Author: Jennifer Brazer

A business’s structural and economic strength is directly related to its financial efficiency. Finance is the fundamental base of any business corporation that tends to establish a robust infrastructure, enabling a company’s intelligent operations. Financial management has intrinsic significance in providing a solid system for a company achieved through effective budgeting. The equitable allocation of all resources available to promote all departments’ smooth working harmoniously is known as budgeting.Budgeting is the most substantial part of financial management. It plays a vital role in a company’s strategic planning, ensuring appropriate financial and operational activities are performed efficiently to increase profits.

As financial management has substantial significance, business owners are advised to hire financial experts who can efficiently deal with numerous contemporary budgeting techniques. Among modern budgeting techniques, bookkeeping is the most trusted, which allows tracking all transactions a company has made or plans to make. It makes an organization’s decision-making and future planning more accessible and more credible.

Moreover, bookkeeping allows an evaluation of all activities and tasks performed in a company. It identifies loopholes to be covered in the future to avoid serious concerns that could damage the establishment. The following postulates shed light on how budgeting plays a significant role in strategic planning.

Formulation of Activities

To run a business corporation smoothly and maintain balance, capturing the bigger picture of all activities and tasks performed under its flagship is necessary. Effective and efficient measures are required to administer all of these undertakings. Budgeting helps formulate all activities in a company on a single platform and measure how effectively and efficiently these tasks are performed regarding the company’s financial aspects. Identifying the loopholes present allows entrepreneurs to be careful and vigilant in the future through budgeting and accounting best practices.

Drawing of the Goal Map

For a company to achieve its aims, planning them during the initial steps is necessary. Here again, budgeting plays a vital role in providing a monetary stance to the strategic plan drawn by a company, enlisting all of its goals to be accomplished in a particular period. Appropriate budgeting enables business owners to pull a goal map that provides all company targets and guidelines to hit them. In the case of inappropriate budgeting, a company might face significant losses.

Makes Decision-Making Credible

The opportunity cost of a company is to be reduced to gain maximum profits at a minimum cost. Reduction of opportunity cost demands an eagle’s eye view, which can be apprehended through intelligent budgeting. A close view of all undertakings or tasks held in a company allows financial experts to identify apertures present, ultimately making future decision-making credible. Entrepreneurs or business owners, after keen observations, will tend to make better decisions when encountering previous mistakes, conclusively optimistically achieving their strategic plan.

Final Note

Strategic planning is a critical component of a business’s success. All targets to be achieved and guidelines to attain them are planned under the flagship of strategic planning. Hence, it is to be prepared intellectually. Budgeting plays a vital role in achieving this strategic plan as it is solid support in formulating and processing it to a successful end.

Budgeting has to be a top priority as the finances are the skeleton of business operations. Keeping a budget ensures you are on top of accounts payable and receivable. It also lets the business owner understand where finances are going and what finances are needed. Budgeting also helps with funding, business planning, staffing, and obtaining loans or financial assistance. Whether or not you are strong in accounting, creating and keeping a budget should be a priority.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

The following are a few strategies to increase the sales of a small business.

Spend Time Carefully

A common concept is that money is the asset for small business owners, but time is the real asset. If you lose money for any reason, it will come to you one day if you work hard. What cannot come back is the time you have once wasted. So, spend your valuable time carefully on activities that make a difference for your business.

Many small business owners spend a lot of time at trade shows and exhibitions to increase exposure and sales. They collect hundreds of cards from people who seem to be interested in your product. After the trade show, you contact them to get a purchase order from them, but they are interested in something other than your products. Your goal is not to waste time on such dead ends.

Identify potential customers and spend time with them. Answer their queries about quality, price, return policies, and customer service in detail, making them happy and satisfied clients. These customers will not only purchase your product but refer others to you. This referral will increase the sales of your small business like no other.

Listen to the Customer’s Problem

In today’s world, everyone is interested in their problems. The same rule applies to your customers. They are interested in their problems and seeking help to resolve them. As a small business owner, asking customers about their problems is your foremost strategy to ask customers about their problems. Ask them about their needs and the products they are searching for.

When you ask customers about their problems, they feel heard and important. They happily tell their situation in detail. After listening to them completely, start discussing the solution that your product will provide them. It may be possible that the seventh feature of your product is the solution, but while describing your product to this particular customer, tell them that seventh characteristic first. After finding a solution, the customer feels relaxed and will listen to the rest of your sales pitch discussion happily and attentively.

The customer who finds a solution to your product will likely buy it, and this small business strategy will increase sales.

Contact Prospective Customers Yourself

When a customer does not respond to your email, reply to your email instead of sending a new email. Replying to your email serves two purposes. One is that the client will see the original email. Secondly, you come to know whether or not the first email was received. If, after the second email, the client says that they are not interested in your product, that’s why they didn’t respond to the first. Stop wasting your valuable time and end up contacting them.

