Author: Stephen Huck

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

The Hostage Situation: Breaking Free From In-House Accounting Challenges

In-house accounting challenges can create a business “hostage situation” when your financial professional holds all the knowledge, processes, and access with little transparency or documentation. Many business owners find themselves trapped in this scenario, unable to access timely financial information or understand their own accounting processes. Transitioning to outsourced accounting solutions offers a strategic path to improved transparency, efficiency, and control over your financial operations.

Recognizing the Signs of an Accounting Hostage Situation

When your business’s financial health is controlled by a single individual who hasn’t created transparent systems, you’re essentially being held hostage. This dangerous business position leaves you vulnerable in multiple ways.

The invisible workflow problem

Do you understand exactly what your bookkeeper or accountant does on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis? For many business owners, the answer is a resounding “no.” This knowledge gap isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a significant business risk.

The typical scenario unfolds like this: You’ve hired someone to manage your accounting. They’ve developed their own methods and systems over time, but nothing has been documented or standardized. You receive monthly financial reports weeks after month-end—if you’re lucky. When questioned about delays, your accountant provides excuses or, worse, shifts blame to you or your team.

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, businesses with fewer than 100 employees are particularly vulnerable to accounting fraud, with a median loss of $200,000. Undocumented processes contribute significantly to this risk by creating opportunities and reducing oversight.

The information bottleneck

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the accounting hostage situation is the information bottleneck it creates. You repeatedly request specific reports or insights, but they never materialize. When your accountant takes time off, basic financial operations grind to a halt because no one else understands the systems.

This information asymmetry creates a power imbalance that no business owner should tolerate. Your financial data belongs to you, not your accountant.

The Hidden Costs of In-House Accounting Problems

Beyond the obvious frustrations, problematic in-house accounting creates substantial hidden costs:

• Delayed decision-making: Without timely financial insights, business decisions are made with outdated information
• Increased fraud risk: Lack of oversight and controls creates vulnerability to embezzlement and error
• Business continuity threats: What happens if your accountant suddenly leaves or becomes unavailable?
• Compliance vulnerabilities: Undocumented processes may not properly address tax and regulatory requirements
• Scaling limitations: As your business grows, an inefficient accounting function becomes increasingly problematic

Research from Deloitte indicates that businesses with outdated financial processes spend 47% more time on routine accounting tasks than their peers with modernized systems. This inefficiency directly impacts your bottom line.

Breaking Free: Transitioning to Outsourced Accounting Solutions

Liberating your business from an accounting hostage situation requires a strategic approach. Here’s how to execute a smooth transition to outsourced accounting services:

Introduce outsourced support as a collaborative solution

The most diplomatic approach is to bring in an outsourced accounting firm as a supportive resource to “lighten the load” for your in-house person. This framing reduces defensiveness while establishing the external expertise your business needs.

Select a firm that provides cloud-based accounting platforms with transparent access controls. This technological approach immediately moves your financial data from behind the wizard’s curtain into a secure but accessible environment where you and authorized team members can view real-time information.

Redistribute accounting responsibilities strategically

Once your outsourced accounting partner is established, strategically reassign responsibilities:

• Assign routine transaction processing, reconciliation, and standard reporting to your outsourced team
• Create oversight and review processes where professionals examine every transaction
• Maintain a clear separation of duties to enhance internal controls
• Establish documented workflows with defined timelines and deliverables

This redistribution creates natural checks and balances while ensuring consistent, professional execution of core accounting functions.

Document all existing processes and procedures

Request that your in-house accountant document all current processes and procedures in a comprehensive but accessible manual. This exercise serves multiple purposes:

• Creates transparency around existing workflows
• Allows evaluation of current processes for efficiency and necessity
• Identifies gaps in financial controls or reporting
• Establishes institutional knowledge that remains with your business regardless of personnel changes

Pay close attention to resistance during this documentation phase. Significant pushback often signals deeper issues:

• The accountant may be hiding inefficiencies or errors
• They might feel threatened by transparency
• Job security concerns could be overriding their commitment to your business’s best interests

Implement enhanced financial reporting and analysis

With your outsourced team in place and processes documented, establish improved financial reporting that delivers actionable insights:

• Standardized monthly financial packages delivered within days (not weeks) of month-end
• Cash flow forecasting and management tools
• Industry-specific KPI tracking and benchmarking
• Scenario planning and budget variance analysis

These enhanced capabilities transform accounting from a necessary administrative function into a strategic business asset.

