The Virtual Boom: How the Remote Workforce Increases the Value of Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a natural byproduct of specialization.

It provides a business with greater flexibility, allowing the company to focus on broader growth initiatives while external experts tackle the operational minutiae. Although it has been a growing business practice for over three decades, COVID-19 has rapidly accelerated its potential use for small and large companies alike. 

Now that a significant portion of the entire global economy has been forced to switch to a decentralized, remote workforce, more business leaders are realizing the value outsourcing non-core functions could provide, especially when it comes to accounting. 

Remote Work and Outsourcing

Due to COVID-19, the digital landscape is evolving at a breakneck pace. Add continuous technological innovations to the mix and it is easy to see why businesses—especially those that lack the space or funds for in-house departments—are shifting to a hybrid of in-house and external teams.

At its essence, outsourcing allows a business to optimize. 

It makes it possible for you to assemble a team of highly skilled experts without the additional expenses of a full-time staffer. Additionally, outsourcing empowers you to better utilize your existing talent and resources as they shift their focus to core business functions. 

The result is typically this: 

1. Lower operating costs
2. More capital funds
3. A cash infusion
4. Access to new resources

With a remote workforce, you’re effectively functioning as you would while outsourcing, but with one significant difference—you’re paying more. So, going forward, it makes even less financial sense to hire in-house than it once might have since you no longer recoup the benefit of keeping these various departments under one roof. 

Benefits of Accounting Outsourcing 

Domestic outsourcing as a routine business practice was already an inevitability due to economies of scale. It was only a matter of time until an even greater number of businesses saw the opportunity to delegate time-consuming tasks externally, cut expenses, and optimize internally. 

COVID-19 has simply acted as fuel on the flames, spurring the virtual boom onward. This disruption has provided a unique opportunity for businesses to reassess their strategies and modes of operation and then ask themselves:

• Is this the best way to operate? 
• Is this the most efficient use of our finite resources? 

Few places within your organization are better suited for outsourcing than the accounting department. Why? Because there are both immediate and long-term benefits of accounting outsourcing, including: 

• Cost savings – The past few years have demonstrated that workers do not necessarily need to be in an office to be effective. The same principle applies to accounting. Outsourcing your accounting department dramatically reduces your payroll costs, especially when you consider how expensive it is to hire, onboard, and train new employees. Not only do you end up paying less, you often get more from a team of highly specialized accounting pros. 

• Access to specialized technology – According to CIO, “Work-from-home mandates are requiring service providers to ensure that their workers who are supporting mission-critical enterprise customers have the necessary tools and technologies to enable the speed, security, quality, and overall efficacy of services provided.” 

By outsourcing, you do not have to invest capital on equipment or technology that’s required to get the job done since the outsource team already has everything they need. This access to scalable, cloud-based technologies speeds up accounting processes, eliminates costly errors and inaccuracies, optimizes payment reconciliation, and provides decision-makers with the most up-to-date financial information possible. 

• Increased security – When virtual threats are increasing year over year, it’s more important than ever to have a secure, cloud-based record-keeping and accounting system. But migrating from physical records and servers can be a time-consuming hassle. With a team of experts guiding you through the process, it becomes much easier to make the switch. Even if you already have infrastructure in place, it is reassuring to know that your partners will keep your most sensitive data secure.

• Industry knowledge – Outsourced accounting experts must stay up-to-date with all relevant regulatory and financial rules, regulations, and best practices. They can help you wade through the mire of regulations and laws you must comply with on both a micro and macro scale. This expertise can be invaluable, especially if it prevents a significant audit that subpar accounting processes would otherwise trigger.

• Focus on what you do best – Specialization is the name of the game. You save time and energy focusing on your core functions rather than worrying about ledgers, tracking transactions, or closing the book at the end of the month. Especially for business leaders, it is a much better use of your time to devote your attention to the functions that are most likely to propel the business forward.

• Happier employees – Many accounting tasks can be time-consuming and frustrating. Simply alleviating some of the number-crunching can empower your team members to focus on strategic activities that better utilize their skills and expertise. According to Deloitte: “One of the main appeals of using contracted workers is the new opportunities created for existing employees. Not only to improve morale but to promote creativity and enhance their overall value to the organization.”

CFO Hub—Outsourcing You can Rely on

The rise of the digital age has made outsourcing certain in-house functions a viable business model, particularly for companies looking to scale. And the last year of working remote has won over even the staunchest opponents to the practice. 

Have you thought about all the ways outsourcing could benefit your business?

At CFO Hub, we have. We can help you curate an in-house team of financial wizards capable of providing solutions and flexibility for any enterprise. 

Hire a CFO, a controller, or an entire accounting entire department. Whatever your accounting needs may be, we can accommodate. Together, we can drive your business forward into the virtual boom.

As a business grows and evolves, its financial management needs increase in complexity. The demands on the financial and accounting leaders within the company heighten as they become responsible for keeping up with ever-changing business finances. To handle these increasing challenges, you need dependable financial management tools that can scale with your business.

Best Finance Management Tools for Large Business

That is why your chosen tools need to be reliable, efficient, and easy to use. But with so many options available, it can be difficult to know what to look for or how to orient your search. To that end, here are four must-have financial management tools for large businesses:

1. Accounting platforms – SAP Business One Professional
2. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system – Oracle Netsuite OneWorld
3. Reporting and business intelligence – Microsoft Power BI
4. Payroll and HR management – Paychex Flex

Accounting Platforms: SAP Business One

To succeed at scale, businesses must have complete control and visibility over their finances. 