Often, the customer says they are interested but cannot respond to the first email for some reason. Accept them. However, if there is no response to the second email, send the third email after a few days. Ask the client directly whether you should stop contacting them or not. This email has a positive effect. An interested client will send a correspondence email as early as possible, and the other will refuse. After knowing the exact status, proceed accordingly.

Personal Communication

Personal communication can increase the sales of a small business. This strategy proves extremely useful because, after personal contact, the customer doesn’t consider your email just an automated response. In a personal message, discuss the customer’s experience with your product. Ask them if they have any questions or concerns. In private correspondence, the client should know you are trying to write them a personal message despite your busy schedule. By valuing your prospective customers, sales can be increased tenfold.

Build an Energetic Team

Build a positive attitude of teamwork within your sales workforce. Please don’t do things to divide them. The best sales team is the one that works together. They can communicate frequently and freely by building positive dynamics within a team. Sales are increased by utilizing information shared within the team. Teamwork increases sales in the long run, independent of the size of the sales.

Conclusion

An increase in sales can be achieved by following a few simple strategies. These strategies revolve around the customer always. As they say, the customer is always right.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Many organizations and business owners face fraud yearly due to their employees or business partners. New entrepreneur startups and small businesses are more vulnerable. The risk of fraud has increased due to technological advancement and the world’s progressive development into a global village. The increased awareness of technological developments and complex organizational structure requires corporations to incorporate internal anti-fraud approaches to combat fraud. According to global national research reports, organizations face a 5 % loss due to fraud each year, in which internal employees commit 85% of serious fraud cases. Organizations should develop multi-layered fraud prevention strategies while keeping these statistics in view.

Organizations and businesses should do the following ten things when they suspect fraud.

Be Calm and Don’t Panic

Fraud is scary, and you will likely want to panic and react abruptly when you suspect fraud in your organization. You may terminate the fraudster on the spot or meet them head-on for confrontation. But these are harmful rather than good for the organization. Don’t react when you are emotional or angry. Prepare a plan, investigate, and do what benefits the organization. Make strategies and policies to handle fraud before it happens.

React Logically

It is not preferable to overreact or have no reaction at all to a suspect. If you don’t react and take it easy, the perpetrator will think they can do anything. Ignorant behavior towards fraud will worsen, and the perpetrator will commit fraud without fear of consequences. Always take action when you suspect fraud but react logically.

Be Careful

If you suspect fraud, don’t declare it until you have evidence. If you react without evidence, the fraudsters become alert. The fraudster will try to hide and destroy evidence if they know they are being exposed and you are watching them. After suspecting something is wrong, could you not make it obvious? Investigate carefully. Otherwise, you will not be able to get any evidence.

Back up Financial Data

Always maintain backup data of your organization’s financial dealings. Save on hard copies or hard drives. Get a copy of a hard drive of your suspect discreetly. Preserve all records of transactions, emails, payroll, and bookkeeping. Perpetrators often utilize this information, especially bookkeeping records, to commit fraud.

Rehiring

Be mindful and prepare to hire new personnel. Termination is the minimum consequence of fraud detection. Managers and executives are often so involved in fraud that filling the new position can be challenging. Prepare yourself for such challenges.

Defend your Reputation

Fraud damages the organization’s image and reputation in front of the public, customers, partners, and donors. Try to react calmly and defend your reputation. Resume the trust of partners and customers by assuring them that the organization has taken corrective measures.

Don’t Save Money

Financial loss due to fraud is recoverable, but the reputation is not recoverable. Hire a certified fraud examiner to make policies for fraud prevention and detection. Your organization may try to save money by not hiring a certified fraud examiner but will suffer a lot after an incident of fraud. Realize that money is not everything. The thing that matters more is the hard-earned reputation, which can easily be damaged by fraud.

Set an Example

Set an example by handling fraudsters with tight hands. Otherwise, you may encourage others to commit fraud in the future. The penalties recommended after fraud are a civil lawsuit, termination, and criminal prosecution. Impose all three penalties severely, if possible. The employees will see zero tolerance for fraud in your organization and face severe consequences if they go there.

Get Help

Don’t try to handle fraud alone because it involves accounting and legal issues. Call a certified fraud examiner for help. They know where to get evidence and how to explain it to the legal system.

 Make Positive Changes

Learn from an incident of fraud and prepare the policy to detect and prevent fraud in the future. It is not always possible to catch it before it happens. However, you can make changes both before it or after it occurs. The key is awareness.

Conclusion

Fraud in business can result in significant financial loss, wastage of time, and a ruined reputation. Fraud should be handled when suspected. Fraud prevention is ideal, but the key is to use investigative skills to find and manage fraud.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Lethargy is the consequence of an unbalanced and inefficient way of life that primarily focuses on one thing on account of everything else. Indeed, like every other household and business professional, you strive to live a well-rounded and balanced life. However, whether you work for someone else or are self-employed, you probably feel stressed and overloaded at times.

