Outsourcing your accounting should do more than take bookkeeping off your plate. It should give you clarity, confidence, and a strategic edge. But not all accounting providers are the same.
Here are the signs that your outsourced accounting services partner is truly delivering.
Timely Communication
One of the clearest signs you’ve found a great outsourced accounting partner? You actually know what’s going on.
The best teams don’t leave you feeling like you’ve thrown your books into a black hole. Instead, they feel like an extension of your business: accessible, responsive, and communicative. When you hire outside help, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect:
- Thoughtful replies within reasonable time frames.
- A dedicated point of contact who knows your business, not just a support inbox.
- Clear explanations of what’s happening behind the scenes.
Poor communication is among the most common complaints indinero clients share about their previous service providers. But remember—good accounting teams don’t go silent once onboarding is over. April is the busiest time of year for us, but even now, it’s unacceptable to be ghosted for days at a time.
Error-Free Reporting
In accounting, “close enough” doesn’t cut it. A mistake here and there may not seem like much, but it can throw off projections, damage investor trust, and get you in trouble with the IRS.
If you feel like it’s necessary to double-check every report, something’s wrong. The best services leave you feeling confident you’re in good hands, not worried about mistakes.
Scalable Full-Stack Services
The point of outsourcing is to free up resources so you can focus on your core expertise. But what happens when you do grow? Can your provider keep up?
Maybe you need basic bookkeeping today, but full-service tax and CFO support a few years from now. Switching providers takes time and effort that’s better spent elsewhere; you shouldn’t have to switch firms when your business evolves.
This gets overlooked all the time, but firms that provide a full menu of services are scalable and more efficient. As our fractional CFO Bryan Johnson puts it:
“If you’re stuck mediating between different vendors, it slows everything down. One of our biggest value adds is that we offer bookkeeping, accounting, tax, and CFO services all under one roof. It cuts down on communication, and everything can get done faster.”
When something comes up, you don’t have to hop on multiple calls with different people. Just email your point of contact; they’ll coordinate internally and get back to you.
Strong Data Security Practices
When most people think of cybersecurity breaches, they probably picture a hacker in a hoodie furiously typing at a keyboard. But the reality is a lot more mundane. In most organizations, people are the weak point.
Your financial data is sensitive, so you should expect that information to be safeguarded by:
- Cloud-based storage and encryption
- Two-factor authentication
- And crucially, strict confidentiality protocols
Even with the best tools and systems in place, it only takes one well-meaning employee clicking the wrong link to open the door. By training employees to pause before sharing private information and verify requests that seem off, the best firms prevent problems before they happen.
Cost-Effectiveness
Hiring in-house is a luxury that many businesses don’t have. It’s just too expensive to bring on a bookkeeper, accountant, and/or a CFO all at once. But by outsourcing, businesses can access specialized skills at a fraction of the cost of full-time help.
| Related Article: How Much Does a CPA Cost for a Small Business? |
Proactive Advice
The best firms do more than plug in numbers and file reports. They have a front-row seat to your financials, and they use that information to alert you to what’s coming before it hits your bottom line.
The key difference is proactive firms don’t wait for you to ask, they reach out. Like when we helped Masterpiece Cuisine renegotiate a client contract by streamlining their financial operations. Or when we helped Williamsburg Learning achieve 30% budget savings by consolidating their in-house staff.
Here’s what forward-thinking insights might look like for you:
- Spotting expense creep and recommending ways to cut costs.
- Identifying tax credits and deductions that might have been easy to miss.
- Offering input into major decisions like fundraising, hiring, or expanding into new markets.
Industry Specific Knowledge
There’s no one-size-fits-all accounting. A restaurant doesn’t work like a SaaS startup, and a marketing agency doesn’t have the same needs as a construction company.
Great outsourced firms will take the time to understand how your specific business works—from crucial KPIs to typical expenses and seasonality—but also have deep experience with companies in your sector.
For instance, our outsourced accounting firm has over 500 concurrent clients. We have firsthand experience with best practices in nearly any industry, because we’re working with nearly every industry.
Real-Time Insights
The days when you had to wait until the end of the month to see how things are going are over.
At indinero, one of the first things we do with clients is help them build a three-statement financial model. When we’re done, they have cash flow, income, and balance sheet data integrated into a single live dashboard. It’s integrated with their financial accounts, updated continuously, and key to evaluating a business’s financial health.
It’s not just about having data. It’s about having trustworthy data that helps inform strategic decision-making. And because our accounting team and CFOs work together, those insights come with context. So you’re not just seeing numbers, you’re getting the story behind them as well.
Ready to Work With a Team That Gets It?
Outsourced accounting should make your life easier, not more complicated. Whether it’s about communication, scalable services, or strategic insights, the right partner can make a real difference.
When the time is right, book a free consultation. We’d be delighted to learn how we can help.
