Finance And Accounting Tasks You Should Outsource

When you are running your own business it’s natural to want to handle all the operations. However, when in the finance and accounting industry, there are a lot of time-consuming tasks that need to be done but may not be the best use of time for your highly qualified and skilled team. So, it is for this reason that Outsourcing some of the more menial and/or time-consuming tasks could be a great option for your firm.

So what kind of tasks can you outsource and how do you go about deciding?

Finance and accounting are fairly broad functions that cover a long list of tasks. There are some obvious and not-so obvious choices. In terms of deciding what will be the best for you to outsource will come down to what is going to provide you with the best value and cost / time benefit. When you meet with your outsourcing partner, they will be able to assist with the decision-making process.

Here are some of the services that an accounting firm may consider outsourcing:

1. COMPLIANCE WORK: This could include, statutory filings and preparing financial statements, GST and VAT returns, individual tax returns (ITR), and company tax returns.
2. BOOKKEEPING: Taking care of tasks such as, processing invoices and receipts, processing and maintaining your payroll system, preparing financial statements, account reconciliation and so on.
3. SMSF COMPLIANCE: With SMSF compliance being fairly complex to understand in entirety, an outsourcing firm will ensure that all SMSFs are compliant, particularly around law changes.
4. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSES: Back office administrative services like data management, billing and invoicing, transaction processing, management services and all kinds of back office administration services an accountant would need.

Financial Planners may find these services useful to outsource:

5. STATEMENT OF ADVICE PREPARATION: The entire process of Pre-SOA, Statement of Advice and Post SOA
6. ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS:Processes specific to Financial planners such as, risk and wealth checklist, calling various funds, online applications, annual planning review, application process, insurance cancellations, etc. Also includes general administrative tasks like new client entry, and CRM management.

Even Mortgage Brokers could benefit with the following:

7. MORTGAGE BROKERING PROCESSES: Includes tasks such as, Loan Processing Service, fact checks, preparation of serviceability calculators, discharge forms and processing, compliance documents, lender’s application online or on lender’s software, etc.

Then there are the tasks that are lesser known but also worth considering;

8. VIRTUAL ASSISTANT SUPPORT: Tasks including booking flights and meetings, taking notes and documenting follow up actions and sending business correspondence.
9. AUDIT BACK OFFICE SUPPORT

It’s easy to feel like you can cover off all these tasks in your office, due to the basic nature of them, but when you consider the time it takes for your team to do these vs attending high priority client needs, looking at an outsourcing partner really is a great option. Not only can you rest easy knowing these tasks are being handled by professionals, you can also take joy in seeing your team elevate their skill set to higher levels as they won’t be bogged down by the day-to-day. It’s a win-win for all involved.