Successful time management is not about performing your job well. Instead, it is about living a happy and fulfilling life. Consequently, it would help if you made enough time for what you want to do, including your work, home activities, hobbies, and anything that ensures personal satisfaction. However, are you facing one or more of the following symptoms?

• Feeling overwhelmed by everything you need to do
• Becoming increasingly irritable and losing your temper easily
• Feeling physically and mentally exhausted at the end of the day while also not sleeping well
• Viewing everyday things in life, such as eating, as an inconvenience
• Experiencing self-doubt and lack of motivation in just about anything you do
• Unable to achieve anything worthwhile despite strenuous efforts

If one or more of the above statements are true, you probably find it hard to create productive work or live a joyful life. Do not worry! We will discuss eight effective ways for successful time management.

Begin your Day Right

Avoid rushing into your day. Instead, take a few moments to sit quietly and relax your thoughts and emotions. Begin your day by determining what essential matters are a priority and mentally prepare yourself to face whatever your day brings.

Have a Well-Developed Plan for what you Aim to Achieve

Time management begins with creating a set of feasible daily tasks centered around your reasonable goals for what tasks you can execute that day. Be sensible and know that you are human. Prioritize what you must achieve today and try not to make your plate too full.

Break Business Tasks into Feasible Units

Even thinking about big tasks can make you feel, in many ways, overwhelmed and hopeless. It can also hinder you from doing many other things you have to do unless you are diligent and careful. Therefore, break your tasks into manageable pieces to know how to handle them individually, what you will get done by the end of the day, and what you will do every day over the next week. It is another secret of time management. In a corporate environment, bookkeeping is an essential, feasible unit in financial management.

Prioritize your Tasks and Refrain from Unnecessary Activities

Determine the most effective order to handle the things that must be performed and what you can ignore without regret. It may imply that you may have to say ‘no’ to others who want you to do certain things that are either meaningless to you or do not have enough time. No is always an acceptable answer.

Delegate Whenever Possible

Indeed, you cannot do everything alone. Thus, the more responsibilities you have, the more you must delegate work to your assistants and subordinates. Successful time management requires you to let them do whatever they are most efficient at so you can best do what you excel in. Delegation ensures you have optimal creative energy and time for the matters you are naturally better at.

Follow a Big Push with Necessary Relaxation

Occasionally, it would help if you put in more effort and time to meet a deadline, or you may feel inspired to work late into the night. Although it makes sense, keeping that intensity forever is very difficult. Even if you need to force yourself to take some time off, you should do it. As promising entrepreneurs give their employees time off, you should also consider it for yourself. It is another vital rule to be followed to improve time management skills.

Plan time for Meals, Leisure, Exercise, and Socializing

Sure. We all have long to-do lists. And it seems like everyone wants something from us. Living a well-balanced list is essential before you hit a wall and completely burn yourself out. Take the time to eat during the day. Allow yourself moments of calm and leisure. It’s also important to schedule a little exercise every day so that your body stays healthy, allowing you to work more productively in the long run. Lastly, being social with friends in the family is more important to your mental health than you would think. Take the time to do things that make you feel more balanced and fulfilled.

End your Day with a Well-Defined Plan for the Next Day

Most time management experts end their day by making a brief list of what they must do in the coming day. Thus, they have everything fresh in their mind with optimal clarity and are ready to go once the sun comes up.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Managerial Accounting, also called management or cost accounting, emphasizes inside information received through financial accounting. Managerial accounting reports are used for planning, regulating, decision-making, and measuring performance. According to requirements, These reports are continuously generated throughout the accounting and bookkeeping period. 

Because many critical decisions depend on these reports’ authenticity, they should be carefully crafted by experts adept at bookkeeping. Managers then analyze these reports to highlight specific patterns and convert them into useful information for the company. Below is an explanation of detailed such reports. 

Budget Reports

Budget managerial accounting reports are critical in measuring company performance and are generated for small businesses and, department-wise, large organizations. However, each company creates an overall budget to understand the grand scheme of their business. A budget estimate is made based on previous experiences. However, a great budget always caters to unforeseen circumstances that might arise. A company’s budget lists all sources of earnings and expenditures. A company tries to achieve its goals and mission while staying within the budgeted amount.

Managerial accounting reports related to budgeting can guide managers to offer better employee incentives, cut costs, and renegotiate terms with vendors and suppliers. Therefore, a budget report is critical to any business. 

Account Receivable Aging Reports

If your business relies heavily on extending credit, account receivable aging reports are vital. Breaking down your clients’ remaining balances into specific periods allows managers to identify the defaulters and find issues in the company collection process. If there are many defaulters, the company may need a complete transformation to tighter credit policies, as cash flow is critical to any business’s operation. There is always some bad debt that needs to be written off. However, you cannot make it a habit. You must always know who owes you what.

