Selecting an Outsourced Accounting and Bookkeeping Vendor

OK Now you have decided to look for an outsourced accounting and bookkeeping vendor. What do you do? Of course, you should ask your friends and business associates for references. However, as a practical matter, outsourced accounting and bookkeeping among smaller businesses is so new it will be hard to find someone who is already using a service.
What should you look for?
1. Relationship with an outsourced accounting and bookkeeping vendor is a long-term one.
2. The work must be beyond reproach.
3. Local presence.
4. Workflow process.
5. Cost.
Just like you do not want to change your accountant every year, you do not want to change your outsourced accounting and bookkeeping vendor every year either. So you need to look at whether the relationship is workable.
Past behavior is the best guide to future behavior. So look at the principals’ business experience and history. Have they been successful in the present or previous efforts? Are they honorable people who you can work with?
The quality of internal accounting and bookkeeping process is seldom scrutinized in a small company until a catastrophe develops. When dealing with an outsourced accounting and bookkeeping vendor, it is critical that you establish quality metrics upfront. If a vendor will not agree to a quality standard, you should not work with them.
Since most of the outsourced accounting and bookkeeping vendors are located in India, it is preferable if you can obtain support from the US. There are companies like SurePrep and Indevia Accounting, which are US companies with Indian subsidiaries.
The outsourced accounting and bookkeeping vendor must have a way of defining your workflow process efficiently and with the least amount of involvement for you. The workflow process defines the source documents that you must provide and the output that the Outsourced accounting and bookkeeping vendor will provide.
Last but not least, you need to consider cost. If the vendors are not close on the first four criteria, a cost comparison will be meaningless. Your preferred vendor should give you an acceptable cost saving, but does not need to be the lowest bidder.
Once you have identified an acceptable vendor, ask them for at least three references and talk to them. This is probably the most important step in the process.
In the next article we will discuss the elements that should be included in a contract with the outsourced accounting and bookkeeping vendor.