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Thought Leadership from the Leaders in Virtual Accounting and Bookkeeping Services

How To Choose A Virtual Company

We recently came across a headline that read, “Learn How To Grow a Multi-Million Dollar Company Without Employees”. Now, you can interpret this in many ways but often this means relying on outside services for support. Marketed under many names, it doesn’t really matter whether you refer to this type of support as fractional services, virtual services or outsourced services. Simply, the fact remains that relying on a virtual company to support the needs of a growing business is often an efficient and productive way to scale a company. However, while the economy is quickly shifting from so-called traditional work environment to an outsourced and virtual landscape, one of the greatest challenges to business owners is separating the wheat from the chaff when it comes to quality, outsourced services. After all, you likely won’t be able to just show up at their offices and take a look around to see for yourself.

So whether you’re looking for an outsourced accounting provider like us or another type of business to support your growing needs, this checklist of features and considerations should help you steer clear of problems and help you choose the best provider available.

  • Where Are They Located?


    Right off the bat this may seem like a contradiction to what we just said. While you likely won’t be able to show up at their offices (for example, we hold all client meetings via GoToMeeting and conference call), you should still have a clear understanding of their physical presence.
    Are they centered overseas or within the United States? For many companies, outsourcing no longer means sending work overseas for cheap and you’re not likely looking for that either. Find out not only where their headquarters is but where the back office work is performed. You don’t want to find out your privileged company information will be siphoned through five layers of disconnected offices or employees.
  • What Security Is In Place?


    Are their employees working remotely? Many virtual companies have networks of professional employees working remotely from their home offices. This shouldn’t be a cause for concern as long as the company has proper safety protocols in place. Find out where data is stored, who has access, what security measures are available in case of a data breach or computer downtime.
  • Who Are Their Employees?


    A company may look very professional on their website or at the leadership level—but unless the president of the company will be doing your bookkeeping, you’ll want to know who the bookkeeper is on your account (or professional for other services). Ask what credentials their employees are required to keep current, how they find, hire and train employees and whether they are full-time employees or independent contractors. Full-time employees of a company with a finely tuned infrastructure and practices in place are more likely to exhibit the same level of quality services and professionalism as the leadership of the company.
  • How Do They Provide Services?


    This is the most complex of questions and requires your rapt attention. Find out how services are delivered and deliverables are ensured. Working with an outsourced or virtual company relies on a great deal of trust and integrity—but until you’ve developed these connections, you will want to know for sure when and how to expect what you have been promised. Will your account be housed on a server where you can directly access reports and deliverables? Will there be a published schedule guiding work and expectations? How will you know how to measure whether they have met obligations? Knowing the answers to these questions will alleviate a lot of pain points for you.
  • When Should They Start And For How Long?


    Not all outsourced services or virtual companies are meant to have relationships forever. Do you need a contract-based project performed or an ongoing service? Should you enter a month-to-month agreement or simply create a scope of work for a single project? The answer to these questions will vary based on what services you are looking to hire. For example, accounting services are generally an ongoing relationship so a month-to-month contract for the long-term outlook would make sense to consider. However, if you are looking to hire a marketing agency to overhaul your website or create a new inbound marketing campaign, you might want to consider a project-based scope of work that ends with specific deliverables. Ask your prospective service providers what your options are and weigh them accordingly.
  • Who Else Loves Them?


    Last but not least, get at least 3-5 references, preferably from businesses with similar needs and scopes of work as you intend to have. Make sure to call them and ask about everything, from who works on their account to timeliness and expectations. Ask about how their onboarding process was and what surprised they encountered. You may be able to learn from (and avoid) the learning curve of hiring a virtual company simply by asking those who have already been there and done that.

Looking for more information on outsourcing accounting services? We can help you figure it all out.

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