Cost Managerial Accounting Reports

Managerial accounting computes the costs of articles that are manufactured. All raw material costs, overhead, labor, and any added costs are taken into deliberation. The totals are divided by the amounts of products produced. A cost report offers a summary of all of this information. This report allows managers to realize the cost prices of items versus their selling prices. Profit margins are estimated and monitored through these reports as you have a clear picture of all the costs that went into the production or procurement of the articles.

Inventory waste, hourly labor costs, and overhead costs are also part of cost managerial accounting reports. They provide an exact understanding of all expenses, which is essential for better-optimizing resources among all departments. 

Performance Reports

Performance reports are created to review a company’s performance as a whole and for each employee at the end of a term. Departmental performance reports are also generated in large organizations. Managers use these performance reports to make critical strategic decisions about the organization’s future. Individuals are often awarded for their commitment to the organization, and underperformers are laid off or dealt with as required. Performance-related managerial accounting reports also offer deep insight into a company’s work. 

If you think that you should be performing in a specific capacity, but somehow that is not happening, these reports can point you toward flaws in the setup. Performance reports are vital for any company to keep an accurate measure of its strategy towards its mission.

Other Managerial Accounting Reports

Order information reports, project reports, competitor analyses, and similar reports are vital to every business. They are either generated internally or outsourced through professionals. The best course of action depends upon your capabilities to handle your firm’s reporting requirements. The ideal choice can differ for everyone, but professional services have the experience and skills to perform this task better. To attain the most out of their decisions, your managers must have access to credible and authentic managerial accounting reports.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

According to research, more than half of all entrepreneurial ventures close their operations within their first year. The shortage of funding options has been recognized as a significant contributor. The importance of cash cannot be denied for all kinds of businesses. Therefore, your priority should be finding the proper channels to fund your business. Whether expanding your business or sustaining the current business model, you must have a consistent cash flow and an optimized strategy for acquiring financing.Whatever your business needs may be, getting the money at the right time will exponentially enhance the chances of your business success. Innovative technology is encouraged among new businesses as they have to compete with other players who are already using it to significant effect. Here are some of the tips that will help you reach your potential.

Innovative Tips for Funding Your Business

Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping, or self-funding, is one of the most productive and suggested means of funding a business. New business owners find it hard to obtain capital as they are novel and may not have a financial history. Convincing someone to finance your business can be a tough job. Therefore, saving up enough money to start your own business could be better.

Ask family and friends or find a potential partner who shares the same views as you. These are the people you trust the most. Therefore, asking them before looking at other options is wise. You can put your idea out on the internet, find someone interested, and agree to finance or partner in your business. You can offer shares in the business for their investment. Bootstrapping also allows you to own your business from day one. Gathering and organizing your financial resources is vital in bootstrapping and funding your business.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is an innovative way of acquiring finances for businesses these days. The funds are collected and contributed by many people who are interested in your business idea. You set up a comprehensive narrative of your business plan on a crowdsourcing platform. The account contains all details about the potential business or project: its product offerings, goals, plans on making revenue, and many others. Visitors on these crowdsourcing websites make their judgments about the plan and decide to invest. They then become the stakeholders in the business with privileges.

Funding your business through crowdsourcing is an excessive way to access capital and promote your business. It is like free marketing for your business, as everyone who sees your idea acts as a potential marketing tool. The response you receive shows if your business idea is sustainable and is going to attract an audience. Essentially, it offers you a broader viewpoint that can be utilized to formulate your future business strategy. Crowdfunding, however, is pretty competitive. To generate interest, you will have to come up with a very worthy business plan.

Angel Investors

Angel investors have surplus cash and a profound interest in financing lucrative business ideas. They usually operate in groups as it narrows down the risk by sharing it with partners. These people are experienced businesspersons who are adept at what they do and have a keen eye for market trends and innovations. They offer mentoring and counsel to businesses alongside their resources, which is of enormous value based on years of experience.

Finding angel investors is an innovative option that has helped successful businesses today. They offer their capital and advice in return for a percentage of equity in the business. It is fundamentally a win/win condition for both, making it one of the most rewarding ways of funding your business.

Keynote

While the plethora of financing options has made it easier to get started, intelligent business owners should ask themselves how much monetary support they need before reaching any conclusions.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Every business dreams of making its next year better than the last, as it is the only way to take a business toward its mission and vision. Retail companies are primarily dependent on seasonal trends that alter throughout the year. However, we have compiled a few success tips for retailers wanting to achieve year-round success. It doesn’t matter if you have had an excellent or disastrous previous year; the tips below will change your fortune, provided you do as told.

Retail Success Tips

Update Obsolete Hardware, Software, and Business Processes

Your resources have been tested in the last season, and now is the perfect time to evaluate where you stand. Based on the data from your previous year’s sales, you need to assess the effectiveness of the hardware and software that is currently being used. For example, some of your departments may require a larger screen size or an automated system. Assessing past data will allow you to determine if the tools and processes currently being implemented are helpful or outdated.

