Explanation of on-site and off-site accounting services

 Most small and medium-sized businesses do not require a full-time accountant. Most part-time accountants hired by these companies usually don't stay around for very long. These companies do their work through an accounting firm.

Generally, an accounting firm provides two types of services, on-site accounting services and off-site accounting services. This article will detail what each of these services are and their pros and cons.

For on-site accounting, an accountant physically goes to work at the workplace. It is similar to the accountant you hire with a few differences. The accounting firm sends an accountant to the client's office.

There are many advantages to an on-site accounting service. Obviously the biggest advantage is that you avoid having to hire someone only for the days you need them.

When you have this type of service, you don't have to stick with the same accountant if you think it's not working well for you. Just call the company and there may be someone else working for you. When you find the right accountant, you can ask the company to hire the same person. You can never do this if you hire an accountant.

Another benefit is that you don't have to worry about employee benefits. You pay the accounting firm directly, so there's no paycheck involved.

Accounting and tax rules are complex and probably not fully understood by most accountants. When you receive a service on the spot, there are other accountants your accountant can ask questions. Most of these companies are ready to help you.

There are also some downsides to on-site accounting. On-site accounting service varies from one accounting firm to another. Some companies have minimum service purchase requirements. For example, this may mean that you must meet at least a certain day a week to receive service on the site.

Since your on-site accountant is not working for you full time, you will still have to do some work, such as collecting bills and invoices, when you are not working.

For external accounting, the accounting firm works in its office. This type of service is also called a virtual accounting service (no, it's not a computer working for you, a real person works on your files). Basically, it's as if your accountant's office is far away from your business location. You have to submit your documents like challan, challan, bank details etc. to the accounting firm.

The main advantage of external accounting is the cost of service. It's surprisingly cheap (as cheap as $50 per month) compared to the on-site bookkeeping service. If you can't afford to hire an accountant, you should at least hire an outside accounting service. At these prices, it's almost ridiculous not to do accounting or try to do it yourself.

Some companies send their own express courier service to collect your documents. If you are a computer expert, you can scan your documents and email or upload them to their website. You can also send your documents by fax. While sending a large number of invoices, invoices and statements via email or fax certainly takes more time, these methods are good when you only need to send one or two documents, such as missing invoices or bank details, etc.

Always confirm which services are included when purchasing an external accounting service. Some firms do not provide payroll service or tax remittance service when you purchase a regular external accounting service. Some give you monthly reports, while other companies may provide their own annual reports.

Another important thing to remember is to make sure you know what software your accounting firm uses. While we all prefer accountants with many years or even decades of experience, they may be using outdated or nearly outdated software. At the time of writing, QuickBooks and Simple Accounting are the two most popular programs that most accountants use.

Lastly, stay away from work-from-home accountants unless you are absolutely sure of the quality of their service. They may discontinue your service at any time in the future and you may have left with your company data that is completely unusable.