What Are Outsourced Accounting Services and Do I Need Them?

If you are asking yourself these two questions, you’ve come to the right place.

Let’s answer the easy question first. What are outsourced accounting services?

In the simplest of terms, outsourced accounting services provide the experienced and pivotal accounting resources you need for your business. These resources may be people who are as senior and strategy-focused as a CFO, or more tactical and task-oriented controllers, account managers or staff accountants – and anything in between.

How can you determine if you need to outsource the accounting of your business?

Here are four questions we find can help clarify the needs and challenges of our clients.

1. Do you struggle with making informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date financial information?
2. Do you lack the resources to support a full accounting team?
3. Do you underutilize and overpay your accounting sta­ff?
4. Do you use accounting clerks to perform high-level functions they aren’t qualified to do?

If you’ve answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you are a great candidate to outsource your accounting needs.

An outsourced accounting firm will:

• Help you gain better business insights to make smarter, more informed decisions.
• Provide experts in your industry and in the software they utilize.
• Function as an extension of your internal team.
• Deliver clear, accurate, and timely financial information.
• Customize their services to fit your needs.
• Offer a more cost-effective and scalable solution for your business.
• Be dedicated to your success.

OK, but what does an outsourced accounting firm actually do?

It’s easiest to provide a comprehensive list to demonstrate the scope and skills of what an outsourced accounting firm can provide. From CFO-level assistance to staff accountants, an outsourced accounting firm can provide the help you need.

The needs of a company can vary based on their industry. We’ve outlined below some of the services offered for the key industries on which we at Plumb are exclusively focused.

Construction & Real Estate Industry

• Work in progress schedule and maintenance
• Comprehensive job costing
• Progress, unit-based, and time and material billing
• Completed contract and percentage complete revenue recognition
• Surety reporting
• Overhead budgeting and analysis
• Equipment costing and analysis
• General ledger budget preparation and review
• Material and labor analysis
• Lien waiver tracking
• Draws assemblies
• Subcontract management
• Estimating
• Change orders and claims accounting
• Prevailing wage reporting

• Track bill of materials and sub-assemblies
• Implement inventory control systems
• Run inventory costing and automated relieving
• Simplify physical audits through systems
• Manage supplier base effectively
• Report on work-in-process
• Conduct break-even analysis
• Track and file sales and use tax
• Reduce spoilage, leakage, and other costs
• Track direct material and labor costs
• Allocate overhead strategically
• Analyze warehouse needs
• Implement budgets and report on variances

• General accounting
• Monthly financial statement preparation
• Expert knowledge in e-commerce software stacks
• E-commerce specific reporting metrics
• Cash flow budgeting and forecasting
• Marketplace fee reconciliation and analysis

• Financial reporting
• Profitability reports by client, employee, or project
• Budget versus actual reports
• Utilization analysis
• Overhead and rate analysis
• Performance indicator development
• Cash management
• Collections
• Pricing model analysis
• Software system selection
• Labor allocation analysis
• Compensation and bonus analysis

We are here to help guide you through the outsourced accounting process and to answer any questions you may have. With decades of experience and hundreds of clients, Plumb is here to support you as you take your business to the next level. Please let us know if you’d like to schedule time for a free consultation. We’d love to help.