The best retail success tips suggest it is not about having the latest and most excellent tools. Instead, it’s more about streamlining your business process and offering a better customer experience by creatively using what you have. Shifting to digital loyalty cards instead of physical ones is one way to optimize the utility for the customer and yourself. An updated system is also more secure. There are countless reasons why you should update anything in your business that is considered obsolete.

Interact with Customers at a Personal Level

In 2018, the anticipated marketplace was forecast to be fiercer than before, as traders will up their efforts in vying for consumer consideration. Forward-looking retailers already implement retail success tips through Omnichannel shopping, in-time order delivery, and optimum pricing strategies. With these strategies in place, do not forget that customer service is still the king in retail shopping. Connecting with your customers in a way that makes them feel comfortable and at ease while shopping in your store is a great way to convert one-time shoppers into your loyal customers.

Motivate Your Employees

Employees are the main assets of any retail business because they are the ones who are making sales. If they are not entirely motivated, your business will likely go down the drain for the current year as customers are more aware than ever. You may have to prepare a motivational speech to get them on board with your vision and up their incentives from the previous year. Don’t just speak. Instead, ask them for suggestions and make them feel they have an equal stake in the business. It is the best way to get the most out of your employees.

Make Use of All Sales Channels

In this day and age of technology, one sales channel is not enough to make the expected gains. Retail success tips suggest setting up additional sales channels so customers can buy at their convenience. It means you may have to set up an e-commerce platform for your retail business and start selling online if you aren’t doing so already. If you have a brick-and-mortar setup, you may turn towards social media, as it is among the hottest retail sales platforms. Ensure that your sales channels are interconnected so that if someone orders online, they can pick it up from your store if they want the product urgently.

Create a Compelling In-Store Experience

Even though the trends are all moving towards online sales, people will still visit retail stores, not solely for buying, but because it is an experience. Offering personalized customer service to these consumers should be a top priority for retailers and one of the leading retail success tips for the year. To provide the best experience, you must invest in your workforce and train your employees. The in-store ambiance matters when you want to create an aesthetic appeal for your retail brand.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

KPIs, key performance indicators, are essential metrics that allow you to monitor and track your business performance. They help you navigate your way to success and growth, which is crucial for exploiting new opportunities and tapping into new markets.
Unfortunately, most companies get their critical performance indicators completely wrong by copying the metrics others are using, which may be ideal for them but not you. It often results in a business losing its competitive advantage or a significant market share, ultimately kicking it out of the competitive race.

Don’t Copy the KPIs of Others, Follow Your Own

Although your gut feeling matters and often yields prominent results, this is now an old strategy that no longer defines your company’s success. Running a business is challenging, as it requires a thorough analysis of financial results. Firms good at examining and evaluating their finances mostly succeed and survive in the market for long durations.

According to a study, “Business metrics or KPIs display a measurable value that shows the progress of a company’s goals.” To evaluate your business’s health, specific KPIs suitable to your industry provide an ideal snapshot of where your firm is going— and whether or not it’s going in the right direction. Every business is unique to some degree, and businesses can’t just copy similar metrics used by others in your industry.

Profit Alone is No Measure of Success

Profit is not a measure of success for your business. Although it can define your company’s financial health, it is not the only thing contributing to its success. Companies have short and long-term goals, and KPIs can help you make more confident decisions regarding your company’s growth and development. Profit and KPIs play an integral role in defining your company’s success as a whole. Since every business is unique and has a different business model, companies need to customize the KPIs that best fit their needs and purposes.

Well-Known KPIs

You can follow many KPIs to track and monitor your company’s performance, but core KPIs can provide you with the insight you seek. What matters most is your company’s performance and how much profit it makes.

To measure and understand your customers, you need to know KPIs such as customer retention rate, conversion rate, relative market share, customer profitability score, net promoter score, etc. To measure and understand your financial performance, you need to know KPIs such as net profit, revenue growth rate, net profit margin, gross profit margin, operating profit margin, return on investment (ROI), cash conversion cycle, etc.

To measure and understand your internal process, KPIs that can be used are the order fulfillment cycle, project schedule variance, project cost variance, capacity utilization ratio, bookkeeping accuracy level, quality index, and process downtime level. KPIs such as staff advocacy score, employee engagement, absenteeism level, human capital value, and 36-degree feedback score can be used to measure and understand your employees.

Basic Level KPIs

Small businesses usually have human resources, capital, and finances to evaluate their performance against the abovementioned KPIs. Therefore, they typically go with the basic yet most effective KPIs, which include the following:

Revenue

Whether small or large, businesses track their revenue to ensure that their income maintains a steady pace. When the revenue trend shows a downward slope, the business needs a new marketing strategy to boost its revenue. Similarly, when revenue shows an upward trend, the business’s revenue is increasing, and that’s where companies need to maintain the trend.

Expenses

Businesses consider spending trends when evaluating expenses in terms of a KPI. Reducing expenses is healthy for a business because fewer expenses mean a stronger income statement. Expenses should be a strong business focus as they can make or break a company financially.

