Accounting is a critical component of successfully operating any business, and it can be a complex and time-consuming task. From bookkeeping to accounting, tax preparation and planning, financial statement preparation, and payroll, there are many accounting-related tasks that businesses must manage.
For many businesses, hiring a full-service accounting firm can prove an effective solution to these challenges. To help you decide if one is right for you, we’ll explore what full-service accounting firms are, the services they offer, and the benefits they provide to businesses.
What are Full-Service Accounting Firms?
Full-service accounting firms are professional service firms that offer a broad range of accounting services to businesses of all sizes. These outsource partners can handle a wide range of tasks, including bookkeeping, payroll processing, tax preparation, financial statement preparation, and consulting services.
Typically, the firm is staffed with experienced accounting professionals who have provided these services for years. They apply their expertise to assist your business in maintaining its financial health.
Services Offered by Full-Service Accounting Firms
Bookkeeping and Accounting Services
Bookkeeping and accounting are the backbone of any accounting system. These services include maintaining accurate records of financial transactions, including sales, purchases, receipts, and payments. Full-service accounting firms can also help businesses manage these tasks efficiently and accurately, ensuring that all financial information is up-to-date and organized.
Tax Preparation and Planning
Full-service accounting firms can also assist businesses with tax preparation and planning. Beyond making sure that every box is checked off accurately, they can also develop a strategy to minimize your tax liabilities so that you can save more money.
Financial Statement Preparation
Financial statements provide businesses with a snapshot of their financial performance. Full-service accounting firms can prepare accurate and timely financial statements that help businesses understand their financial position and make better-informed decisions.
Payroll Processing
Payroll processing can be a frustrating and time-consuming task for businesses. An accounting service can handle all aspects of payroll processing, including calculating and withholding taxes, issuing paychecks, and managing employee benefits.
Consulting and Advisory Services
Goals drive business decisions. When you have a clear picture of them from a financial perspective, you can lead your business more effectively toward achieving your desired outcome.
Some examples of ways that accountants can assist their clients with consulting and advising include:
- Entity selection – Choose the best type of business entity for your company.
- Forecasting – Project how much revenue your business is on track to generate over a period of time.
- Financial planning and budget building – Optimize your business spending practices for maximum savings.
- Financial reporting – See how your business’s finances are performing on a regular basis.
- Goal setting and KPI building – Determine your specific goals as well as the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will track on your way to reaching them.
- Industry benchmarking – Learn how your business is performing against others in your industry, especially among the local competition.
Benefits of Hiring a Full-Service Accounting Firm
Focus More on Core Operations
For businesses that work in construction or trades, every second of time carries significant weight. You need to maximize your available time to ensure that your employees are completing jobs on time and at the highest standards for quality.
With that in mind, detailed and tedious obligations like accounting and bookkeeping can easily distract you from your core operations. With an accounting firm assisting you, you can spend less time managing financial documents and more time doing what you love most about owning your business.
Expertise without the Overhead
Full-service accounting firms provide expertise and knowledge that many businesses may not have in-house. Hiring an in-house accountant also results in further expenses like payroll taxes and benefits.
Instead, a firm provides your business with its own qualified professionals with years of experience in accounting and finance for a structured fee. As a result, they can provide valuable insights and recommendations that can help businesses make informed decisions about their finances without any additional overhead.
Ensure Compliance with Tax Laws and Regulations
Tax laws can be complex and ever-changing, and it can be challenging for businesses to keep up with them. By hiring an accounting firm, businesses can rest assured that they are meeting their tax obligations and avoiding penalties.
Receive Strategic Business Advice
Full-service accounting firms can provide strategic business advice that can help businesses improve their financial management and decision-making while develop financial goals and strategies to achieve them. They can also provide insights into market trends and help businesses adapt to changing conditions.
Choosing the Right Full-Service Accounting Firm
When you search for an accounting firm to assist your business, you will likely encounter a seemingly endless list of results. How do you sift through each one to find the perfect fit?
For starters, choose an accounting firm that possesses the specific expertise that you are looking for. As an example, do you want someone local with deep knowledge of state and/or federal law?
Conversely, you may decide that you prefer a firm that specializes in your specific industry. One team might exclusively serve doctors, while another might focus on construction companies.
Second, look for a firm that provides all of the services you’re seeking. Do they offer solutions that meet your current needs as well s offer other capabilities that you might benefit from as your business grows?
Lastly, once you have narrowed down your list of potential firms to work with, book a call with each of them. Do you find them easy to get along with? Do they explain concepts in a way that makes them easy to understand for non-accountants?
As much as the quality of service should influence your choice in accountant, so should their personality. Ask yourself if the potential firm that you’re considering feels like one that you could get along with when communicating with them on a frequent basis.
Get Full-Service Accounting for Your Construction or Trades Business Today
At Stratlign, we are a full-service accounting firm that is completely dedicated to serving businesses in the construction industry and professional trades. With hundreds of happy clients’ finances meticulously cared for by our team, we can offer the same level of expertise, convenience, accuracy, and peace of mind for your business while you focus more on your core operations.
To learn more, book a call with us today.
