Full Charge Bookkeeper vs Outsourced Bookkeeping

When it comes to a bookkeeper vs full charge bookkeeper, who is the better for your business?

Company owners everywhere deal with countless struggles involving their business, from the various employees they hire and deal with to the tracking and managing of their budget so that way their business doesn’t go under. The management of money is always especially important, because no matter what type of business you own, you want to be able to keep track of all money to pay expenses, expand profits, and increase/improve inventory.

That’s what bookkeeping is for; bookkeeping helps you manage all income and expenses in a business, allowing you to pay the proper expenses and keep up with your budget. The challenge in bookkeeping, however, is finding the right route to get your books done.

Many business owners look at doing their own bookkeeping, but normally cannot manage the daunting task of doing books while running a company. Other business owners hire bookkeepers, whether part-time, full-time, or full-charge, which all vary as far as what kind of service they offer you versus how much they cost.

Another way to get books done is by hiring an outsourced bookkeeping service, a team of financial workers that do your bookkeeping for you and put all of the information on a secure server for you to easily access. All of these options have their own upsides and downsides, and choosing which bookkeeper to hire depends on multiple factors, from services offered and price to the overall speed and security of information.

Most business owners that have too much trouble doing their own books examine the case of the outsourced bookkeeper vs full charge bookkeeper to determine which one will be the best fit for their company.

What Does a Full Charge Bookkeeper Do?

When it comes to running your business’s finances, there’s much more than keeping track of your money; there are many financial factors involved in a company, and that’s what full charge bookkeepers are for. They are considered much more vital than a regular full-time or part-time bookkeeper, as they deal with both the bookkeeping and accounting for a single company.

The downside of full charge bookkeeping is mainly where they are used; small businesses and large businesses have different ways to get their finances done, and normally cannot use a full-charge bookkeeper effectively. Normally, average sized companies that don’t need an accountant will hire a full charge bookkeeper, and they take care of tasks like preparing financial statements, preparing tax returns at the end of the year, accounts payable, and more.

Full charge bookkeepers handle two major sides of the business: first, they handle the full accounting cycle, dealing with tasks like accounts payable, invoices, checks, and more. Second, they deal with all of the company’s banking work, like reconciliations and keeping track of all money flowing in and out of accounts, checking for irregularities as they go.

On the other hand, full-time and part-time bookkeepers handle much less as far as accounts go. They are strictly involved with managing and keeping track of money, and additional accounting/bookkeeping tasks offered by both the full charge bookkeeper and the outsourced bookkeeper are not always offered and are normally too pricey for businesses.

What Does an Outsourced Bookkeeper Do?

The process of outsourced bookkeeping is simple and straightforward: you decide what additional services you want from the remote bookkeeping business, the remote bookkeeping business places a file on your computer to give you access to the server, and from there, the remote bookkeeping company does the rest. From there, you get all of your books done quick and easy and placed directly on the server for you to access.

Not only do you get the bookkeeping benefit of keeping track of money, but you get extra services offered to you at surprisingly low costs, like getting your bills paid for you, getting tax preparation, and more. One of the main reason business owners hire remote bookkeeping companies is for these services at the low cost, but they still worry about potential downsides in both security and employees.

Luckily, remote bookkeeping ensures that their servers are as secure as possible and their employees can operate as efficiently as possible. The outsourced bookkeeping business is required to follow a set of cyber security laws, and they put precautions in place such as creating multiple offsite backups, and taking out a cyber insurance policy. And if you thought we might have implied payroll, that’s all part of this too. Your employees get paid on time, regularly, if your bookkeeper is up to snuff.

The employees hired by outsourced bookkeepers are not normal employees; all potential hires are vetted, go through a background check, get interviewed, and sign a non disclosure policy to complete ensure that they are both secure and competent. Employees also work together on tasks, so you’ll have multiple workers doing your bookkeeping at once, making the process much faster.

Full Charge Bookkeeper vs Outsourced Bookkeeper: Cost Efficiency

For most business owners, service is great when it comes to full charge bookkeeping and outsourced bookkeeping, but the bottom line is the money. As efficient as the service is, it’s not worth it if you can’t afford the bookkeeper, and that’s why comparing the cost of the different types of bookkeeper is so important.

Full-time and part-time bookkeepers cost between $35,000 and $43,000 annually, and don’t offer much as far as extra services for a bookkeeping service. Most business owners will easily narrow it down to the outsourced bookkeeper vs full charge bookkeeper, comparing the two as far as upsides and downsides.

Both forms of bookkeeping offer an efficient service with little to no downsides, but when it comes to price, it’s clear that outsourced bookkeeping is the way to go when it comes to saving money. You can’t find a full charge bookkeeper for under $35,000 per year; on the other hand, depending on what services you get, remote bookkeeping can save you up to $30,000 per year!

If you added on services and got a the most out of outsourced bookkeeping, the maximum you’d pay is under $20,000 a year, and if you decline services and get training on how to handle your financials, you’d pay a minimum of $3,600 annually.

Forget A Full Charge Bookkeeper and Begin Outsourced Bookkeeping with MyRQB

It’s clear that when comparing the numbers in the battle of the remote bookkeeper vs full charge bookkeeper, hiring an outsourced bookkeeping service is your best option, and companies like Remote Quality Bookkeeping of New England are some of the best at getting your books done and making your business a better place financially.