In the past, financial and accounting teams were limited to physical record-keeping or manual data entry, with rudimentary programs like excel. Simply closing the books at the end of the month could be a multiple-day slog, riddled with costly errors and mounting employee frustration. 

Being that the tiniest errors can cost you millions of dollars, it pays to be prepared. 

Now there are software platforms that automate and streamline these accounting processes, eliminating human error and inefficiency while speeding up the month’s end close. With the right application, you can control cash flow, build invoices, manage accounts receivable, and perform real-time analytics. 

In short, it is a powerful tool you can leverage to increase employee bandwidth, monitor your company’s financial health, and decrease the risk of error. 

SAP Business One Professional automates all your key accounting processes and automatically detects irregularities and inefficiencies in your record keeping. It is made specifically for developing companies, so it has the capabilities to handle all your accounting needs as your business scales. 

Features include:

• Extensive customization
• Ledger
• Journal
• Budget management
• Accounts payable and receivable
• Detailed transaction and expense reporting

There are many reasons SAP is one of the most popular accounting tools on the market. As PC Mag puts it: 

“SAP Business One provides a comprehensive and sophisticated financial system that also easily extends to add the functions of a true ERP system, including modules for production, HR, CRM, and MRP.” 

SAP provides everything your large company needs to streamline all of its accounting duties. With it, you can have better control and visibility over your cash flow and empower your organization to scale above supportive pillars. 

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems

An ERP system is a single software used to seamlessly integrate all of the processes a business needs to run a company—from planning to sales to financial management (and more). The idea of ERP software is to create one fluid system and collaborate all the different business processes in one centralized place. The most robust solutions will also increase visibility and collaboration across each department, ensuring that everyone is on the same page.

Oracle Netsuite OneWorld is known as one of the top ERP systems on the market. 

The cloud-based software is capable of functioning as an accounting platform, eCommerce platform, and customer relationship manager. It can help your organization effectively manage your books, customers, and supply chain. 

Oracle Netsuite offers:

• Expansive scalability and flexibility
• Real-time visibility and control
• Large-scale resource and financial planning
• Global business management capabilities to be compliant across the world
• Ability to run multiple languages, currencies, and subsidiaries at one time 

If you want to make the most out of your ERP system, Oracle is an excellent choice that can scale with your business needs. It is the gold standard as far as ERPs go, and the comprehensive finance and project management capabilities render it the ideal ERP for large businesses. 

Reporting and Business Intelligence

To make the best financial decision for your growing business, you will need to take a deep dive into the numbers. Financial modeling is the core of financial data and analytics. 

You need to be able to create an accurate P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statements in order to gauge your company’s health and consider the best plan of action going forward.

Reporting and business intelligence empowers your teams, making it easier to analyze and track your business. With these capable tools, you can identify inefficiencies and highlight potential improvements. To that end, the best reporting and intelligence software will compile all your data in one place, in real-time.

Microsoft Power BI is a leading cloud-based business intelligence service with unique features like: 

• Organizational and public data searching
• The ability to import, merge, shape, and cleanse data
• Data model, hierarchy, and KPI creation
• Analysis and visualization of data
• 3D, story, and data mapping

Power BI is recognized as a top reporting and business intelligence software because of its user-friendliness, exceptional data visualization, and robust source-connection capabilities. 

It paints a detailed picture of your company’s financial integrity. 

Payroll Management and HR Platforms

As your company scales, managing payroll becomes a greater undertaking, especially since payroll, personnel costs, and benefits likely represent a majority of your overall expenses. Fortunately, there are tools that can help you ensure that payments and corresponding taxes are executed with accuracy and promptness. 

A premier payroll management service should include tools that help drive your workforce while providing full-scale reporting and insight to administrators. From recruiting, logging time, to benefits, your payroll platform should be a one-stop-shop for all things HR.

As the name suggests, Paychex Flex is a flexible payroll solution that offers your company’s administrators versatile functionality and easy customization. 

Features include but are not limited to: 

• Scalability for growing enterprises
• Simplified tax filing
• Easy reporting
• 24/7 customer support
• Integrated compliance standards
• Full customizability for individual department needs
• Finance and revenue management

Paychex handles payroll management especially well for growing companies, providing your HR and administration team all the functionality of a user-friendly interface. This vigorous system helps streamline payroll and HR duties across your enterprise. 

Your CFO and Accounting Solutions, All in One Place

The tools you use to manage your business finances should be reliable, holistic, and user-friendly. There are tons of financial management solutions to choose from, and fortunately, the ones we’ve highlighted offer demos, instructional videos, and live consultations. 

In other words, you have resources to help inform your decision. 

But these software solutions are rendered obsolete when the right controllers aren’t managing them. And for that, you may need to enlist outside expertise and guidance. 

Enter CFO Hub. Here, we provide contracted CFOs, controllers, and accounting teams that are tailored to your business’ needs. Pairing the right tools with unparalleled support from our team will empower you to enhance your business flow and bottom line.

Better yet, choosing the right financial management tool is twofold; you need to understand your business and the platform intuitively. 

We do both. Welcome to CFO Hub.