Businesses of all shapes and sizes need to keep costs to a minimum and be resourceful with their revenues. Especially in the early stages of your business, hiring an accounting team may be a luxury you think you can’t afford.
In fact, 45% of the 31.7 million small businesses in the U.S. don’t employ accounting help at all. Among those that do, the largest percentage (22%) turn to outsourcing for their accounting and bookkeeping needs. The rest rely almost exclusively on accounting software, such as QuickBooks, to track their transactions, and usually there’s one lonely business owner trying to manage all the numbers on their own. Time which, let’s face it, would be better spent on the business.
And yet we live in a digital age. There are plenty of people who can help streamline the operations of your business, and they’re no longer seated in the basement or chatting around the water-cooler. Instead, they’re working virtually. And they’re ready to support your business in more ways than you have ever thought of.
Just like with any other business decision, you have to do some proper research when searching for a virtual finance team. Here are five things to consider before you invest.
As you might expect, saving money is a top priority when choosing a virtual accounting and CFO service. Often, smaller businesses and startups have the wrong idea about high-level financial services – they might invest in a bookkeeper, for example, but think that CFO support is a luxury they simply cannot afford, no matter how much they would benefit. With the traditional outsourcing approach, it might cost anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000 per month to hire a part-time CFO.
But the traditional approach is no longer the only game in town. At Ventura, we operate a model based on FaaS. Here, you get all the processes, accounting software and people you need for one recurring monthly fee. You select the right service package based on your size and growth-stage, and we make sure you get the right advice from the right people with the right experience and skill level.
Very few businesses have a single issue that’s getting in the way of their growth and long-term goals. Usually, there’s a myriad of interconnected issues that need resolving, and the business owner really should be working closely with specialists in AP/ AR, accounting infrastructure, budgeting, regulation, investment, capital structures and more to get the advice they need.
So, you might already be using an external bookkeeping firm. They take care of the books and are an extra pair of hands at tax preparation time, but they don’t have the skills to create a strategy aimed at maximizing the value of your business and support it with a strong accounting foundation that covers all the specialized roles.
Full-stack virtual accounting experts like Ventura CFO make it their job to cover every skill set and complex requirement in the finance world. Instead of hiring a single skill set, you’re putting your livelihood in the hands of efficient, dedicated, full-service experts in all things business and accounting – so you’re covered for everything money related, even if it’s not immediately obvious. This approach means you get the right advice the first time, with a keen expert eye and nothing falling through the cracks.
Finance and accounting services are not and never should be one-size-fits-all. If that’s what you’re being offered, then RUN! A virtual team should provide you with an outsider’s perspective that can breathe new life into your business. Sometimes, business leaders may be too close to the business and don’t see the wider picture.
As a business owner, you should be concentrating on the areas you are an expert in, and relying on trusted advisors in the areas that fall outside your expertise. A virtual CFO, supported by a professional full-stack finance team, will bring much-needed financial strategy to the table, giving you the time and freedom to do what you do best. And they will use their commercial knowledge to increase the value of your business, strengthen your financial control, boost your profitability and give you confidence in making the right decisions for your business.
On the subject of looking at things with a fresh perspective, will your virtual finance team be able to maximize the power of your data? Your numbers give a lot of clues about how your business is performing. Being able to interpret them properly is the first step to setting business-relevant metrics, measuring performance, and making smarter data-backed decisions for the future of your business.
To fully leverage data, you need to hire a team that has the expertise and technology to properly analyze the numbers. You’ll need to ask some questions here:
Data analysis is the tool that allows you to see your numbers in ‘real time’ and blurs the line between accounting and strategy in a new way. Make sure you choose a resource like Ventura that has these skills – they’ll be able to convey the numbers in a way that’s actionable for your business.
Having a finance team operate virtually used to present communication problems but not any longer. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the COVID pandemic, it’s that Zoom calls and screen sharing make it feel like we’re in the same room! In fact, your accounting partners could be dispersed to the four corners of the globe and you’d still get better service than you would from an in-house team. Only cheaper, of course.
At Ventura, we operate a 100% virtual office. Once our clients are onboarded and integrated, we use the best technological tools to bridge the ‘presence’ gap – cloud computing platforms, video conferencing, screen sharing, phone, email and Microsoft Teams. Our people may not be physically in your office, but they’re always available.
If you’re in need of accounting and CFO support and not checking out the FaaS model, now’s the time to make the shift. At Ventura, our finance-as-a-service package provides all the professional support you need with on-demand workflows and finance solutions. It’s exactly what you need to take control of your business and avoid financial muddles, so you can focus on doing what you love – growing your business.
Want to learn more? Book a discovery call with Ventura CFO today.