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Bookkeeping is a necessary evil of any small business, and you have enough to worry about as a small business owner besides that unenviable task. You simply run out of day when trying to perform bookkeeping duties as well as running the business itself. To preserve your sanity and valuable time, outsourcing your bookkeeping is probably the way to go.

By outsourcing your bookkeeping, you will save yourself time and money. Though it may be tempting to try your hand at recording the numbers yourself, in all likelihood you don’t have the experience and training to do the job as efficiently as a professional bookkeeper. There is little doubt that it would take you far longer to do the job yourself than if you outsourced to a bookkeeper. And less time spent on bookkeeping leads to more time spent on promotion and labor for the core business. Additionally, bookkeepers to whom you outsource the work will make fewer costly mistakes. If you perform the bookkeeping yourself, no one is there to proofread your figures. Error correction takes time and money, so allowing someone who won’t make the mistakes to begin with the opportunity to do the bookkeeping is a splendid idea.

There are other ways in which outsourcing your bookkeeping saves you money. As the owner of a small business, you won’t experience as many transactions as larger businesses. Hiring a full-time bookkeeper to record the relatively low amount of transactions would prove rather costly. A bookkeeper on the payroll not only earns a salary, but he or she is entitled to a retirement plan, insurance and benefits, and workers compensation. These are concerns not always readily thought of, and it doesn’t take much pondering to see how quickly it all adds up. When all is said and done, it is quite possible that you could break even or even take a loss. Allow the company you outsource your bookkeeping to provide these perks.

Most outsourcers are flexible in performing the tasks that you ask of them. Seek out a company that will customize the job they do for you based on what you require. Your business will be unlike others, so it is a given that you will need different services. Come up with an average number of deposits, invoices, and checks to be processed each month and settle on a fee scale that makes sense. These monthly fees are often quite reasonable and are definitely cheaper than keeping a bookkeeper on the payroll full-time.

As a small business owner, you definitely wish for more time to dedicate to the core of your business. Outsourcing your bookkeeping offers you the chance to do it. More time equals more money and less stress. What small business owner doesn’t want that?

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Prometric offers the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)’s Uniform Certified Public Accountant Exam (CPA Exam) at certain of Prometric’s test centers. The CPA Exam is given as a Computer-Based Test.

The CPA Exam has four parts: the Auditing and Attestation CPA Exam, the Business Environment and Concepts (BEC) CPA Exam, Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) CPA Exam, and Regulation (REG) CPA Exam. To prepare to pass, you can take an unlimited number of CPA Exam simulations at CPAexcel.

Prometric is a company which is hired by a variety of government and professional organizations to offer their certification exams at Prometric centers. Microsoft, a national veterinary association, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) all offer their certification exams through Prometric’s test centers. Prometric has thousands of test centers around the world but only 300 of those in the United States offer the CPA Exam.

The AICPA writes the exam. The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) maintains accurate databases of the requirements to sit for the exam as determined by the 54 jurisdictions* and the database of candidates for the CPA designation. After your state/jurisdiction approves you to sit for the exam, NASBA sends you the Notice to Schedule (NTS) which allows you to register for one of the Prometric test center locations, and select a day and time to sit for the exam. After you sit for the exam, Prometric sends your test data to AICPA for scoring. AICPA sends the scores to NASBA which in turn distributes the information to the jurisdictions. Your jurisdiction will send you your score.

(*The 54 jurisdictions are the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.)

In 2004, the CBT format replaced the paper and pencil format which was the traditional method for delivering the CPA Exam.

CBT is the only format in which the test is offered but if requested at the time of application, certain accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) can be made for specific candidates.

There are three professional organizations which work together to create, present, and score the CPA Exam. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) writes and scores the exam. NASBA (National Association of State Boards of Accountancy) maintains the National Candidate Database and the database of state requirements to sit for the Uniform CPA Exam. Prometric provides the testing facilities for administering the CPA Exam.

Once you have your Notice to Schedule from NASBA, you need to know some basic facts before you contact Prometric:

1. When is the exam offered? The CPA Exam is given during testing windows which are the first two months of every quarter. That would be: January, February, April, May, July, August, October, and November.

2. Where the exam is offered? While Prometric has thousands of testing centers around the world, it only offers the CPA Exam at just over 300 testing centers in the U.S. and its territories. Check out your state Board of Accountancy website for testing locations.

3. What is the CPA Exam? As the name implies, the Uniform CPA Examination is indeed uniform from Virginia to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington state to Washington, D.C. Since the same CPA Exam is given at every Prometric CPA Exam testing center, you do not have to physically sit in a testing center in the state which approved you to sit for the exam. For instance, you can sit for the test when you are visiting relatives in Santa Rosa, California even though South Dakota approved your application to sit.

4. Who administers the CPA Exam? Prometric administers the giving of the CPA Exam in all 54 jurisdictions. (See “Jurisdictions.”) Contact the Prometric Candidate Services Call Center at 800-696-2722 or www. Prometric.com to schedule the exam.

5. For Guam, refer to the NASBA testing center. If you applying to the Guam test center, read the directions in the Candidate Bulletin.

At CPAexcel, the countdown to 2011 has begun. CPAexcel is the only CPA Exam which never expires, you can order it now and study for the current 2010 CPA Exam Review. If you have not passed all four sections by the end of 2010, you will have access to the new 2011 CBT-e content and functionality for free!

Every business, whether brand-new or well-established, is required to keep a thorough record of all of the company’s financial undertakings. Many business owners find it a challenge to decide where to make best use of their money, time, and physical contributions. Add to those important decisions the fact that many business owners also have no experience with bookkeeping and you can see how this could make for a very stressful situation.

