Insourcing an Accounting Function

[EssexAussie28]

Apologies if I am posting in totally the wrong area.

I am thinking of suggesting to management at my organization that we insource our accounting function.

Currently I am providing the information for a third party, who do our accounting and prepare management accounts. We pay this third party over £4,000 (US$6,000) per month. I want to be able to suggest to management that we cut back on this cost and have an accounting program installed for us to prepare reports and keep ledgers in house.

Does anyone have any experience with insourcing and setting up a new accounting package? The third party has Sage, which I have experience with. Maybe we could use Sage.

Does anyone have any sort of suggestions on how I should tackle the whole process?

 

[vb5prgrmr]

I'm not sure that you will be able to get management to accept your idea but then again I could be wrong as I do not know how much accounting professionals make in your area. But before you go any further, add up the costs... Price of software, users computer, server computer for accounting system, payroll of accounting professional who is fairly high up in your system of accounting professionals (here in US I would say the cost of a CPA), and the price of independent audits. Now, if you can beat the outsourcing price, then you may have a shot. Also, don't forget that in pricing your proposal, seperate out the one time costs, versus the every few years costs, versus the yearly costs...



Good Luck

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
The devil is in the Tails.. ( Maintenance on the server and PCs, training costs, backup plans and storage, etc..)

Be pessimistic in estimates, going too high is better than under costing...





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[jsteph]

Like vb5 said, I don't know what accountants make in your area, and not sure what skill level (do you need a controller, or just a data-entry gnome?). But benefits cost roughly 30-40% over salary, so $6k per month is $72K per year--so you're looking to hire an accountant for less than $50K per year...even in this economy you'll find people turn away from that. And then the hardware costs, software licensing, upgrades, etc, the audits, etc.

You've got an uphill battle.
--Jim

 

[Annihilannic]

It didn't sound to me like a new hire was part of the question?

Companies usually require external accountants to audit their accounts anyway though. It probably doesn't cost that much more to have them keep the accounts too, so the saving may not be massive.

Annihilannic.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Since this discussion is turning away from the intent of this forum, I think this discussion would be better suited for one of the Corporate Water Cooler forums.



--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein