Want to make outsourcing accounting a success for your restaurant? Follow a weekly accounting system

 The restaurant industry is a harsh one, with more changes in ownership than most businesses. In such a tough situation, you need to make your restaurant business strong financially by outsourcing accounting. Handing over your books of accounts to an accounting firm ensures that your financials are in good hands so that you can focus on your business better. However, even after you have selected the firm for outsourcing accounting, your role as the owner of the restaurant doesn’t end; you need to ensure that the accounting service provider you have hired is taking steps in the best interest of your restaurant.

The turnover of a restaurant is very fast, with income, expenses and inventory coming in and going out each day. So even when you are outsourcing accounting, you need to keep close tabs on such details so that you can avoid a month-end chaotic situation. Having a weekly accounting system for your restaurant will benefit you in this case. In case you have a small staff, you won’t be able to handle a weekly accounting system easily. The decision to outsource accounting can be in your best interest in that situation.

Industry experts believe that outsourcing accounting and having a weekly accounting system is the best step for a restaurant business. Getting weekly updates on accounting of your restaurant will allow you to respond quickly to any financial situation your business faces, which in turn, will help you stay stable in the restaurant business. While outsourcing accounting functions to an expert firm, ensure that they can follow the weekly accounting system, through which you can get the relevant updates and reports for your restaurant.

There are a number of accounting service providers today which specialize in the restaurant industry. Such outsourced accounting firms have an exact idea as to the requirements of a restaurant, so they will be able to help you out with your finances. You can make inquiries with various firms who provide accounting services and check out the packages and the services they include in them.

A good firm for outsourcing accounting will be able to customize its package according to the requirement of your restaurant. Getting a weekly accounting report from such a firm will be an easy task and will help you in running a profitable restaurant for a long time.

Want to increase profits of your restaurant? Think of outsourcing accounting services

 In our last post, we discussed some basics of outsourcing accounting services for a restaurant business. Continuing with our topic of restaurant accounting and bookkeeping, we thought of highlighting HOW outsourcing accounting services can help your restaurant business grow. As said before, profit margins of restaurants are quite thin as compared to other businesses.

Outsourcing accounting services is a good way to ensure that your costs are reduced while getting your financials done efficiently. Some ways in which the decision to outsource accounting can help your restaurant are:

1. Maintain Impeccable Restaurant Financials
Having your books of accounts updated at all times is very important, especially in the restaurant business. Outsourcing accounting services to an expert accounting firm ensures that there is a team of experts working on your books at all times. Having impeccable records means that you won't have to scramble at the last moment when it's tax time. If you are trying to take care of accounting yourself or hiring a bookkeeper, you are likely to make mistakes too. If you outsource accounting, you eliminate any errors that your books might be having. Accounting professionals of an experienced accounting firm ensure that your books are free of any errors and up to date at all times.
2. Spend More Time on Expansion & Profitability
As a restaurant owner, the most important benefit of outsourcing accounting services will be the time you save. You can spend this time on thinking about strategic opportunities related to expansion, mergers or simply increasing profitability. When you outsource accounting, you leave all the non-core functions headaches to an accounting firm, while you focus on important, revenue generating or expansion activities.
3. Save Costs and Increase your Profitability
A good way of increasing profit margin of your restaurant business is reducing costs related to everyday activities. Outsourcing accounting services not only save you the cost of hiring in-house staff, it also saves you the money spent in training and hiring. If you are allotting space to your accountant, you can also save on its rent by deciding to outsource accounting. The savings that you accumulate over a period of time added to your bottom-line or re-invested in your restaurant.
4. Take Strategic Decisions with Ease
Time is of essence when you are thinking of taking strategic decisions. If your books of accounts are not updated or you do not spend enough time exploring different opportunities, you might end up taking wrong decisions for your restaurant business. Outsourcing accounting services means that you will have the time to explore any opportunities you find for your restaurant. It also means that when it's time to take the decisions, the financial position of your restaurant is crystal clear, so that you can judge whether the deal is viable for your business or not. Outsourcing accounting services hence helps in taking strategic decisions as well.

