Advantages and disadvantages of using the services of accounting office

When starting their own business activity, the main problem that businesspeople deal with is keeping the accounts. They usually delegate bookkeeping to accounting offices. If you are about to start an activity and Wonder if you should engage in bookkeeping on your own or delegate it to an accounting office specialized in this field, this article is just for you.

Advantages and disadvantages of delegating the bookkeeping to accounting offices:

• Lower costs of bookkeeping

The basic advantage of cooperation with accounting office is reduction of company costs.  Keeping the accounts in your own company is related to hiring an accountant, paying him or her with a salary corresponding to his/her abilities, as well as social and health insurance contributions. In-house accounting means also securing office equipment and costs of accounting software and licences as well. To further reduce the costs of using the services of accounting office, we can cooperate with virtual office, which usually offers lower prices as we do not have to rent a place.

• We do not bear responsibility

Accounting offices take the responsibility for observing the current tax legislation and accounting regulations. Businessmen are not always aware of changes to the law. The accounting office, which makes such an error, is deemed responsible in place of the businessman. It is possible thanks to the fact that these offices hold valid liability insurance policies, insuring both the offices and the business at the same time. If the external firm causes the business to sustain financial losses, the liability insurance will cover these.

• Saving time and stress

Keeping the accounts consumes a lot of time and energy, which could otherwise be devoted to work and to multiply the capital. We also need not to follow the changes in the regulations concerning accounting.

Disadvantages of delegating the bookkeeping to accounting offices:

• Lack of knowledge of accounting offices’ abilities

One can never be sure whether the given office hires specialists in this field. In spite of the liability insurance, the office may generate losses to the business, which may result from prolixity and delays of the entrusted tasks (it can affect especially the big accounting offices, which serve many customers at the same time- in that case it is a lot easier to neglect a single customer).

• Sharing the company data with an outside company

Businesses do not usually have confidence in institutions, which are not directly related to their company; in this respect, hiring an accountant seems a safer option.

• High costs in the case of big companies

For companies, which hire large number of people it can be much easier and cheaper to hire their own  accountants.

It is not difficult to notice that both delegating the bookkeeping to specialized accounting offices and in-house accounting have their own advantages  and disadvantages. The more beneficial option for  small and medium-sized companies is to purchase accounting services of an accounting office, because of their significantly lower costs. It is reflected in statistics, which show that the vast majority of small and medium- sized companies do not hire their own accountants,  delegating the provision of that service instead. However, the choice should be contingent on individual preferences and the nature of the business.