Gross Profit Margin

Gross profit margin is the percentage of each dollar you earn after subtracting direct expenses. It reveals how well you are doing in keeping a balance between your income and expenses.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

The death of brick-and-mortar retail is exaggerated. Retail isn’t dying; it’s just changing!

A Retail Round-Up

Over the past decade, there’s no denying the fact that customers’ tastes, demands, and purchasing patterns have changed quite drastically, compelling the retail industry to change with them. The change in the industry’s dynamics is primarily perceived as a ‘retail apocalypse,’ leaving thousands of brick-and-mortar retail stores to close. However, there are other reasons. Ever-evolving preferences and inclinations, lack of wisdom to run a retail establishment in the competitive environment, sizeable upfront investment botches, and increased trust in e-commerce retail stores like Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, and other similar online retail stores are a few of the primary reasons causing retail establishments to shut down at a massive rate.

The surge in the popularity of e-commerce retail stores bears testimony that online shopping is growing among millennials. They love to buy their favorite products online and get them delivered to their doorsteps with easy payment schedules. They have found an easy way to save more time for themselves without having much to worry about. It is undoubtedly one of the factors causing the death of brick-and-mortar retail stores. However, when we look at the bigger picture, we are surprised to find that online shopping equates to only 8.1% of the total retail sales in 2017.

What Do Statistics Say About The Retail Meltdown?

According to the survey results compiled and revealed by one of the leading international retail agencies, worldwide retail sales accounted for $23.45 trillion in 2017 and are expected to grow and reach a whopping $27.73 trillion mark by 2020. Undoubtedly, brick-and-mortar retail is perhaps never going to die as long as this planet Earth exists and people are alive.

Sometimes, a business or an industry has favorable grounds to thrive and vice versa. The brick-and-mortar retail industry may have seen a retail meltdown for the past few years, but that doesn’t mean it has no chance to survive hard times and fight back to retain its lost image.

Why Retail Store Chains Are Facing The Most Closures

Significant upfront investment failures are the predominant reason for the death of brick-and-mortar retail stores. Retailers, when they see profit margins and achieve success in any specific locality, get excited about opening more retail stores in different areas. This excitement often leads them to set up more stores and spend carelessly on improving their in-house customer experience and facilities.

Most retailers largely misunderstand the significant sums paid to create an ideal shopping environment. They often spend impractically and unreasonably on creating an extravagant shopping environment, increasing their investment and costs. Besides expanding their operations, this causes the death of a brick-and-mortar retail store.

What Should Be Done To Prevent The Closure?

To maximize cost reduction, you must first cut down your sizeable upfront investment and allocate adequate resources to get things moving seamlessly in the right direction. Secondly, you must provide an exquisite shopping experience with a unique in-store service. Also, you must hire a professional accountant for bookkeeping services who will give you a clear picture of your finances, tax details, bank loans, etc., for better financial decisions. Moreover, you must reevaluate your retail objectives and retail establishment’s strategic mission, especially your supply chain channels. Last, you must analyze each problem’s root-cause and develop a relevant strategy to recover from the crisis. By taking all of these practical measures, you can expect to prevent the death of your brick-and-mortar retail store.

Brick And Mortar Retail Is Still King!

The death of brick-and-mortar retail is nearly impossible. Although thousands of brick-and-mortar retail stores may be closing their doors due to bankruptcy or lack of creative wisdom to stay competitive, online retail stores and their total earnings can never come near to the overall earnings of brick-and-mortar retail stores around the globe–at least any time soon. It makes it safe to say that brick-and-mortar retail is still king (or queen!), and all of the stories associated with the death of brick-and-mortar retail are baseless.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

By: Jennifer Brazer

Jennifer is the author of From Cubicle to Cloud and Founder/CEO of Complete Controller, a pioneering financial services firm that helps entrepreneurs break free of traditional constraints and scale their businesses to new heights.

Fact Checked By: Brittany McMillen

BPO: Key Benefits and Drawbacks You Need to Know

BPO pros and cons include significant cost savings (15-70% reduction), access to specialized expertise, and operational scalability balanced against risks like loss of control, communication barriers, and data security vulnerabilities. Understanding both advantages and disadvantages helps businesses determine if outsourcing aligns with their operational goals and risk tolerance.

After guiding hundreds of companies through BPO partnerships at Complete Controller over two decades, I’ve witnessed firsthand how strategic outsourcing transforms financial operations—but only when implemented with rigorous vendor vetting and clear service-level agreements. This article synthesizes real-world insights with the latest market data to help you navigate BPO decisions confidently, covering everything from AI-powered solutions that mitigate traditional drawbacks to hybrid models that balance cost and control.

What are the key benefits and drawbacks of business process outsourcing?