With this in mind a large amount of business owners will decide to outsource their company bookkeeping needs, by doing so they will be secure in the knowledge that a professional is taking care of their books. This professional will also be able to inform the business owner of important aspects to their finances they need to stay abreast of and will also free up time for the owner to focus on their business marketing, human resources, client liaisons etc.

However there are also reasons supporting the argument for a business owner covering their own bookkeeping. One thing every business owner should consider is the massive benefit to understanding the intricacies of their business finances. If a business owner knows how to handle their own bookkeeping they will have a deeper understanding of not only their finances but their business as a whole. They will also be able to use this information to influence the quality of their business decisions in the future.

If you truly want to understand the financial intricacies of your business there is no better way than by having a true understanding of the bookkeeping process. Knowing where the numbers come from is an important aspect to this. Simply being informed of financial affairs by your accountant will never compete to knowing these things first hand. Even having the best consultant on your payroll can not replace having the knowledge yourself.

Ultimately, the decision is a personal choice which must be made with multiple factors in mind, such as how much money you can devote to hiring a professional, and how much time you have to search for a reputable one. If you plan to undertake bookkeeping on your own and have little or no experience in doing so, it would be to your benefit to seek out the advice and guidance of an expert who can help you to learn what you need to know to confidently keep your own records. Keeping in contact with such an expert in the future can also help you to avoid making serious mistakes by staying current on any rule-and-regulation changes that you may be unaware of otherwise.

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Bookkeeping records are required for every small business. These records are for tax purposes and need to represent income, profit and expenses. For every business there are three ways in which they can complete these records. They can do it themselves, they can hire a bookkeeper or they can use special software.

The majority of small business owners are capable of taking care of their own bookkeeping. If they are smart enough to run their own business then they should have, or be able to learn, basic bookkeeping skills. All they need to really know is the laws unique to their country when it comes to tax and financial regulations, and have the time to take care of their bookkeeping. They can do it with a pen and paper or use the computer with standard software such as excel.

When it comes to handling your records manually there is one distinct drawback, if you make a mistake, which is something that can happen, or you misinterpret or misplace certain documents, you can face fines for declaring the incorrect tax liabilities or profits. There is also the fact that somebody highly trained in tax laws will be knowledgeable of all the ways in which you can save money, as apposed to a business owner simply doing taxes for themselves.

The use of bookkeeping software can make life easier for a business owner, this software will guide you through the process and show you what information is required to go where. Once it has all been filled in the software will create all the finance reports you need to take care of your taxes, they will be in the appropriate format and everything will be exactly where it needs to be.

However, there are some drawbacks to bookkeeping software. The software itself is still open to user error so if you input the wrong information the end reports will also be false and could leave you open to fines or penalties. The software itself can also be confusing to a first time user, and especially to anybody not used to working with computers. This can make the process a long one while you get to grips with the system.

The third option, which is hiring a bookkeeper, is obviously the most convenient and the best way to avoid mistakes being made. The only downside to it is the extra cost that will be incurred, however, in the long run can actually work out to be the most cost effective method. Why? Because business owners can focus on making money rather than fiddling around with figures and there is almost no chance of any fines being incurred for not following financial regulations.

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The advantages of outsourcing can be significant for small business owners and for the business. Reviewing the history of outsourcing as a business strategy demonstrates that the need for specialized and low cost labor was a key driver. Small businesses are often constrained by the need to keep costs down and to find competent labor. Many small business owners cannot afford, and do not need, a large number of employees. Yet, small businesses need to grow to survive.

How do you grow your business without increasing your staff? How do you stay focused on your business vision and strategic plan? Managing your every-day business activities can be hard work; adding growth objectives to that day-to-day effort can be overwhelming. Hiring outsourced services can help you meet your business plan.

What is outsourcing? It is hiring outside resources to do what you can’t, or don’t want to, do within the business. Large scale outsourcing is becoming more common on a global basis. Businesses are trying to narrow in on their core competencies and to contract out services that don’t align with their primary business. For example, a number of North American phone companies outsource call center work to India. Law firms outsource legal research to countries with lower labor costs. On a small business scale, outsourcing is about hiring services that a small business owner can’t handle internally.

Outsourcing specialized services can help your business contain and minimize payroll costs, reduce the need to recruit more staff and to manage more staff, and improve your utilization of resources (people, equipment, time and money). There are excellent benefits and paybacks to contracting out services, particularly highly specialized services.

There are many functional services that can be outsourced. Here is a short list of some of the most common ones: human resources support – including recruiting, training, salary surveys, writing of job descriptions, writing of employee policies, payroll and benefits; accounting support – such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, bookkeeping, financial statements; marketing – such as specific direct marketing programs, new product launches, promotional brochures, and email campaigns; information technology support – such as vacation relief, backing up remotely, hardware maintenance, and software analysis; transportation – such as warehousing, inventory, shipping; building and grounds cleaning and maintenance; sales – such as independent sales agents or distributors; management consultants; and more.

Transition from outsourcing services to hiring a full time person when the cost of outsourcing is significantly more than the cost of hiring staff; but make sure that you recognize that outsourced services are often specialized whereas an employee may be more of a generalist. For example, if your accounting outsourcing is costing you 20 percent more than an employee would, hire an employee who can do the accounting (receivables, payables, costing, and financials) and help in the administration of the office.

There are many good reasons to outsource but the best reason is that it allows you to focus on what you do best, and to focus on what’s harder to outsource (your passion for the business). Consider your strengths and weaknesses and focus your efforts on the higher impact and higher profit endeavor. Your decision to outsource needs to be balanced with what you gain or lose by outsourcing.

As a small business owner or manager, your goal is to grow your business. The advantages of outsourcing will help you achieve that goal by saving time and money, focusing on your strengths and weaknesses and achieving your plan. Find more proven strategies and resources from the More For Small Business site to better manage your business.