Growth is an exciting stage for any business. More customers, higher sales and a growing team can all indicate that things are moving in the right direction.
But growth also creates more administration.
For businesses across Auckland, increasing transaction volumes can mean more invoices, expenses, suppliers, payroll information and financial records to manage.
At some point, many business owners face an important question: Should I continue doing the bookkeeping myself, or is it time to outsource it?
Here are some signs that outsourcing may be worth considering.
You're Spending More Time on Bookkeeping Than Growing the Business
In the early stages, managing your own bookkeeping may be perfectly reasonable.
But as the business grows, a task that previously took an hour can begin taking several hours.
If bookkeeping is regularly taking you away from customers, sales, operations or business development, outsourcing can free up valuable time.
The Number of Transactions Has Increased
Business growth usually creates more financial activity.
You may be dealing with more customer invoices, additional supplier bills, higher numbers of expenses, more bank transactions, additional subscriptions and recurring payments, and increased administration.
The greater the transaction volume, the more important consistent bookkeeping processes become.
You're Hiring Employees or Contractors
Bringing more people into a business adds another layer of financial administration.
Business owners need organised records and processes to ensure information relating to payments and business expenses is properly maintained.
Having professional bookkeeping support can help keep the financial administration organised as the team expands.
You're Falling Behind
Growth can sometimes happen faster than the administrative side of the business can keep up.
If transactions aren't being reconciled regularly, receipts are accumulating or invoicing is being delayed, it may indicate that your existing bookkeeping process has reached its limits.
Outsourcing can help establish a regular routine rather than repeatedly catching up.
You Need Better Financial Visibility
As a business grows, decisions can become more significant.
Should you hire another employee? Invest in equipment? Expand into another area? Increase marketing?
While bookkeeping doesn't make those decisions for you, accurate and current financial information gives you a stronger foundation for discussing them with the appropriate financial professionals.
Your Accountant Is Spending Time Cleaning Up the Books
If significant work is required to organise financial records before your accountant can use them, improving the bookkeeping process may make sense.
Bookkeepers and accountants often perform different but complementary roles.
Keeping accurate records throughout the year can make it easier for your accountant to work with reliable financial information when required.
You Want More Consistent Processes
Growing businesses increasingly rely on systems rather than memory.
Invoices need to be issued consistently, expenses recorded correctly, bank accounts reconciled and documentation maintained.
A professional bookkeeper can help create and maintain processes that are easier to manage as transaction volumes increase.
Outsourcing Doesn't Mean Losing Control
Some business owners worry that outsourcing bookkeeping means losing visibility over their finances.
It should be the opposite.
Effective bookkeeping should provide clearer, more organised financial information while removing much of the repetitive administration from the business owner's workload.
You remain responsible for your business while having support to keep the financial records organised.
Bookkeeping That Can Grow With Your Auckland Business
There isn't one particular revenue figure or number of employees that determines when a business should outsource its bookkeeping.
A better question is: Is managing the bookkeeping yourself still the best use of your time?
If bookkeeping is regularly falling behind, consuming valuable hours or becoming increasingly complicated as the business grows, it may be worth considering professional support.
KMT Bookkeeping works with businesses across Auckland, providing bookkeeping support that can adapt as their administrative requirements change and grow.
Getting the right systems and processes in place earlier can make it much easier to manage the financial side of the business as it moves into its next stage.