With outsourcing accounting services, you can not only increase profits of your restaurant business, you can also manage it well and expand when the time is right. When your profit margins start showing an improvement, you will know that the decision to outsource accounting was a good one for your restaurant.

Outsourcing accounting: Is it good or bad for your small business?

Outsourcing is a bit of a dilemma to many small businesses. Small business owners wonder whether outsourcing non-core functions can bring them enough benefits or whether it is too great a risk to take. A major issue for small businesses is to decide whether outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping, which takes up a major chunk of their time, is the right step for their business. In order to determine whether outsourcing accounting to a professional accounting firm is the best step for a small business, it is necessary to analyze the advantages and risks associated with it. If you are one of those small business owners facing the same dilemma, read on.

The advantages of outsourcing accounting for small businesses are many:

Focus on revenue-generating activities
The main advantage of outsourcing accounting for a small business is that it allows the small business owner to focus on the core business activities without worrying about the state of books of accounts. The major problem faced by many small business owners is the inability to dedicate enough time to revenue-generating activities. With an accounting firm taking care of all accounting and bookkeeping functions, the small business owner can rest assured that business finances are being taken care of, and can hence dedicate his/her full focus on business activities.

Leave the accounting functions to experts
Outsourcing accounting to a professional accounting firm ensures that experts are working on your accounting. This reduces the chances of errors in your books of accounts. This also means that your books will remain up to date at any given point of time, so that you get the true picture of your business profitability and can take business decisions accordingly.

Save costs
Outsourcing accounting to a professional is cheaper than hiring in-house resources. By outsourcing accounting, small businesses can save up to 40% of costs. This is a significant amount of saving for a small business. This amount can be re-invested into the business. With the many accounting firms in the market today, you can select a service provider who has experience in your industry.

Customized accounting services
Accounting firms provide customized accounting services, which meet specific small business requirements. You can ask for specific reports at regular intervals so that you get the correct picture of your business’ profitability. You can also omit those accounting services your business doesn’t require. Outsourcing accounting functions hence ensures that your business has the solution most suitable for it.

There are also certain disadvantages of outsourcing accounting that need to be taken into consideration:

Confidentiality
Outsourcing accounting means that you have to send confidential accounting information to the accounting firm. If proper security measures are not taken by the accounting firm in question, confidentiality of the accounting information may be breached. Small business owners need to double check on what security measures are being taken to protect their confidential information to avoid a breach.

Inexperienced accounting service providers
Inexperienced accounting firms are a major issue for outsourcing accounting. Outsourcing accounting to an inexperienced service provider can damage the profitability of your business as well as take up extra time for correcting the mistakes that accounting firm makes. While outsourcing accounting, check the experience of the accounting firm and talk to past clients in order to get an idea about the skills of the firm.

The advantages of outsourcing accounting far out-number the possible disadvantages of the same. If small business owners select the accounting firm carefully, their business can prosper steadily even in a tough market.

Outsourcing accounting: 6 things you need to know for your small business

The many advantages of outsourcing accounting are attracting a lot of attention of small business owners. Outsourcing accounting functions has the potential of saving small businesses thousands of dollars per year, which they spend on hiring, training and retention of in-house accounting professionals. Due to its recent popularity, many accounting firms have started offering customized accounting solutions especially for small businesses. However, before deciding to go for outsourcing accounting for your small business, there are some pointers you should keep in mind. The following are some of them:

1. One of the first things you need to be aware of while outsourcing accounting is to have a clear idea of what you want from your accounting firm. To make a success of your small business accounting, you need to have clear expectations and make your accounting firm understand them. Many outsourced accounting projects fail due to misconceptions and lack of communications between the small business owner and the accounting firm.


2. Don't trust an accounting firm blindly when you are outsourcing accounting functions for your business. No matter how much their services are recommended, you need to take things in your hands and check things out. In case you decide to use online accounting services, you need to ensure that the firm which you are using for outsourcing accounting uses adequate security measures to protect your accounting data. If your accounting firm is an offshore one, ensure that the staff working there is qualified enough to take care of your accounting requirements.


