In-house v outsourcing your bookkeeping and admin

http://www.oakbookkeepingservices.co.uk/         Your local independent bookkeeper in Reading

Do you procrastinate when it comes to dealing with paperwork in your business? Finding time to run your business, network and spend time with family and friends can leave little time to keep your financial and admin records up to date. So a little extra help seems a good idea.

Do you hire someone in or outsource? There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

The advantage of having someone in-house means you have someone in the office to deal with the finance and admin tasks, answer the phones and other ad-hoc tasks.

The disadvantage is that you also have a payroll to run with a regular salary, national insurance, holiday, sick and possibly maternity/paternity to allow for. Let’s not forget the upcoming auto-enrolment.

Using an outsourced bookkeeper has the advantage of having some-one working only when you need them. There are no employment taxes – the bookkeeper is self-employed and pays their own.

If they work off-site there are no office costs, laptop and software costs. If they work on-site then the above may be provided by either the business or the bookkeeper depending on the business requirements. The paperwork stays on-site

The disadvantage is that they’re not on call when you may need them. If they work off site it’s not easy for either to ask questions. They would also need to take paperwork way so you have to wait till their next in should you have a supplier/customer query.

As a sole trader or small limited company when you don’t need a full time bookkeeper outsourcing definitely has more advantages than having an in-house bookkeeper.  You outsource only the parts you don’t want or have time to do, whether it's the general bookkeeping, invoicing or credit control. They work only when you need them to and ultimately you save money by reducing your overheads.