Written by Marc Mallory – Managing Principal of Outsourcing, CLA

It was a moment many business owners dread. A privately held company’s longtime controller gave his notice. With only one other accounting person on staff, the owner was left scrambling for a fix until a new controller could be hired.

The owner reviewed the job responsibilities and realized 80% of the controller’s work consisted of staff-level tasks, so he quickly found two people with the right skills to tackle these functions. The kicker? He brought in outsourced accounting professionals to perform the remaining responsibilities of the controller’s job.

Fast forward seven years, and the company has grown from a $5 million business to a $25 million business. The original outsourcing support team remains, but has grown to four people … and they never hired a full-time controller to replace the one who left years ago.

What would you do in that situation? And how do you know if outsourced finance and accounting services are right for you?

What is business operations outsourcing?

Outsourced finance and accounting professionals help direct the financial processes that would typically be done by your own employees. The services can vary in scope, from completely taking over a department and its day-to-day functions to supplementing a current need or creating a virtual accounting department.

Outsourced staff accountants can help you invoice customers, pay bills, manage vendors, review financial records, process payroll and provide web-based accounting systems.

An outsourced controller helps you focus on your core business by providing trend analysis, forecasting, budgeting, and finance department assessments.

An outsourced CFO can assist with growth initiatives, capital planning, board governance, contract review, and strategic planning.

Full-service outsourcing firms can also provide access to tax and wealth advisors to help with business succession, individual tax planning, personal financial planning, and insurance and risk management.

Once outsourced services are in place, they can be adjusted as your business ebbs and flows. As sales increase or a new project materializes, your services can match your needs by adjusting your outsourced accounting professionals. Hopefully it wouldn’t be the case, but if your sales decrease, scale back your outsourcing services to reduce costs and match your current volume. With that flexibility, you can respond to changing market demands and customer needs quickly.

Benefits of outsourcing your finance department

One of the biggest advantages of outsourced support is engaging a high functioning team with additional knowledge and resources. Outsourced professionals who understand industry-specific best practices can often enhance processes and productivity as well as complement the current team. Their financial reporting capabilities are typically up to date with industry standards and use the latest technology. Often this focus can help highlight your business needs and growth opportunities.

For privately held businesses and nonprofit organizations, bringing in outsourced support allows you to segregate duties without hiring additional staff. A team with multiple layers and several sets of eyes looking at the numbers can enhance internal controls and reduce risk. For publicly traded companies with full accounting departments, bringing in additional resources can help you transition through times of peak workload.

When should you bring in additional accounting help?

• Is outsourcing right for you? Read through these questions and if any of the answers are yes, you may want to consider outsourcing.

• Is there high staff turnover within the accounting team?

• Is there a lack of timely or insightful reporting?

• Is a process using too much of management’s time?

• Are the technology demands high?

• Is the function not core to your product and service operations?

• Have you had rapid growth or is there a special project for which you need help?

Outsourcing is not only about the cost incurred, but the value of your time and the value the outsourced team can bring. You’ll also avoid the cost, stress and gap in support you might have when dealing with turnover on your internal team. And outsourced support isn’t limited to the accounting function. It also includes human resources, marketing, IT management, and administrative professionals who can provide experience, flexibility, and a fresh perspective to your organization.

Written by Jay Kiel, President at Lockmann Krane International

Today’s business world is driven by information technology.  It is the lowest common denominator across most industries.  Organizations plan, make decisions, and succeed using the valuable data stored in their technology solutions.  Your ability to protect this data is paramount.

Three data security priorities to keep in mind:

1. Phishing:  These attacks can be simple and obvious, or subtle and devastating.

2. Updates and Patching:  In other words, good network hygiene!

3. Data Backups:  Without them, you could be out of time, money, business, or worse: All three.

Phishing

Phishing is a fraud technique.  It attempts to lure you into disclosing your own data to an unauthorized party.  The goal is usually a short-term financial gain, but can lead to identity theft or even compromise your entire network.