3. While outsourcing accounting functions, be sure to ask for references of past clients from the accounting firm concerned. You will get an idea about the quality of work as well as the experience and skills of accounting staff by looking at past work of the firm.


4. Enter into a clear contract with your outsourced accounting firm so that the terms and conditions are specified right from the beginning. A written contract goes a long way in ensuring transparency in your dealings with your accounting firm.


5. You can start the outsourcing accounting project by giving the accounting firm limited responsibilities. This will allow you to set the workflow and judge the caliber of the outsourced accounting firm. Allow the firm to prove its potential and take things forward from there.


6. While outsourcing accounting's main benefit is cost savings, it is should not be the only factor in selecting the accounting firm. Cheap is not always the best option for your accounting services; if the quality of work is not up to the mark, it may cost you much more later on to correct the mistakes of a cheap accounting firm. Outsourcing accounting should not only save you costs, it should also be high in the qualitative factor.

Outsourcing accounting will probably become the most useful business decision you will take for your small business. While it has benefits as well as risks associated with it, if you make informed decisions, the benefits will far exceed the risks for your small business. Find an experienced accounting firm which can become your partner in expanding your business and making it more profitable.

Accounting Services: A Means For Focusing More On Your Small Business

Using accounting services has become a common practice with small and mid-sized businesses, which have fewer resources to manage their business with. A professional accounting service provider has the potential of saving small businesses up to 40% in costs, which can be used to develop the business further. However, using an accounting firm to maintain books of accounts is not just a way to reduce costs; it has many other benefits also.

Focus on your main business activity

The most important reason you should use accounting services from a professional is that you can then focus on your main business activity. Maintaining your books of accounts is not your specialty, and you should hence not spend time doing that. If you have an accounting firm taking care of all your accounting and bookkeeping, you can stop worrying about it and spend more time on core activities which can increase business for you. Handing over all your accounting tasks to an experienced accounting service provider will free valuable time for you which can be a crucial factor for making your small business successful.

Reduce employee-related issues

Many businesses face a lot of issues related to hiring, training and retaining in-house employees. Sometimes, in case of bigger problems, businesses face employee-related lawsuits, which are time consuming. When you use accounting services from a service provider, you don’t have to worry about any issue related to employees, as you are using services and not employing people directly. An accounting firm hence ensures that you save on time and resources of hiring in-house employees.

Experts at your service

Using accounting services from a professional ensures that your books of accounts are being taken care of by experts in the field of accounting and bookkeeping. Accounting firms hire experts who are efficient and experienced at what they do and will work better than an in-house accountant. With such experts working on your accounting, there will also be less likelihood of mistakes in the work that is completed. You hence not only save cost of hiring an accountant, but also get a much more experienced staff to complete your accounting.

Save on office space and resources

The space that your in-house accountant would utilize for maintaining your books of accounts can be saved if you use outsourced accounting services. Accounting firms generally provide online accounting, which eliminates the requirement of any office space. You hence save on rent of an office or the space occupied by your accountant, which you can utilize elsewhere in your business.

No last minute problems

An accounting service provider updates transactions in your books of accounts on daily basis. You can hence stop worrying about pending tasks or last minute glitches at the time of tax filing and annual audits. Your books will be up to date at any given point of time, which eliminates the hassles of last-minute problems which are typically faced at the time of filing of tax.

An experienced accounting firm can reduce your burden of everyday activities, so that you can develop your business according to the vision you have. You may benefit even more if your accounting service provider has some experience in dealing with businesses similar to yours.

Accounting Services: An Integral Part Of Your Small Business Growth

Are you an expert accountant? Most small business owners aren't, and that's why they need the help of a professional who provides accounting services. Hiring such professionals for accounting services can ensure that your books of accounts are in the right hands, so that you can focus on your business. Small business owners are generally tempted to take care of their own accounting. However, hiring a professional for small business accounting services holds some aces over do-it-yourself accounting.

Why a professional for accounting services?

Until recently, small businesses used to hire in-house staff to take care of their accounting for them. This was the only option available to small businesses, as there were few professional accounting service providers available. However, small business owners are increasingly starting to use outsourced accounting services due to the various advantages it offers. The number of service providers for small business accounting has also increased exponentially in the past few years.

