Has your fast-growing company fallen behind on its finances? Is the team overwhelmed? You may be on the hunt for accounting BPO (business process outsourcing) or help with financial reporting outsourcing and more. Here is what to keep in mind during your search for the right service provider for your emerging growth company’s expanding needs.
What Is Finance and Accounting Business Process Outsourcing (FAO BPO)?
A company can bring in finance and accounting business process outsourcing at any point in their growth lifecycle. It’s often explored early on if the company needs finance and accounting support that’s highly efficient and does not require a full-time person or team just yet. Some companies may choose to have a part-time bookkeeper in the early growth stages, or they may find that they could outsource the entire finance function and expand the skillset of the team as their growth progresses. Or they may be looking for financial reporting outsourcing in particular. Services that typically fall under the FAO BPO or finance BPO umbrella can include bookkeeping, accounts payable and receivable, and account reconciliations and expand to include more involved finance responsibilities like the monthly close process and preparing the company for an audit.
You may be wondering, Can I outsource financial reporting? Any function within the finance and accounting team can be outsourced. Ideally, you are able to find a BPO accounting company that can help you with current needs, help the team scale with your expanding growth, and connect you with a higher level of skills as your needs progress.
An interpretation of BPO accounting can vary depending on the accounting BPO companies you are researching. While some may not actively promote their BPO accounting services, it may be something they are doing for their existing clients and may be the first type of service they offer to an emerging growth company.
The Benefits of FAO BPO
The most immediate benefit of FAO BPO and the reason why many companies begin looking into how accounting BPO companies can help them is the efficiency factor. The company will be covering your accounting needs only when there is work to be done. Compare this to the risk of trying to find an accountant you can hire on a full-time basis who can do it all: our industry, like many, faces a talent crunch and very few finance and accounting experts have the breadth of experience and expertise to fill every need as an individual.
Also, you may find that a seasoned individual may not want to do the more repetitive tasks involved in accounting while a more junior person may not be ready to take on a larger project that your company needs, such as readying the company for an audit. With an FAO BPO company, you are able to tap a wide range of expertise, and the experts you need can respond when necessary. There are no wasted hours—by outsourcing, you will be able to scale the finance team while minimizing the human capital risk that can be challenging to gauge when your company is experiencing rapid growth.
How Does FAO BPO Work?
When starting out with an FAO BPO provider, the company can fulfill your most immediate, obvious needs while also getting to the core issues underlying your financial operations. A rapid assessment can reveal where there may be critical gaps that need closing along with any hindrances to your growth goals.
For the most immediate needs, an accountant can get your books in order, develop a workable monthly close process, and introduce other efficiencies that will make your overall finance function run more smoothly while providing your company with more timely, more actionable financial information.
It may be revealed that what your company needs at this stage is a more layered approach, where every layer of your finance function is addressed by an interim finance and accounting team, potentially led by an interim CFO or controller. This is what differentiates RoseRyan from FAO BPO providers—we can raise the level of expertise that your company can tap into, but only when it’s needed.
How to Choose the Right FAO BPO Provider
When should I outsource my accounting? Consider outsourcing accounting if your existing finance team (or sole finance employee) is overwhelmed; leadership outside of finance is spending more time on financial issues than their day job; you anticipate growth or are pursuing a growth plan that will require a higher level of skills or capacity of the finance team; and if you are not confident in the financial data you are currently receiving or you lack insights into what it all means.
Choosing the right FAO BPO provider involves doing some research and ideally finding a company that can grow with you. You can limit the amount of time and energy involved in securing the right service provider by considering this criteria.
Also ask the right questions of a potential FAO BPO provider. The range and level of services vary greatly from FAO BPO provider to FAO BPO provider. Some may be very small operations that only provide bookkeeping services and will need to refer you to another company when your needs expand.
A FAO BPO Provider That Will Grow With You
When emerging growth companies have shown their potential to achieve greatness, RoseRyan has become a valuable resource, by helping them build their finance foundation, providing them with financial reporting services, and streamline their financial operations. And when the time is right, emerging growth companies will have access to CFO-level expertise to seek additional funding or pursue an acquisition or other strategic change. For fast-growing companies, the finance function can be a flexible operation, whose level of expertise will fluctuate with the company’s growth trajectory.
Is it time to explore your options for outsourcing some or all of your growing companies’ finance and accounting needs? Reach out to RoseRyan today to find out how our team can help yours.
