costs. Once you outsource the service to a third party, you can free up your existing employees and use their services more productively. Also, since the bookkeeping service providers use professional
bookkeepers only, they provide a better quality of job and high customer satisfaction. You can log on to
http://www.books2taxes.com to know more about the process of outsourced bookkeeping and how you can derive benefit from outsourcing bookkeeping services to professionals.

Outsourcing of services will help you reduce cost of labor, give you more flexibility, and better quality of work. As a small businessman you can take advantage of cheap labor and reduced overhead costs if you opt for outsourcing bookkeeping services in your firm.

By outsourcing the accounting services, you can streamline your existing processes like CRM, billing and data warehousing. You need not concentrate too much on non-core activities, for instance. Outsourcing helps you utilize the potential of the in-house bookkeeper to the maximum. Also the responsibility to complete the job on time is totally on the outsourced bookkeeping firm. Visit http://www.books2taxes.com/bookkeeping-rate.html for additional information on outsourced bookkeeping services and bookkeeping rates.

All companies irrespective of size can utilize outsourcing services. In fact it is the best option to concentrate on core and major issues instead of minor line activities. This way the productivity is more and at the end of the day, you can also benefit by saving a lot of money for the organization.
About the Author:Author Amitaabh K Saboo is a professional bookkeeper and member of a leading bookkeeping service. Click to find out more about his accounting service.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Accounting Software Can Be Sophisticated Or Simple But Rarely Both

Accounting software is a system of recording financial transactions on a computer across a full range of accounting options almost invariably dependent upon the size of business being catered for. Financial software can vary from a several million pound solution for major public companies to simple managed lists of income and expenses.

The requirements from accounts software are diverse with the most complex and comprehensive financial accounting packages incorporating financial reporting information and managed by teams of qualified accountants supported by accounts clerks, bookkeepers and substantial input from automated data sources. At the other end of the scale a self employed sole trader might use accounting software themselves and produce a set of financial accounts for the year in an afternoon.

Different accounting standards are required from the software packages dependent upon the fitness for purpose and client needs. Double entry bookkeeping automated through a database system and probably arranged in financial modules would normally be the choice of the majority of public companies. Single entry bookkeeping would not be an acceptable accounting solution for a limited company due to audit requirements and statutory obligations.

Single entry bookkeeping does however have its place in the market place for the smaller less complex businesses who maintain financial control through a close intimate knowledge of every financial transaction. The main objective of a sole trader is more likely to be the production of the tax accounts and complete the periodic and annual tax return forms.

The most sophisticated level of financial software in the largest companies mirrors the accounting functions in those organisations with various modules for accounts receivable, accounts payable, stock control, general ledger and fixed assets. These accounting modules may also be integrated with other business functions such as production and dispatch functions and also divided into separate modules within the finance function.

In larger companies the sales daybook and data entry of sales turnover would often be the responsibility of one department while the accounts receivable function might be split with a specialist credit control function within that accounting module. A further division may also include sales administration and customer records. Similarly the accounts payable function might be split between the purchasing department, accounts purchase invoice department and a legal function for overdue payments.

Accounting software for smaller companies and organisations is commonly a system of data entry of prime transactions which include sales income, purchase expenses and cash and bank transactions. The entry of these prime documents being to a database which automates the double entry bookkeeping principles and produces both accounts receivable, accounts payable and general ledger databases.

Some accounting knowledge is usually required to operate a database accounting software system and that financial knowledge is usually available within the company as most companies that use database accounting software also employ a bookkeeper or accounts clerks to input data and in slightly larger small companies also qualified accountants to manage the accounting function.

The need for accounting knowledge in a database system is partially to understand the data entry principles and the relevancy of the rules that need to be followed but essentially understanding of accounting principles is required to understand what is happening ton the information after input. And most important, a qualified accountant has the financial knowledge, training and experience to know what the system should be producing and how to query the database to retrieve that information.

In addition to inputting the prime income and expenditure details the most benefit of a database system is the level of control the information it contains can provide the company management and financial directorship. The accounting function also has the security of producing trial balances, periodic profit and loss accounts, balance sheets and other financial and statements for tax and control purposes.

Small business accounting packages requiring little or no accounting knowledge are available.
Small limited companies must obtain accounting software based upon double entry bookkeeping principles as in addition to producing a profit and loss account and a trial balance to demonstrate accuracy and integrity of the financial records plus a balance sheet is required for reporting purposes. Accounting standards require the limited company to have a system of financial control and accounting software is an essential tool in achieving this.

Some accounting knowledge either from the management or outsourcing the bookkeeping services is usually required with even the simplest database accounting solutions even if this requires the understanding of what accounts receivable ledgers, accounts payable ledger and control accounts mean.

There are other possibilities and those businesses with a minimum of accounting knowledge can consider spreadsheet based accounting software. Spreadsheet accounts are less flexible and often do not have the range of options a database system has due to the lack of database queries available. These disadvantages of flexibility being compensated by the fact that all entries are visible, transparent and changes can be made more easily.

Financially at the sole trader and self employed end of the business spectrum then the requirements from accounting software may be completely different. Gone are the sophistication of control accounts, trial balances and many aspects of financial control. The most important aspect of self employed accounting is often to produce a set of accounts for tax purposes.
Self employed small business that do not require a balance sheet can use accounting software based upon single entry bookkeeping rather than double entry and with the reduced requirement for financial control then less financial queries to the system are required. In these respects the simpler an accounting solution the better and in this market an accounting solution written on spreadsheets that can produce the net taxable profit would meet the requirements.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Small Business Accounting Services Simplifies Your Business Processes

Any business irrespective of size has different requirements and business strategies for the management of its businesses. Whether it is a small, medium or a large scale business, its sole purpose is to make more profits and less losses. And to add to that handling accounts, transactions and other financial details is not and easy task but with the services of small business accounting services these can be achievable. Hence, to take its services is a good idea as it reduces botwork force and monetary burden of the client.

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