Using accounting services can save precious resources, especially for small businesses. The cost of hiring and training an in-house accountant is huge, and an accounting service provider may help save as much as 40% of the cost of such recruitment. A professional company for small business accounting is an expert at what it does, so you need not worry about the quality of work being done. Such an accounting firm is also available 24x7 through phone, email, teleconferencing etc., so accessibility is also not an issue. If an accounting service provider is giving you a cheaper deal and taking care of all your accounting requirements efficiently, why should you hire in-house staff for accounting?

What to expect when you use accounting services?

A professional accounting service provider will be completely dedicated to maintaining your books of accounts. So instead of one single accountant in-house, you will have a whole company at your service. Most accounting service providers provide customized accounting services, which will be completely tailored as per your requirements. A company specializing in small business accounting will also have the latest software and experts to make sure the job is completed properly.

Most accounting service providers offer other services as well. For example, an accounting firm may also be offering bookkeeping services, tax preparation services etc. When you are checking out the company's service portfolio, see other service offerings they have over and above accounting services. If you see anything that applies to your business in addition to small business accounting, have that added in your package.

Accounting firms also provide completely scalable services, so you can change your package or requirements at any time you want. However, you need to discuss the scalability of services with the accounting service provider in question. You may also be thinking about the security of your financial information when you use accounting services from a third party. But you can rest assured that an experienced company providing accounting services will have adequate security measures to keep all your data safe. Ask your accounting service provider about the security measure it takes to keep all your data safe.

Does your accounting firm adhere to these best practices? Important tips for new restaurant owners.

You may have read about the basics of restaurant accounting and bookkeeping in one of our previous posts. Owing to the large amount of queries that we receive from the new and existing restaurant owners, we thought of touching base with the other elements that are directly or indirectly connected with restaurant accounting and bookkeeping. There is a very thin line which separates the success or failure of a restaurant business; accounting and bookkeeping is a major part of the success path for a restaurant. Small discrepancies in books of accounts can force even an experienced restaurateur to close shop. We hence thought of listing down some best practices applicable to restaurants so that you can ensure that your accounting firm can follow them.

Monthly Profit and Loss Statement
A monthly P&L statement helps restaurateurs be aware of just where their restaurant stands profit-wise. If you have an accounting firm which prepares your books for you, ask it to prepare a P&L statement monthly and send it to you so that you know month-by-month progress your restaurant is making. Just looking at the statement, you will get an overall idea of the profit or loss of your restaurant, and take steps to improve accordingly.

Inventory Management
Most restaurants incur losses because the owners don’t have any idea of their inventory and how it is being used. Many restaurateurs assume that the inventory is being used properly and do not manage it properly. This can be a costly mistake for the business. Most accounting firms now provide inventory management as part of their accounting services. Ask your bookkeeping firm to include inventory management in its services offering for your restaurant.

4-week Accounting Period
Accounting and bookkeeping experts recommend a 4-week accounting period for restaurants simply because it holds many advantages for it. Restaurateurs can compare performance of the business with the week or month of last year if they follow a 4-week accounting period. If your accounting firm is an expert in the restaurant industry, it will be aware of this fact and will recommend a 4-week accounting period to you.

Weekly Cost Reporting
Also ensure that your accounting firm provides weekly reports of all the costs your restaurant business incurs. Restaurants have a lot of costs that they incur weekly, like labor, food etc. Being aware of the weekly costs of labor, food etc. will help you cut down unnecessary expenditures and remain profitable.

Designate a Professional for Accounting and Bookkeeping
If all of the above sounds too complicated for you to keep track of, designate a dedicated professional for all your accounting and bookkeeping. Ideally, it should be an accounting firm which specializes in restaurant accounting, as it will know the tricks of the trade from the beginning.

Following the above-mentioned best practices for accounting and bookkeeping of your restaurant will not only help it stay afloat in this tough economy, it will also help make sure that it remains profitable. Your accounting firm can become your partner in your goal of ensuring the profitability of your restaurant.