5 Tips to Ensure Your Relationship with Your Outsourced Accounting Firm is Successful

Proven Tactics to Ensure Success

If you have recently begun to outsource or are still deciding if this option is viable for your company, here are five tips that will help you have a successful relationship with your chosen firm.

1. Establish Clear Communication

Effective communication is the cornerstone of any successful relationship. Outsourced accounting is no different. Define key points of contact on both sides and establish regular check-ins to discuss progress, address concerns, and ensure alignment on goals.

Your outsourced team thrives on information. The more information you include with vendor invoices and income copies, the easier your outsourced staff will have in determining how to understand and record that information.

Be sure to share your organization’s long- and short-term goals. If the needs of your company change, or industry trends shift, this could require a change in how you operate. Share these insights with your accounting team. And finally, sharing one another’s availability schedules is also a good way to guide response expectations when emergencies arise.

2. Determine Roles for Each Side

There is a reluctancy to use the term boundaries in an ongoing relationship. However, when negotiating a contract with an outsourced accounting firm, be sure to start with a general idea of what the outsourcing staff will manage and what is most cost effective for your company. These  include activities around data entry, analysis, month end, audit preparation and cash flow. Factors that will help influence this decision include the abilities and bandwidth of your existing in-house staff, your organization’s needs, and, of course, cost.

3. Set Clear Expectations and Objectives

Setting realistic goals and expectations is essential for all parties – whether they are employed in house or outsourced. This may seem like a simple concept, but for your outsourced accountant, knowing when tasks are due helps them organize and prioritize their time to best address the needs of multiple clients. The key is defining what is realistic, which will depend on the roles assigned to both in-house and outsourced staff.

4. Utilize Technology

There are programs and tools available to your company that may be new to you but not to an experienced outsourced firm. Utilizing invoice scanning, electronic vendor payments and having smartphone access are all examples of ways to create efficiencies. Video calls with screen sharing is a great way to connect with your outsourced accounting team enabling you to view material together to reduce confusion.

5. Cultivate a Collaborative Partnership

If you consider the ultimate goal, which is the continued financial success and growth of your company, all parties involved have a vested interest in achieving that goal. The reputation of the outsourced firm you choose is a good indication of how well they operate. It can be daunting to hand over one of the most essential components of your business to someone else. A qualified outsourcing company will always have your best interests in mind and a solid relationship built on communication and trust will be more likely to be successful.

If you would like to explore whether outsourcing your accounting function to ARI is the right move for your business, contact us today.

In the meantime, discover the 10 Benefits of Outsourcing Your Accounting Needs.

Also, check out how ARI and its employees are active in the community.