Three Reasons to Outsource Your Restaurant’s Accounting Services

As a business owner or franchisee in the restaurant industry, accounting can be one of the biggest headaches you face. Whether you own one restaurant location or dozens, mom-and-pop business owners and franchisees are often forced to wear every hat, from CFO to HR officer. Even for the most seasoned, well-rounded restaurateurs, restaurant accounting is often a complex and intimidating new world.

It’s also time-consuming, time-sensitive and dependent on accuracy – putting a lot of strain and pressure on you to get it done and get it done right. But spending time in the weeds takes critical time away from focusing on what you do best: Developing your business.

Here’s the good news. With growing use of cloud technology and outsourcing becoming much more popular, accounting no longer needs to be your burden. Forward-thinking restaurant owners will consider these three benefits of outsourcing accounting services to a skilled provider.

1. Cloud Computing and Automation 

The modern accounting department is one that is cloud-based, using automation and digital intelligence to streamline data entry and other mundane tasks. This allows restaurant personnel to focus on analyzing the data and making more insightful and quicker business decisions.

True cloud-based accounting software can also be integrated with POS, inventory and other back office platforms to provide real-time access to data your current in-house accounting process might be missing, such as margin per shift by day or marketing/pricing support for specials or combo packages, for example. This information can help you and your management team make better decisions for your business, like staffing appropriately and managing inventory more effectively.

2. Tech Savvy and Expertise

The technology available to your business through outsourcing is hugely beneficial. Nevertheless, outsourcing this service should also give you access to a very experienced team of accountants who know how to use the system, dimensions and automation to process transactions quickly and accurately. 

This combination of the right tools and the right expertise provides deeper and more granular reporting and analytics for your business without requiring you to invest in expensive business intelligence tools, enabling you to make finance-driven decisions. Relying on focused professionals also increases the accuracy of the work, which is critical to your business’s continued growth and success.

3. Affordability

It’s a common misconception that outsourcing accounting services is too expensive, but using standard designs and repeatable processes, outsource accounting can be delivered at a price that provides more value than current in-house options. We have seen clients reduce their costs in this area by as much as 50 percent. That amount can flow right through to the bottom line or be invested in business analysts who can drive your growth strategy.

As the old business adage says, “Know your strengths and outsource your weaknesses.” As you consider your strategic direction in light of the post-COVID-19 world and potential access to capital, think about how to use that limited capital wisely. Where will the greatest Internal Rate of Return come from: Processing accounting transactions or analyzing data quickly? Planning is now continuous. Shouldn’t your accounting be, too?