The Best Way to Outsource Accounts Payable | Global Shared Services

October 2, 2018

Whether you’re a tech start-up or a franchise restaurant, every business is looking to increase efficiency and cut costs. Outsourcing accounts payable is a great way to make your everyday business processes easier, improve vendor relationships, and increase your efficiency overall.

Staying on top of your accounts payable processing requires a hefty amount of paperwork as well as a comprehensive means of record-keeping. As the owner of a franchise restaurant or the CEO of a technology start-up, there are clearly better ways you could be spending your time than tracking down receipts and ensuring your accounts are up-to-date. However, the consequences of mistakes are high when late payments mean ruined relationships with vendors and a shaky business reputation. Hiring new staff to handle processes like accounts payable is often out of the question when you consider the cost of salary, benefits, and training that they’ll likely need.

Outsourcing your accounts payable means you get quality account processing without any management or training required.

Improved Vendor Relationships

You’ve probably had it happen before. One late payment can ruin the trust you’ve built between yourself and one of your vendors. Forget asking for a discount or receiving special services. Now your vendor barely trusts you to get your payments in on-time.

When you make a mistake with your accounts payable, it can have significant consequences with your vendors. Make the mistake multiple times, and pretty soon your vendors will be dropping like flies.

But if you’re a reliable customer who always pays your bills on time – or even early – you could start to see the benefits of an improved vendor relationship. Your vendor may give you the best of his product or be more willing to consider discounts.

Cut HR Costs

When your business grows to the point that handling both the accounts payable and daily management becomes too much, you’re faced with a choice: hire an accounting team or outsource your accounts payable.

If you decide to hire a new employee for accounting, you have to consider the costs of salary, benefits, and include vacation time or sick days. Your employees are human. They’ll probably have to take a sick day every once in a blue moon. This could leave you with unexpected extra work on your plate that you don’t have time for.

If you choose to hire an employee with some experience, you’ll be faced with paying a higher salary. But if you hire someone directly out of college, now you have to pay for employee training and handle the fallout of possible mistakes.

Outsourcing your accounts payable means you’re hiring an experienced team who will provide you with consistent coverage. You won’t have to worry about paying for salaries and benefits. Instead, you’ll pay one fixed price for all your accounts payable needs.

Minimize Common Mistakes

The best part of outsourcing accounts payable is the experience and expertise that comes with the accounting team you’ve just hired. The more experienced your outsourced accounting team, the fewer mistakes they’ll make and the better advice they’ll be able to offer you.

Human error is something that can occur to anyone everywhere. However more experienced companies know where the pitfalls of avoidable mistakes are and know the best review process to catch mistakes before they matter.

If you decide to hire a new employee for accounting help, you’ll be faced with the reality of more common mistakes – especially if you seek to lower costs via an employee who is less experienced. Even if you hire an experienced employee, they’ll have to learn your business processes and familiarize themselves with your company and how you want your accounts payable processed.

When you outsource your accounts payable, you’re giving them to a company that already has a set process in place.

Access to Better Technology

Outsourcing accounts payable doesn’t just have benefits on the human capital side of things, but on the technological side of things as well. Unless you’re running a tech start-up that specializes in financial technology, the majority of businesses don’t have access to the best of accounting technology.

Purchasing the best software for processing your accounts payable can cost a large amount of capital. Outsourcing accounts payable avoids the upfront purchase, but still provides you with the best tech for your financial processing.

An outsourced accounting firm invests in the best financial equipment in order to serve their customers better while saving you money. The cost of technology is spread out across all of the accounting firms’ customers. You’re only paying for what you use, instead of paying for all the tech upfront.

Easier Management of Working Capital

Having a reliable source of working capital is important. Accurate accounts payable processing can seriously impact your working capital. Mistakes on the account payable can lead to overspending and wreak havoc on your budget.

Outsourcing accounts payable means being able to rely on the working capital you see. You’ll know exactly when all of your bills have been paid and exactly how much money you have in your pocket.

Better reliability means more efficiency and fewer problems for you and your business.

The Best Way to Outsource Accounts Payable

Global Shared Services has the experience you need to increase your efficiency with reliable outsourced accounts payable processing. With a focus on restaurant accounting, we provide high-performance, complete accounts payable services you can trust, delivered by our high-level team and tailored to the needs of your restaurant business. Choosing our services gives you streamlined processes and the ability to scale through operational efficiencies.

GSS partners with the leading payment service providers to manage the complexities of your company bill payment needs. We provide an all in one solution platform that ensures the highest levels of security balanced with your preferred level of control and involvement in the bill pay process. Whether you need invoice matching or full service reporting, GSS is here for you.

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