How to Outsource Your Bookkeeping
Your restaurant won’t survive for long if you don’t pay your bills, track your receipts, or ensure your employees receive their paychecks. Yet, all these little back-office responsibilities can easily fall through the cracks if you’re busy running other aspects of your business. A bookkeeper can be a valuable addition to your team, ensuring that the lights stay on in your restaurant. However, adding another employee is expensive, so outsourcing may be the answer. In this article, we’ll look at how to outsource your bookkeeping.
What Is a Bookkeeper?
Before we dive into bookkeeping outsourcing, it can be useful to review what a bookkeeper actually does. In a nutshell, a bookkeeper manages a business’s day-to-day financial transactions. This can include
- Sending invoices
- Paying invoices and bills
- Performing payroll
- Tracking all payments and receipts
- Managing a company’s ledger and keeping it balanced
In other words, a bookkeeper tracks and manages your money and ensures bills don’t go unpaid. While some restaurant owners can perform their own bookkeeping, others prefer to outsource it to a professional. Bookkeeping outsourcing can free owners up to focus on higher-level tasks and ensure that their books are always done according to industry standards.
RELATED: The Key Difference Between Bookkeepers and Accountants
How to Outsource Bookkeeping
Most restaurants operate on hair-thin margins. You may not want to add the expense of a full-time or part-time bookkeeper to your staff. Fortunately, you can outsource your bookkeeping to save on costs.
Hire a Freelance Bookkeeper
You may be able to find and hire a bookkeeper in your area who performs bookkeeping services for multiple businesses. This option is ideal if you only need part-time help and if you can find a reliable and experienced individual. Freelance bookkeepers may charge an hourly rate or, more commonly, a set monthly fee for their services. Their rates will depend on their experience and the level of work you need.
Use a Virtual Bookkeeping Company
You can find companies that specialize in performing bookkeeping work. Typically, these agencies have a staff of multiple bookkeepers or contractors that share the work. Many of these companies will offer set rates for monthly bookkeeping services. They may also offer accounting services, which can include generating financial reports, preparing your company’s taxes, and providing financial analysis of your business. Their cost will depend on the level of work they perform.
When searching for a bookkeeping company, look for a company with an established reputation, good reviews, and industry-standard pricing.
RASI is a form of a virtual bookkeeping company. We offer bookkeeping services along with many other back-office services specifically for the restaurant industry.
How Does Outsourced Bookkeeping Work?
The actual details of outsourcing your bookkeeping will depend on the individual or company you work with. A local bookkeeper may actually visit your business in person to perform their bookkeeping services using your system and financial software.
However, these days, many bookkeepers and bookkeeping companies are entirely virtual. They will use software and cloud computing to track and manage your finances. They may start by setting up your company with an accounting software, then syncing that program with cloud-based bill pay, invoicing, expense management, and payroll programs.
You and your staff may need to undergo some level of training to learn how to use their preferred software. You will likely also work with your bookkeeper in the beginning to iron out your financial systems. For example, your bookkeeper may ask if you want to put spending limits on employee credit cards or how much oversight you want for approving invoices.
Ready to Outsource Your Bookkeeping?
Now that you know how to outsource your bookkeeping, is it time to take this responsibility off your plate? A virtual bookkeeper, like RASI, can allow restaurant owners to focus on the tasks only they can do. RASI also offers top-level financial oversight so nothing is ever missed. We provide an entire suite of back-office services, so you can expand with us as your business grows.
