|
WJH Virtual Accounting Department FAQ
1. What is the idea behind the
Virtual Accounting Department?
2. How does this work in practice?
3. I already have an
accounting staff. Do I just replace my accounting staff
with yours?
4. What are some typical situations
in which a Virtual Accounting Department makes sense?
5.
I have read about accounting work being outsourced to India and
other countries. Is that part of what you are doing?
6. Do I have to use the
WJH Accounting Online applications to take advantage of the Virtual
Accounting Department?
7.
How are the fees determined for these services?
8. How do your fees compare
to the cost of doing the work with my own employees?
If you have any other questions, please
contact us.
1. What is the idea behind
the Virtual Accounting Department?
From all of the services discussed
on this web site, you might conclude that we provide all of the
services of an in-house accounting department. Well, we
have reached the same conclusion. We can be your entire
accounting department or we can augment an existing department.
From tax return preparation, to bookkeeping, to payroll, to accounts
payable, to accounts receivable, to mailing checks and paying
bills we can provide quality services that free up your in-house
resources.
For most businesses accounting
is an "overhead" function. If you are a typical owner or
manager of a small business you probably appreciate the value
of the accounting data - it lets you know how you are doing, keeps
banks and other entities happy, and provides the basis for tax
and other compliance matters. However, the fact is that
accounting is not your main business. Every minute of
time you or your staff spends collecting and reporting the accounting
data is time that could have been spent working on producing the
best product or service, or focusing on customer satisfaction,
or taking advantage of a new opportunity, or sometimes even taking
a break from the business.
There are several problems
with many small and medium size business accounting operations.
a. Too much time and/or money is spent on the accounting
operations. (This includes billing, collections, payments,
reports, and all other functions of accounting.)
b. Staff turnover is often high and is it difficult for
the non-accountant to find the best people.
c. Too little value is gained from the final accounting
department products because the results are not in a format that
is focused on your business' needs or they are not delivered in
a timely manner.
d. Too much time and/or money is subsequently spent during
compliance time when the CPA is trying to create a tax return
based on a year's worth of sometimes sketchy data.
The WJH Virtual Accounting
Department was designed to address these issues. We have
a group of professionals who can perform all of the functions
of a complete accounting department. We can send your bills,
make your payments, balance the books and do even more.
We also have the tools to make these tasks efficient. This
allows us to act as your accounting department in a manner that
is typically much more efficient that it would be for you to hire
individuals. It also allows us to customize the tasks
we perform for you so that you can continue to use your own staff
as appropriate.
The truth is that you need
to focus on your business' details, not accounting details.
You need the value that accurate and timely accounting can provide
without the headaches associated with doing it yourself.
That is the promise of the WJH Virtual Accounting Department.
(Click
here to return to top of page.)
2. How does this work in practice?
Some of our clients have full
capability accounting staff in-house and they use us only for
those tasks that require specific, focused knowledge and experience
like tax preparation. Other clients have found that we are a cost
effective addition to their in-house staff for additional accounting
department tasks. There are three general levels of engagement
with our Virtual Accounting Department clients.
1. The client and/or their staff has the capabilities to perform
all "operational" accounting functions. WJH augments this
with tasks such as tax return preparation and also provides the
compiled financial statements required by financial institutions
and various business partners.
2. The client has a staff that can perform some, but not all,
of the operational tasks. We provide some of the traditional
in-house services such as bookkeeping, payroll processing, and
billing.
3. The client has no in-house accounting staff. We perform
all of the traditional accounting department functions. This includes
printing checks and paying bills (with the client's approval for
each expenditure.)
Of course, there is not one solution (or even three) that fit
all of our clients. We work with you to design a Virtual
Accounting Department solution that meets your needs and comprehends
your in-house capabilities.
3. I already have
an accounting staff. Do I just replace my accounting staff
with yours?
While this is an
option, we often find it more effective to combine the strengths
of your staff with our strengths. The Virtual Accounting
Department is not an "all or nothing" proposal. You may
need an entire accounting function or you may just need accounts
payable or payroll. Our goal is to fill in your gaps and
give you cost effective options.
