One of the greatest perceived risks of virtual bookkeeping revolves around the ownership of data. Many small business owners and corporate decision makers believe that by outsourcing their accounting functions, they’re compromising the security and ownership of the company’s financial data. This isn’t true. However, there are some risks involved in choosing the wrong third party accounting service that could negatively impact your company’s data security policy.
For example, there are some virtual bookkeeping companies and automated online software programs that don’t allow for the migration of data if you decide to discontinue or change service providers. This doesn’t mean that your financial information is held hostage – it simply means that there’s no built-in way of retrieving your information once it’s been uploaded to the third party. Not unless you want to physically print and re-enter all data into a new system manually.
Fortunately, there are outsourced accounting services that operate as hosted ASPs – Application Service Providers – that offer a comprehensive data security policy which not only allows you access to your files at any time, but which also enable you to download your data files and transfer them to another software program. AccountingDepartment.com is a full service ASP with this capability.
Having complete ownership and 24/7 remote access to your company’s sensitive financial information is critical when selecting an outsourced bookkeeping firm. It not only ensures your complete control, but it’s also highly conducive to exercising something that’s becoming an imperative in today’s tough financial economy: the freedom of choice to take your business elsewhere if you determine the service you’re getting isn’t up to par with expectations.
