Small business owners often get by with various members of the organization completing your financial and accounting tasks. As your small business grows, there will come a time when owners need to address the issue of when to hire a company financial controller. While bookkeepers and accounting managers play an invaluable role in the early stages, growing companies eventually need more financial expertise such as outsourced financial controller services.
What does a controller do?
The role of outsourced controller services is to manage all the accounting functions of your business, ensure the integrity of processes, procedures and information systems, and provide timely, meaningful and understandable financial information and analysis. A financial controller will assist everyone in working together and provide support where need be. It is essential he/she provides accurate and fresh financial data and analysis in a form everyone can understand.
Outsourced controller services can provide the following for your business:
- Management of accounting and bookkeeping processes
- Budgeting and forecasting
- Cash flow management and projections
- Accounting documentation, including processes, procedures, and operations manuals
- Job costing and inventory tracking
- Key metric benchmarking
- Third party accounting software selection and implementation
- Reporting and oversight of month-end closings
- Audit preparation and advisory service
- Management of accounting and bookkeeping processes
A controller, depending on the size of the company, could have a combination of roles or roles different than the ones provided above.
Why Do You need a Financial Controller?
As the owner of a small business, you need to stay abreast of where your company stands financially. When everything is scattered all over the place, getting a clear idea of the big picture is pretty much impossible. Without understanding the big picture, it is impossible for your company to grow and stay ahead of the competition. Imagine how much easier it would be to be kept up to date by a single person who is responsible for overseeing your company’s financial and accounting activities. If that sounds appealing, it’s time to sign up for controller services.
Signs You Need Outsourced Controller Services
As with any major business decisions, you need to weigh the pros and cons of hiring outsourced controller services. Will the benefits outweigh the expenses? Even if your financials seem to be perfectly aligning now, chances are it will become more and more difficult if you’re expecting your company will grow. Your accounting and finances needs may have already become more complex and your business may be showing all the signs that you are in need of some additional financial expertise. Below, we have provided a list that will help you understand whether your small business can benefit from hiring outsourced controller services.
1. Day-to-day bookkeeping and accounting + cash flow management
Accurate record keeping, day-to-day accounting, and cash flow management are some of the utmost important tasks of running a business. When you hire outsourced controller services, they would likely be the person to manage and oversee these crucial everyday tasks. Right now, you may do these tasks yourself or have the work delegated to an employee or two. Wouldn’t you feel better peace of mind if you knew a seasoned professional was handling these essential tasks? Your attention and time could be better focused elsewhere by hiring outsourced controller services
2. Financial management reporting
How do you currently stay informed about where your business stands financially? Financial statements provide various financial information that investors and creditors use to evaluate a company’s financial performance. For any business and for the people who run it, the importance of accurate financial statements cannot be underestimated. With outsourced controller services, you’ll always know where to turn for information about your company’s current financial status. Furthermore, a controller can bring issues to your attention long before they spiral into a major problem
#3. Accounting procedures and policies
In the startup phase, most business owners don’t feel the need to establish accounting policies and procedures. It is likely your business can get away with this for a while, but if you’re serious about growing your business and staying ahead of the competition, it is essential to have a clear accounting policy in place. Your policy will need to evolve and change along with your business, too, and outsourced controller services can handle adjusting and perfecting your policies while you focus on running your business.
#4. Accounting software implementation
Accounting software can completely change accounting for many small businesses make it easier than ever. The programs you are currently using may not continue to support all your growing business needs, or you may need to add on additional integrations or advanced tools. Additionally, new accounting software is released on a regular basis. Who is going to handle implementing new accounting programs and tools? Who will upgrade current ones? This can be a time-consuming and annoying task for busy business owners, and outsourced controller services can completely handle this for you making sure your company is using the latest and greatest software.
#5. Annual audits
Does your schedule permit to spend time preparing for annual audits and to take care of other critical weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks? Preparing for an audit can take up huge amounts of time and a lot of information must be compiled first. Outsourced controller services can handle this kind of thing so you can have some peace of mind that it is taken care of.
Limitless Investment & Capital Outsourced Controller Services
Like any small business owner, you have a finite amount of time and energy. Limitless Investment and Capital’s outsourced controller services can be customized to suit the unique needs of your small business. Your dedicated controller can also take care of these and other tasks: forecasting, job costing, project costing, cash flow monitoring, overseeing the closing of books, budgeting and advising on important business purchases. A great way to lay the foundation for the future success of your business is by incorporating outsourced controller services
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