Concentration on the core business – doing what you do best, and doing as much of it as possible. No entrepreneur wants to invest resources unnecessarily in processes that serve neither the growth nor the productivity of the company. This also applies to financial accounting, a necessary resource guzzler that requires more effort the larger the company becomes. The storage and management of receipts alone easily gets out of hand. Distributing different accounting tasks to different locations also costs resources. As lean as possible and yet efficient, that’s how financial accounting should actually be. In order to achieve this goal, some entrepreneurs have to rethink.
HR or IT outsourcing is common, but external financial accounting is not yet
In Germany, companies of all sizes are now outsourcing to outsource secondary work. HR or IT processes are often outsourced to external providers – financial accounting is rare. Although there is usually a lot of untapped optimization potential here, many managers see this, but entrusting the business figures to others is still perceived by a majority of entrepreneurs as a loss of control and a leap of faith that they are not willing to take without further ado. Although this would be worthwhile in many cases: Employees are freed from redundant administrative work, can henceforth drive the business forward, and the boss still has access to and control over all the figures necessary for decisions at management level at all times.
Scan receipts first, then file them
Digitization is an essential component of contemporary, resource-saving financial accounting. Today, receipts should not be filed first, but scanned. Digitized documents are superior to their paper counterparts in many respects. If you store your receipts on the secure server of a data center, it is much easier to find what you are looking for via search query. And they don’t have to fear water damage, fire or human mishaps. The digital originals are safe – even from data thieves.
Processes stall due to rigid distribution of tasks in analogue accounting
If you digitize your accounting, you can optimize some processes in one go that have often stalled due to rigid distribution of tasks in analog accounting. In many cases, general ledger accounting, accounts payable, accounts receivable and asset accounting work largely in isolation. There is a lack of information exchange as well as the timely involvement of other departments. As soon as all data is always available to all participants, it is easier to look at processes holistically.
Electronic balance sheet at the touch of a button
Modern digitization in accounting goes beyond scanning receipts. Comprehensive digital accounting is created if the cash book is also kept electronically, as are the daily banking transactions, which can be carried out in encrypted form via secure connections. In modern financial accounting, larger quantities of paper are only necessary for reading the newspaper during the lunch break. For most work, the screen is sufficient, which can be used to complete all tasks and quickly view all the required documents. And when the electronic balance sheet is due (Tax Bureaucracy Reduction Act), then a push of a button is enough. All the data has already been recorded.
Making the payment and dunning system more efficient
“Make or buy?”, do it yourself or buy, this question arises in all non-value-adding processes. When it comes to financial accounting, the correct answer is often “buy”. Digitization in cooperation with an external service provider can be the decisive step on the way to efficient, better and, on top of that, cheaper financial accounting: Costs for hardware and software as well as data backup are eliminated, no training is necessary, and even more staff is freed up for the core business. Nevertheless, the figures are always up-to-date, among other things, the payment and dunning system is becoming more efficient, and there is up-to-date transparency for management.
Practice shows that outsourcing also works in financial accounting. In a study by the buw group of companies in cooperation with PricewaterhouseCoopers, German entrepreneurs who have already taken this step were surveyed. Concentration on the core business, lower costs, more quality, standardization and automation were the effects that the outsourcing of financial accounting was supposed to bring. Most of the entrepreneurs surveyed were satisfied with the results.
How do you equip your financial accounting for the future? Is outsourcing an interesting solution for you? Write us a comment – we look forward to your experiences.
Image source: Fotolia.com, Photographer: lightpoet
