Benefits of outsourcing accounting and finance

Samuel Moore Walton, the American businessman and entrepreneur best known for founding the retailers Walmart and Sam’s Club said it quite right, “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

The scenario today is extremely critical for businesses. There has been a massive increase in population and the customer base has expanded by leaps and bounds. Also, a lot of new players have entered the industry and are giving a tough fight to the giants. So in order to survive and beat the challenge, you need to focus and dedicate your efforts in exploring new areas to grow.

Outsourcing Finance and Accounting processes is a relief for internal departments as they are able to channelise their energies in to strategic affairs and improve far-flung global operations. Outsources have expanded their offerings to almost all the segments of businesses, be it a conglomerate or a small or mid-size company.

Following are the operations on offer by outsourcing companies: –

Supply Chain Finance

Product Costing
Inventory Accounting
Manufacturing Accounting

Accounts Payable

Expense Reports
Payment Processing

Order to Cash

Accounts Receivable
Billing and Cash Application
Order Management
Credit Control
Collections

Invoice Adjustment

Dispute Resolution
Claims Management

Record to Report

General Accounting
Fixed Assets Accounting
Tax and Regulatory Reporting
Cost Accounting
Intercompany Accounting
Reporting and Consolidation

Corporate Functions

Treasury
Cash Management and Cash Flow Forecasting
Financial Planning and Analysis

Capital Budgeting

Revenue and Expense Budgeting
Quarterly / Annual Forecast
Ratio Analysis
Variance Analysis
Competitor Analysis
Market Analysis
Financial Modeling and Management Accounting

There has been a rapid increase in the number of companies looking for end-to-end Finance & Accounting processes. The major benefit of outsourcing is the powerful analytics that help a company better understand their spending through the entire supply chain process. Not only this, outsourcing helps brands control budgets and standardize operations worldwide.

The organisation taking the responsibility for Finance and Accounting processes maintain a perfect record of the transactions that helps in analysing funds. Also, the company is easily able to spot the areas where the expenses can be cut down for cost savings. The use of technology ensures no duplication on account of payments and kills the scope for any sort of human errors.

Outsourcing outcomes can be substantially beneficial. They result in savings and improve service-level achievement. Also, the operations are aligned better and tracking becomes real easy.