While regular bookkeeping tallies up the numbers after the fact, a controller oversees the daily bookkeeping and accounting operations of your business. This is a crucial accounting task that assures you of the accuracy of your procedures, processes, and information systems. A professional controller gives you meaningful, timely, and understandable information about your finances. You will get actionable analysis and your controller will oversee and guide all bookkeeping and accounting activities on a day to day basis. With a competent controller you can be assured that daily accounting and bookkeeping operations are running smoothly and that you are always kept abreast of the state of your finances.
In the internet age, virtual means a job carried out by someone who is not physically present in your office. In the case of a virtual controller, this is an accounting professional with years of experience and expertise doing the job of controller. They typically have several clients and are able to bring to bear on your business the insights and experience gained from working with many companies for many years. A virtual controller may be full-time or part time, depending on the needs of your particular business. When you outsource your bookkeeping and accounting to Exigo Business Solutions in the Kansas City area, you will have someone with an exceptional level of skill who works for you as much as you need but is not on your permanent payroll receiving benefits and adding to your overhead with a big office.
The traditional role of a controller is to help management with making financial decisions using the information gathered by company bookkeepers and accountants. Depending on the size of your company and what your business is, your controller will be overseeing accounts payable and receivable, cost accounting, and general accounting and bookkeeping. Your virtual controller will also manage daily cash flow, cash receipts, and bills to be paid. Your controller is the one who will pass on information to the accounting team and issues from the accounting team to management.
Additional jobs include investigation of creditworthiness of prospective clients who want to buy products and services on credit. If you have a virtual CFO (chief financial officer) your virtual controller will work with them as well.
When do you quit trying to oversee daily bookkeeping and accounting jobs when you have the rest of your business to run? When your business is small, you can save money and keep in touch with the daily financial aspects of your business. But, as your business grows, you need to delegate to a professional who will, in fact, do the job better than you can. Here are reasons to consider having a virtual controller for your business.
• Your business is growing and you need help assessing potential business decisions like building new facilities or adding new products and services
• You are not getting the sort of timely and accurate financial information about your company that you need
• Overseeing your accounting activities is taking too much time and not allowing you to focus on other important aspects of your business
• You need to be assured that for state, federal, and local taxes you are in full compliance
• You need to improve the management of receivables and inventory that have grown with your business and have to be managed through both accounts receivable and payable
The beauty of using an outsourced controller (virtual controller) is that you can outsource for exactly as much work as you need done.
Using a virtual controller to oversee your daily financial operations and help you with important long term financial decisions is a great idea, especially when your company takes advantage of remote business management and communication technologies like Microsoft Dynamics 365. Using file sharing programs and bookkeeping software like QuickBooks Online gives you the option of outsourcing financial management, reducing in-house overhead, and gaining a higher skill set than you may have in-house. When you work with us at Exigo Business Solutions you can take advantage of our monthly video review of your finances and a live chat with your virtual CFO.
While basic bookkeeping and accounting tally up the numbers every month, a controller manages the daily accounting operations of your business. The virtual controller that your business needs should have years of experience doing this job and years of experience doing it online as an outsourced function of a business. We have these skills and experience at Exigo Business Solutions and can provide you with the skills and experience that you need to move your financial operations to the next level. To discuss using a virtual controller in your business, contact us today.