(Click
here to return to top of page.)
4. What are some typical situations
in which a Virtual Accounting Department makes sense?
There are a number of typical
scenarios. The following provides a few examples.
a. A start-up company needs to focus time and money on customer
and/or product related tasks. Accounting is necessary because
management (and perhaps venture capitalists, banks, and others)
needs to understand how fast they are spending money and where
they are spending it. Billing and collection may be critical.
Payroll processing is a regular occurring task. Bank accounts
need reconciling. Accurate, timely, and understandable reports
need to be created and distributed to the appropriate parties.
These are all tasks that are often outside the skills (and interests)
of the key employees who started the company. Having a full
capability accounting department at a reasonable cost can have
very high value to the start-up.
b. A small company has an owner/manager and a few employees.
The owner/manager does not want the employees to have access to
her personal compensation numbers. By using a virtual accounting
department for payroll, bookkeeping, and bank reconciliation functions,
the owner/manager keeps her data private.
c. Unfortunately, embezzlement from small and medium business
is a real problem. We have seen many situations where highly
trusted employees (and even employees who were good personal friends)
have stolen money from a company. One of the keys to protecting
your money is having a proper control system in place. This
means different individuals handling different functions.
For example, the person who collects the money should not be the
person who deposits the money. In small businesses there
are often too few employees to have a proper control system in
place. Using a Virtual Accounting Department for some functions
can address this issue.
d. Hiring and retaining staff can be a problem. Because
most employers are not accountants it is especially difficult
to hire the right bookkeeper or CPA. Using our Virtual Accounting
Department services removes the hire and retain burden from you.
In a small or medium sized businesses it is difficult to hire
all of the expertise you need. You may be able to find a
person who is expert at bookkeeping, but does not understand taxation
issues. You may have a capable AP person who does not really
understand payroll. Finding someone will all of the knowledge
and experience can be expensive. This is especially true
when the specific knowledge is only needed once or twice a year.
The Virtual Accounting Department solution means you have the
entire resources of WJH available when you need them and only
when you need them.
(Click
here to return to top of page.)
5. I have read about accounting
work being outsourced to India and other countries. Is that
part of what you are doing?
No. We do not outsource
any accounting work to offshore organizations. We have built
an accounting department in Austin, Texas that combines significant
knowledge and experience in the accounting standards, taxation
laws and regulations, and business requirements of our clients.
We have obtained the best technology tools to supplement our staff
and aid in productivity. We believe this allows us to provide
excellent results at a reasonable price while providing our clients
with the assurance of local service.
(Click
here to return to top of page.)
6. Do I have to use the WJH
Accounting Online applications to take advantage of the Virtual
Accounting Department?
A key component of the Virtual
Accounting Department services is the WJH Accounting Online software
solutions. These Internet-based tools allow us to be in constant
contact with your business (and for you to be in constant contact
with your financial data). With WJH-AO, the accounting department
tasks can be completed with little or no regard for geography
and staff availability.
We do not require that you
use WJH-AO in order to use other components of our accounting
services. However, WJH-AO is the most cost effective and
appropriate solution and we highly recommend you consider it.
(Click
here to return to top of page.)
7. How are the fees
determined for these services?
While we can charge by the
hour for these services, we have found that most clients prefer
a fixed monthly fee. We look at the tasks you need performed
and document what we will do and what your staff will do, and
then we agree to a fixed fee. It is sometimes even possible
to include the fee for preparing the tax return in the total and
amortize it in the monthly fee. (Of course, depending on
your needs there may be additional charges for specific services
not covered by the monthly fee. Examples would include postage
if we are paying and mailing your bills, delivery fees, and additional
consulting or tax planning services.)
(Click
here to return to top of page.)
8. How do your fees compare
to the cost of doing the work with my own employees?
While it is hard to do a direct
comparison without the details of what you need done, we can say
that our goal is to be able to provide higher quality at a lower
cost than you can achieve in-house. The best thing to do
is to contact us for a proposal.
(Click
here to return to top of page.)
|
