A small business owner, almost by definition, does a lot of their own admin, marketing, sales, operations and accounts, but is that really what they got into business for? Probably not, but in the beginning, it does make sense to keep costs down while getting the business off the ground. However, once you have some customers and your business becomes more successful, this work starts eating into your productive time. At some point, it makes a lot more sense to outsource it to someone who can do it in much less time and a lot more effectively and efficiently.

Bookkeeping is a great example, especially given the fast changing environment that technology is driving in this area. There are many great new applications being developed to improve efficiencies almost monthly, and keeping up with these is the skill of a good bookkeeper.

Generally, a small business owner may only need a bookkeeper for a few hours a month or a few hours each week and being able to outsource this to someone who knows exactly what they are doing can be a huge benefit. Handing over your finances to someone else is a very personal decision, and here at The Back Office Company we realise that, so here are a few things to reassure you:

1. Local bookkeepers – all of our bookkeepers are based here in Auckland and generally we start the relationship with a face to face meeting and can even work on site if you’d prefer. This is often the case initially until you have gained confidence in the bookkeeper. None of our work is outsourced offshore, and nor is it likely to be in the future.
2. Confidentiality – we understand you want to keep your business matters private and we ensure our bookkeepers always maintain confidentiality with client records and information.
3. Security - although we set up payment runs and do payrolls ultimately we don’t have access to bank accounts and we leave this up to the business owner. In addition, the cloud-based systems we use have very high online security in place.
4. Quality control – we have a review process in place where our most experienced and professional bookkeepers do spot audits or review files to ensure things are being done correctly and avoid any mistakes.
5. Continuity – we have an operation manual for each client, developed by your bookkeeper so if they were to leave or take a holiday then we have someone else who can step in and take over with minimum disruption to your business.
6. No recruitment - we do all of that and if one of our bookkeepers were to leave or take a holiday we find a suitable replacement and deal with any handover at no extra cost to you. All of our bookkeepers go through an extensive recruitment process including reference, credit and police checks.

As a bookkeeping service, we have gained a lot of experience across a number of different industries, and we regularly get our bookkeepers together to learn and grow from each other along with bringing in experts for training so you can be assured of best practice.

Some examples of our clients include lawyers, insurance agents, trade services, medical professionals, architects, management consultants, cafe/restaurant owners, travel agents and many more small business owners. Most of these business people don’t really like doing their bookkeeping and having us take it off their hands has enabled them to be more efficient and concentrate on what they got into business for. To find out how we can help you, contact us to arrange a time to catch up and discuss your needs.