Accounting: outsourcing vs in-house
Last Modified 16th of February 2021
When you’re responsible for running a company, knowing what aspects of the business to keep in-house and what to outsource can be crucial when it comes to saving money. Accounting can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of any business, but should you keep it in-house or think about outsourcing it?
In-house accounting
Pros
Managing your accounts in-house allows you to have a more hands-on approach, even if you’ve hired staff to do the job for you. This is something that some business owners may find reassuring. There’s also the lure of low expenditure if you manage your accounts yourself without the help of staff, as outsourcing your accounting means you’ll have to pay someone else to do it.
Cons
The hands-on approach can take a lot of time, and if you’re managing your accounting as a business owner, the chances are your time might be better spent in other areas of the business, such as securing new clients to boost revenue. If you’re paying staff to manage your accounts, then you’ll still have to monitor their activity to ensure everything is done correctly to avoid the risk on non-compliance, which will also eat up some of your valuable time.
Outsourcing your accounting
Pros
Outsourcing your accounting can actually end up being cheaper than doing it in-house. One single payment covers software fees, and eliminates the wide range of HR fees, such as training and pensions. You’re also pretty much 100% guaranteed that your accounts will comply with statutory requirements and will have low fraud risk, as you’re dealing with professional experts that will be responsible for the accounts of other businesses too, so they know what they’re doing.
Cons
A loss of managerial control is possibly the most obvious disadvantage to outsourcing your accounting and some business owners can feel uncomfortable putting such a high level of trust into a service. You’re also tied to the financial well being of another company, and therefore risk them going into liquidation and leaving you with accounts that you have no idea how to manage properly.
An Alternative
If you still can’t decide what’s best for you, some companies actually use a mixture of both in-house and outsourcing when it comes to managing their financial accounts.
