Accounts payable and receivable, tax calculations, income and expense tracking, generating reports—whatever the nature of your business, you probably can’t escape the need to keep up with these financial responsibilities.

 

You might choose to take care of all your bookkeeping without any help, but that’s not the most valuable use of your time—unless you’re an accountant.

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You might employ an accountant to do it for you, but that’s typically an expensive option, and often out of reach for smaller businesses. Even local accounting service providers, the traditional kind, can charge fees to make your eyes water.

Nevertheless, these might have been your only options just a few short years ago, but now there is one more—virtual assistant accounting. Once you know what it is and how it works, you might wonder why you never considered it before.

 

What Are Virtual Assistant Accounting Services?

 

Before you know if you need a virtual assistant accounting service, you must first understand what it comprises. The title can be confusing, after all.

If you need a clue, though, we can tell you that it’s not the latest in bookkeeping software products.

 

Accounting virtual assistants are entirely human, and the service they provide is both personal and customised precisely to match the needs of you and your business.

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Their services are essentially similar to those provided by an in-house accountant or the high street CPA operating in your locale. Indeed, the locality of the service provider is the most significant difference between accounting VAs and their more-traditional counterparts.

An accounting or bookkeeping virtual assistant is a professional service provider who will take care of your business’ financial activities and processes, serving as part of your team, but typically based offshore in a low-cost country and working remotely.

That’s why we mentioned that this is an accounting option that’s only recently become available, since the technology to enable digitally managed, remote bookkeeping services is a relatively recent commercial development.

 

How Do You Know if You Need Virtual Assistant Accounting Services?

 

Okay! So perhaps we’re being a little melodramatic to suggest that you ever need a virtual assistant to handle your business bookkeeping— but for sure, there are situations in which it would be a fantastic idea to engage one.

Each of those situations is indicated by signs and symptoms, so that’s what we’re going to explore now, so you can determine if a virtual assistant would be a suitable solution for your accounting challenges.

 

Sign #1: You’re Working IN Your Business and Not ON Your Business

 

Do you run a small business and spend a large proportion of your time on business administration, accounting, and other general management activities? If so, you’re missing critical opportunities to focus on business improvement and expansion—and to nurture your customers.

At the same time, releasing your time can be an expensive venture, but not if you engage a virtual assistant to take over your bookkeeping tasks.

 

Virtual assistant accounting services are affordable because you don’t have to shoulder the costs associated with employment, and you don’t need to provide office space or equipment either.

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Your costs will comprise only the service fee applicable for your VA’s time. With most virtual assistant accounting service providers based offshore in the Philippines and other developing nations, service fees are considerably lower than accountants in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand will typically charge. Few other measures to release your valuable professional time are as economical as hiring a VA for your bookkeeping.

 

Sign #2: You Don’t Want to Do Your Bookkeeping Any More—But You Still Are

 

Perhaps you know that accounting activities are not the best use of your time. Yet maybe their essential nature forces you to continue taking responsibility for them because you see no other option.

 

You might have looked at the cost of engaging an accountant locally and been put off by the additional expense. Maybe, as a result, you are procrastinating and soldiering on without help.

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A virtual assistant who specialises in accounting could give you that vital first step into outsourced bookkeeping. At an affordable cost, virtual assistant accounting services can set you free from duties that not only detract from your ability to focus on core business activities, but which you might not enjoy. After all, we’re not all passionate about finance, even if we like to make money.

 

Sign #3: You’re Not Happy With Your Accounting Processes

 

Do you see flaws in your accounts payable, accounts receivable, or other finance processes?

Are you managing the bookkeeping yourself and aware that you’re not exactly accountant material?

Are you paying an accounting company but unhappy with performance?

In any of these cases, you can probably recognise that a change is necessary. Still, perhaps you’re frozen by the thought of the disruption, increased cost, or anxiety about the unknowns of changing your processes or providers.

 

The good news is that by engaging a virtual assistant to handle your bookkeeping, the change will not cost a great deal, and may even reduce costs if you switch from a local accounting provider.

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It won’t tie you down, either, so you can always revert to your original solution or make further changes if the new arrangement doesn’t solve your problems satisfactorily. And if you’re the source of the issues due to a lack of accounting aptitude, there’s little doubt that a qualified and experienced accounting VA will deliver improved results upon taking over your tasks.

 

Sign #4: Your Business Finances Lack Transparency

 

Do you have holes in your records of cash flow? Are you struggling to locate specific invoices when you need them? Are the reports from your accounting software confusing and hard to decipher? These are all sure signs that you could benefit significantly from hiring a VA with accounting skills to handle your bookkeeping.

 

Poor transparency in your finance processes might result from your DIY approach to bookkeeping, especially if you find it hard to set aside sufficient time to manage it thoroughly.

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It could be due to a lack of understanding of your accounting technology if you use a software product.

Or it might simply be that you haven’t had the time, support, or inclination to set your reporting up for optimal transparency.

 

How an Accounting VA Can Help You Gain Transparency

 

An experienced and well-trained virtual accounting assistant will be able to help you resolve transparency issues in your bookkeeping processes.

These financial professionals are typically conversant with all the most popular business accounting software products, know how to develop and customize reports, and meticulously maintain accurate records.

Better still, an accounting VA will be available during your business hours to provide you directly with the insights you need, so you won’t have to run reports or hunt down past transactions yourself. Instead, you can call up your VA and ask for the information you need. That’s even more time saved, and executive pressure eased.

 

How to Hire a Virtual Assistant for Accounting—In a Hurry!

 

If any of the four signs we mentioned above resonate with you right now, but you were unsure how to tackle them, a virtual assistant with accounting expertise might be the solution you never knew existed. You might also be in a hurry to take advantage of it.

 

If so, Virtual Done Well can help you without delay. We’ll match you with one of our talented bookkeeping and accounting professionals in next to no time.

 

With our help, you can start saving your time and money—and sparing your nerves—by delegating your accounting activity to someone who knows and loves the finance sector and is committed to helping businesses like yours get to grips with financial processes.

 

To find out more, check out our accounting services page, and if you have questions for our team, or are ready to get started with your very own virtual accounting assistant, contact us today.