• Cost efficiency, expertise access, scalability, risk mitigation, and 24/7 operations versus control loss, communication gaps, security vulnerabilities, and hidden costs
• Cost savings stem from labor arbitrage and reduced infrastructure investments, typically cutting operational expenses by 30–70%
• Dependency on vendors escalates exposure to operational disruptions outside your direct oversight
• AI-powered tools now mitigate traditional drawbacks like communication lags through real-time translation and automation
• Hybrid models combining onshore, nearshore, and offshore resources optimize cost-control tradeoffs

Understanding Business Process Outsourcing in Today’s Market

Business process outsourcing (BPO) involves contracting third-party providers to manage non-core operations like customer service, payroll, or data entry. The global BPO market, valued at $302.6 billion in 2024, is projected to reach $525.2 billion by 2030, reflecting its critical role in modern business optimization.

India’s BPO sector exemplifies this growth trajectory—expanding from 7.3% yearly growth in 2009 to today’s 10.3% global CAGR, driven by cloud adoption and AI integration. This acceleration signals a fundamental shift in how businesses leverage external expertise for competitive advantage.

The Compelling Advantages of BPO

Cost efficiency and financial flexibility

Enterprises save an average of 15% with BPO implementation, with 68% of companies citing cost reduction as their primary motivator for outsourcing. Labor arbitrage and reduced infrastructure expenses typically cut operational costs by 30-70%, allowing reinvestment into core business functions like product development.

Subscription-based BPO models eliminate capital expenditures, converting fixed costs into variable ones. This financial flexibility proves particularly valuable for seasonal businesses that need to scale operations up or down based on demand cycles.

Access to specialized talent and technology

Outsourcing partners provide expertise in regulatory compliance, data analytics, and AI-driven automation that most SMBs can’t develop internally. Healthcare BPOs manage HIPAA-compliant billing, reducing audit risks by 40%. Providers invest in cutting-edge tools like robotic process automation (RPA), enabling clients to leverage technology without upfront investments.

Canon’s BPO units deploy Six Sigma methodologies to deliver continuous process improvement and adherence to standards like GDPR. This specialized knowledge transfer benefits clients immediately without years of internal capability building.

Enhanced focus on core competencies

Delegating tasks like payroll processing or IT support frees 60-80% of internal resources, accelerating time-to-market for new initiatives. A retail case study showed that outsourcing customer service during peak seasons improved order fulfillment speed by 35% while internal teams focused on inventory optimization.

• Strategic outsourcing creates bandwidth for innovation
• Internal teams concentrate on revenue-generating activities
• Management attention shifts from routine tasks to growth initiatives
• Product development cycles accelerate without operational distractions

Operational scalability and agility

BPO contracts allow rapid scaling during demand surges without long-term hiring commitments. Xero’s integration with Stripe for automated invoicing reduced payment delays by 14 days and improved cash flow—demonstrating how outsourcing enables operational agility.

Cloud-based BPO models further enable real-time adjustments to service volume. E-commerce retailers use nearshore partners to handle 24/7 holiday support, then seamlessly downsize post-season without layoff concerns or severance costs.

Risk mitigation and compliance assurance

Providers assume regulatory burdens, reducing noncompliance penalties by up to 90% in sectors like finance and healthcare. BPO partners maintain dedicated compliance teams that track regulatory changes across jurisdictions, updating processes proactively.

This risk transfer proves invaluable for companies operating across multiple states or countries where regulatory requirements vary significantly. Partners handle everything from tax code updates to data privacy law changes.

Critical Drawbacks Requiring Strategic Mitigation

Loss of operational control

Outsourcing transfers oversight to vendors, creating alignment challenges that 52% of companies struggle with when SLA metrics are vaguely defined. This necessitates rigid contracts with performance benchmarks and audit rights to maintain standards.

Direct visibility into day-to-day operations diminishes, making quality control dependent on reporting mechanisms rather than firsthand observation. Some businesses find this lack of immediate control uncomfortable, particularly in customer-facing functions.

Communication and cultural barriers

Language differences and time-zone misalignment delay issue resolution by 20-40% in offshore arrangements. These barriers manifest in:

• Misunderstood instructions requiring clarification cycles
• Cultural differences in business practices and communication styles
• Delayed responses to urgent issues outside overlapping work hours
• Reduced spontaneous collaboration compared to in-house teams

Nearshoring to regions like Mexico or Eastern Europe minimizes these gaps through cultural proximity and overlapping work hours, though at higher costs than pure offshore models.

Data security vulnerabilities

Sharing sensitive information with third parties increases breach risks, with 35% of BPO users reporting data security incidents. Financial BPO clients experience 3.2× more cyber incidents than non-users, emphasizing the critical need for robust security protocols.

Mitigation requires providers with ISO 27001 certification, end-to-end encryption, and regular third-party audits. Contract terms must include breach liability clauses and immediate notification requirements for security incidents.

Hidden costs and quality concerns

Unplanned expenses inflate budgets by 15-25% through:

• Contract renegotiation fees
• Currency fluctuation impacts
• Transition support requirements
• Legacy system integration costs
• Quality remediation expenses

One manufacturing firm underestimated data-migration costs by $120,000 due to legacy-system incompatibilities. These hidden expenses erode projected savings if not anticipated in initial budgeting.