What are offenders looking for?

• Names, addresses, phone numbers

• Social security numbers

• Usernames

• Passwords

• PIN’s

• Account numbers

• Other personal information

What does phishing look like?

Phishing emails are harder to recognize than before.  Suspicious messages with fuzzy logos and “You won!” subjects are less common.  Modern criminals phish with real logos, use your name, and may even offer a way to “verify this urgent matter”.  Emails can also appear to be from people or companies you know.

Phishing emails may include:

• Account closure threats

• Requests for funds

• Disguised links

• Attachments

• COVID-related information

You should NEVER:

• Reply

• Provide personal information

• Click any links

• Open any attachments

If you are unsure of an email, contact your IT department for help.

Updates and Patching

Updates optimize your network, fix bugs, and maintain security.   When your system is not patched and updated, you not only run the risk of poor performance – you increase your vulnerability to malicious programs.  Verifying that updates are downloading and installing properly lessens this risk.

Software plug-ins (such as Java and Adobe Reader), operating systems, applications, and even Microsoft Office all rely on updates.  By keeping your system patched, you keep things running smoothly while reducing your network’s attack surface.

Data Backups

Taking preventative measures is essential to protecting your information.  You also need to secure backup copies of your data.  If your system is compromised, a backup can prevent a total loss of your critical files, documents, and settings.  

Always have three copies:

1. A copy on your computer or network

2. A local copy (for rapid restore)

3. An offsite or cloud copy (in case of a facility-level problem that prevents access to your other copies like flooding, fire, etc.)

The backup system should be monitored and tested regularly to ensure it is backing up all critical data properly.

Building a Security-Aware Culture

You’ll need your team on board, too!  Educate and empower your staff to recognize security threats.  When you promote awareness of these threats, you embed security in their minds.  You can build a Security-Aware Culture that enables your team to work together in the pursuit of protecting the information that keeps you in business.  Computer gear can be replaced.  Programs can be reloaded.  Your data is irreplaceable.

By John Nannini, Real Estate Agent at Rexson Realty

The 3 most important questions I get asked when I meet someone about buying or selling a home are, how much experience do I have in real estate and what tips do you have for buyers and sellers? I’m going to navigate you through these top questions so when you’re in the market for a home you can better understand why it is important to have a realtor assist you through the process.

How much experience in real estate do you have? 

For me this is a good question  because I have almost 20 Years experience and $100 Million in transactional sales. But I think what sets me apart from a typical "realtor" of just transactions, is that I have been involved in every aspect of the business. This helps me because I can let my clients know how much it costs to add new hardwood flooring, tell them if a basement gets water or not, or if an investor knows what hurdles they’ll need to go through for zoning. My experience not including just transactions:

- Foreclosures/ Short Sales/ Reno Properties

- Flipping homes (over 60) 

- Built Several Properties

- Zoning (along with the politics of this)

- Material and Labor Cost

- Property management 

- Finance (large to small scale)

Buyer Tips

One tip I always tell my clients is to establish a list. Especially when I am working with a couple, I am as much of a mediator in many cases as well as a realtor. I never push my clients because I’m not a salesperson and each deal is so unique (why I love this business).  We are here to consult you on the biggest decision of most people's lives and I personally take that very seriously. My goal is to help people make the best decision but ultimately it is their decision. It’s important to make a definite list of needs and wants. This way I can better understand what my clients' ultimate needs are and steer them in the right direction to the perfect home for all who are involved. I try to make this process as easy as possible.

Seller Tips

For sellers the most important things to do before putting the house on the market is declutter and stage the home.These are 2 simple things you can do to increase the value of your home. Doing so can save you around 5%-10% of your sales price which can be upward of 20k+ if you decide to list before opening the space up. Potential buyers need to be able to visualize the space and how they see themselves living in it. Not only that, but your listing photos will stand out from other listings which is crucial especially since you only have seconds to make a great online impression before potential buyers are scrolling to the next listing. 

Connect with John via Linkedin or email.