Accountants typically assist with a wide range of financial matters that are important to a business, including – but not limited to – payroll, tax returns, business planning, financial reporting, monitoring budgets and spending, auditing, analysing performance, forecasting, risk analysis, bookkeeping, and compliance.
To help you decide whether your business needs an accountant, let us take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of requesting the services of such a professional.
Advantages
- Expertise
Accounting can be quite technical, with many aspects that need to be completed accurately and by a certain deadline. Even if the smallest of mistakes are made, this can throw off important calculations and projections for the future. Not only this, but mistakes on accounts and missing deadlines for filing taxation documents can result in a large fine.
However, a capable accountant will be very knowledgeable about how to log, check, and file all the appropriate financial documents, in addition to being able to work to the deadlines given by the relevant authorities. Thus, you can benefit from the accountant’s expertise, ensuring that your books are free of errors and submitted on time.
- Efficiency
If your business is operating without a dedicated accountant, it is likely that your processes aren’t as streamlined as they could be. Certain employees may be spending too much of their valuable time sifting through invoices and keeping track of their individual sales.
With an accountant, you will be able to gain insight into how to make your business transactions more efficient, allowing you the opportunity to improve processes in your organisation. It will also free up your and your colleagues’ time to do their core jobs more productively, without worrying so much about the financial aspects from one day to the next.
- High-quality advice
Accountants don’t have to just keep records – this data can be collected and analysed to highlight areas of improvement in the business, and to enable projections to be made for potential expenditure, income, and profit for the next financial year.
The advice and input of an accountant can be an extremely valuable tool in your arsenal. Their expert insight can show you areas you can save money, where you might invest more capital, and processes that might not be working as efficiently as they could be.
Even if you don’t hire your next accountant as your own employee on your company’s payroll, you can still benefit from financial services and advice by enlisting the help of a company such as ST Accountancy. Our specialists can undertake all of the financial tasks in your business, while also offering invaluable advice and guidance.
- Peace of mind
The leading professional accountants are trained and accredited, which means they know what they are doing. So, by hiring a professional accountant with appropriate qualifications and experience, you can have peace of mind that your accounts will be done accurately. This gives you a solid foundation for developing and growing as a business.
Disadvantages
- Cost
On the subject of money, an accountant will cost you every month. Hiring an accountant on a permanent wage is another ongoing expense that your business will have to account for. The wage at which they are paid will depend on the work that they will be doing, and the stage they are at in their career.
Therefore, although accountants can help you to reduce your expenses and increase profits in the long run, the bottom line is that in the short term, hiring them will increase your overheads to at least some degree.
- Not infallible
Accountants might be experts in their field, but at the same time, they are only human. Everyone is capable of making small errors every now and then, and accountants are no different.
However, the difference here is that if an accountant makes even a small mistake in important filings or documentation, this can cost your business a lot of time and money. If this is picked up during an audit or compliance check, you could find yourself in hot water. These factors combined give you all the more reason to ensure you take on only a highly professional, skilled and seasoned accountant.
- Less hands-on
One of the main worries that a lot of people have when they hire someone new, is that they might lose control of the business, or feel less in touch with the day-to-day operations of the company. The feeling of letting go or delegating can be quite difficult for a lot of business owners and managers – it’s completely understandable!
However, this does not mean that you can just assign the work to your accountant and ignore it. As the boss, it is still your responsibility to ensure that employees are doing their jobs efficiently, accurately, and productively.
Final considerations
Overall, whether your business needs an accountant is entirely down to personal circumstances. For example, for some small businesses or start-ups, the salary of an in-house accountant might not be feasible at this moment, but it can be something to aspire to – and it could mean that they simply outsource accounting duties to a trustworthy firm like ST Accountancy instead.
An accountant might also allow employees to work more productively, delegating the financial aspects of their task list to the expert.
Would you like to learn more about the services ST Accountancy could provide to relieve some of the day-to-day pressures on your own company’s financial management? If so, you are very much welcome to get in touch with us via email or phone. As an Ipswich accounting firm, we provide a range of services including accounting services in Suffolk as well as bookkeeping and business advice.
