Is Outsourcing Right for You?

To help you determine whether to outsource your bookkeeping or accounting functions take the following quiz. There are no right or wrong answers, and no tricks or traps.

Each question deals with bookkeeping or accounting activities and asks you to rank it from 0 to 10 to see if outsourcing may apply to your organization. To take the test, assign a value to each question, 10 being the most accurate, and 1 the least accurate. The answer key is at the end of the quiz.

Maximum score would be 140. If you scored between 70 and 140 you should consider outsourcing some or all of your accounting department.

1. Operational Issues
2. Bookkeeping / Accounting is not the core activity of our organization
3. We could devote more time to serving our clientele if we did not have to do the bookkeeping.
4. Arranging outsourced bookkeeping might be more flexible, to vary with our needs.
5. There is a high risk with hiring an employee who may not have the right skills for our needs.
6. It is hard to maintain our current bookkeeping practices.
7. We lack the financial information to make sound business decisions quickly.
8. Staffing Considerations
9. It is hard for us to find an outsource firm to provide the bookkeeping services we need.
10. In our business it is hard to find time to do accounting.
11. Staff turns over often.
12. Our bookkeeping staff is out of date on all the latest accounting/tax information.
13. Costing Issues
14. Hiring a candidate with new ideas and top skills will require too high a salary.
15. The cost of outsourcing may be lower than performing these functions in house.
16. Our organization likes fixed costs, such as knowing the fee to be paid to an outsourcing firm.
17. We have limited space for housing new staff and limited time to supervise.
18. Answer