Vendor dependency and operational risks

Overreliance on providers creates vulnerability to vendor instability. When a Philippine BPO firm faced strikes in 2024, client delivery times slipped by 72 hours, causing revenue losses. Single-vendor dependencies amplify these risks.

Business continuity planning must account for vendor failures, including documented knowledge transfer processes and alternative provider relationships. Diversifying across multiple partners reduces exposure to any single point of failure.

How Technology Transforms Traditional BPO Challenges

AI-powered quality assurance

Compass Group reduced contract errors by 70% using Whatfix’s AI-driven guidance tools, proving that automation enhances rather than compromises control. At Complete Controller, we deploy natural language processing analytics to audit payroll processing, reducing errors by 45%.

AI tools monitor outsourcing output in real time, flagging deviations with 98% accuracy. Providers like NTT DATA use IBM’s SimpliZCloud platform to automate finance tasks, cutting processing time by 60% while maintaining precision.

Hybrid sourcing models

Combining onshore, nearshore, and offshore resources optimizes cost-control tradeoffs:

• Onshore teams handle sensitive data and strategic planning
• Nearshore staff manage customer interactions requiring cultural alignment
• Offshore resources process high-volume transactional work
• Cloud platforms unify management across all tiers

A technology client using this model saved 50% without sacrificing quality by matching task complexity to appropriate resource locations. Unified dashboards provide visibility across all outsourcing tiers.

Future Trends Reshaping BPO

Automation and specialization

AI and RPA will automate 40-50% of transactional BPO tasks by 2030, shifting human efforts toward complex analytics and customer experience enhancement. Generative AI now drafts compliance reports, processes invoices, and simulates customer interactions—boosting productivity by 35%.

Healthcare BPO leads sector expansion, projected to reach $908 billion by 2032 due to claims-processing demand. Finance and e-commerce follow with 11.2% CAGR in customer-service outsourcing.

Sustainability and social impact

BPOs increasingly prioritize ESG outcomes:

• 62% report reduced carbon footprints through remote work
• Work-life balance programs lower attrition by 30%
• Community development initiatives in outsourcing locations
• Green technology adoption in BPO facilities

These sustainability efforts attract socially conscious clients while improving operational efficiency and employee retention.

Making the BPO Decision: Your Strategic Framework

Ideal candidates for BPO include cost-sensitive scaling businesses, those lacking specialized skills, or companies in regulatory-heavy sectors. Avoid outsourcing when handling proprietary IP or requiring minute-to-minute process control.

Implementation best practices

1. Start small: Pilot one process before expanding
2. Demand transparency: Require real-time performance dashboards
3. Build redundancy: Partner with multiple providers for critical functions
4. Audit quarterly: Review SLAs, costs, and security protocols
5. Document everything: Create detailed process maps for knowledge retention

At Complete Controller, we use a 10-point risk assessment matrix covering data sensitivity, vendor track records, and exit-plan feasibility for client evaluations. This systematic approach identifies optimal outsourcing candidates while protecting core competencies.

Final Thoughts

BPO’s value extends beyond cost-cutting—it’s a strategic lever for accessing global talent and accelerating growth. In my experience, businesses thriving with outsourcing combine rigorous vendor selection with ongoing performance governance. We’ve seen clients boost profitability by 25% using hybrid BPO models tailored to their risk profiles.

The key lies in treating BPO partners as extensions of your team rather than mere vendors. Clear communication, aligned incentives, and continuous improvement create partnerships that deliver sustained value. For a customized assessment of how BPO could enhance your operations while mitigating drawbacks, connect with our team at Complete Controller.

Frequently Asked Questions About BPO Pros and Cons

What are the primary advantages of BPO?

Cost reduction (30-70%), access to specialized expertise without hiring, operational scalability for demand fluctuations, risk mitigation through compliance expertise, and 24/7 global service coverage enabling round-the-clock operations.

Which BPO model offers the best balance of cost and quality?

Hybrid models blending onshore oversight with nearshore/offshore execution optimize cost-control tradeoffs by matching task complexity to appropriate resource locations while maintaining quality standards through tiered management structures.

How do you mitigate BPO security risks?

Require ISO 27001 certification, implement encrypted data pipelines, conduct regular third-party security audits, include breach liability clauses in contracts, and establish immediate notification protocols for any security incidents.

Can small businesses benefit from BPO?

Yes—37% of SMBs outsource at least one function like bookkeeping or customer service, improving focus on core activities while reducing overhead costs and accessing enterprise-level expertise previously unaffordable.

What BPO trends will dominate 2025-2030?

AI automation reducing transactional tasks by 40-50%, industry-specific solutions particularly in healthcare and finance, ESG-focused partnerships emphasizing sustainability, and increased adoption of hybrid cloud-based delivery models.

Sources

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About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.