The Benefits of Successfully Transitioning to Outsourced Accounting

Businesses that successfully transition from problematic in-house accounting to professional outsourced solutions typically experience:

• 30-50% reduction in accounting costs when considering full employment expenses
• Improved financial accuracy with error rates declining by 40-60%
• Enhanced business continuity with redundant staffing and documented processes
• Access to specialized expertise across tax planning, system optimization, and industry requirements
• Scalable solutions that grow with your business without requiring new hires

Perhaps most importantly, you’ll regain control of your business’s financial management. Rather than being held hostage by an individual’s knowledge or availability, you’ll have a transparent, accessible system supported by a team of professionals.

Taking the First Step Toward Financial Freedom

If you recognize the signs of an accounting hostage situation in your business, don’t delay action. The longer inefficient or problematic accounting systems remain in place, the more difficult and disruptive the eventual transition becomes.

Begin with a comprehensive assessment of your current accounting function, identifying specific pain points and risks. Then explore outsourced accounting options that address your unique business needs and industry requirements.

Remember that with the right outsourced accounting team, you can evolve quickly regardless of the changes required. You’ll finally be free to run your business instead of having your accountant run you.

For more information on transitioning to outsourced accounting, explore our virtual bookkeeping services or download our free financial toolkit to begin assessing your current situation.

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.

You work all day at whatever it is you are good at, but when do you find the time to record the business’s activity in the books and invoice your clients? If you don’t do it every day, it becomes difficult to remember what you bought, for what project, and why. When will you do it?
In the morning, you check your calendar, catch up on critical information, and coordinate your staff – no time for bookkeeping. Mid-day, you are in the thick of it, keeping your clients happy and developing processes that make your business more efficient, effective, and profitable – it doesn’t really fit here. Maybe at night when the day is done? Your bookkeeping can be a kind of daily summary of what happened, and if you take the time to analyze your numbers, it can be a good indicator of what is yet to come. The end of the day is really the best alternative, but that can leave you with bookkeeping burnout.
Face it; most entrepreneurs’ days don’t end until nighttime. By then, you are tired, and bookkeeping becomes what you have to do, not what you want to do. As a result, you do just enough to get by and don’t really spend time with your numbers. Let’s be honest: after a hard day’s work, the numbers start to blur together anyway…. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an expert team that managed your bookkeeping tasks for you?
They could ensure the work was done, only ask you about things they can’t decipher, and provide intuitive reports. Would that help you to dive into the numbers and use them to help you understand your performance cash flow and make informed decisions? Could your finances become a light that shines the way to success and enables you to see approaching pitfalls? You might even be empowered to think up new ways to get paid earlier or easier or reduce costs and inefficiencies – after all, you will have some more time on your hands since someone else is doing the grunt work. Someone smart – an accountant who is trained in bookkeeping and enjoys it (yes, those people exist). 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.

While most individuals are worried about strangers getting their hands on and misusing their personal information, the people who are actually most likely to commit crimes of fraud and embezzlement are those within the inner circle of trust. Businesses that have grown around a single point of contact, someone who performs all of the critical accounting functions, are the most exposed. Unfortunately, small businesses often cannot afford multiple employees to run their accounting functions. As these companies grow, that single point of contact becomes the one person who knows how to perform all functions properly. As a result, the separation of duties critical to fraud protection and accuracy is lost. What about the risk of losing that individual to sick leave, disability, vacation, or termination? This unhealthy dependency on a single key person is especially crippling in accounting, and that seems to be where we see it the most. A seasoned outsourced accounting firm will work with a business to implement protocols that encourage and support healthy accounting practices. Companies can achieve separation of duties and knowledge redundancy by working hand in hand with an adequately organized firm to split task work and create efficient workflow processes. The most efficient transfer of workload occurs in a hosted environment where the accounting programs, inflowing source documents, and data from CRM, POS, and ERD systems are accessible to both the internal team and the outsourced team at the same time. That’s why hosting the books and records within a secure environment is the perfect first step to bringing accounting to the next level. 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.

Recently, a movie was made named The Accountant.
Now we can’t perpetuate the longstanding joke in our office that ‘nobody ever made a movie about an accountant’. The fact is that accounting is not a glamourous or adrenaline-filled job, but there are some very fulfilling and exciting opportunities in the field. I’ve experienced a few of them:

• Forensic Accounting– This is really fun. It’s like being a CSI in the accounting field. I had the opportunity to help a forensic accountant review and prepare reports of findings related to divorce cases for the court. There is something very satisfying about uncovering money that someone is trying to hide.
• Start-up CFO – If you are looking for a wild ride and aren’t averse to risk, this could be just the job for you. You will have to be really good at creating forecasts based on nothing but market research and selling your projections to someone with really deep pockets. Often, you will find that your projections were wrong, and sometimes you are pleasantly surprised by new revenue streams you hadn’t even anticipated. There’s a big payoff for success!
• Tax Coach – Tax laws are very complicated; the more money people have, the more they need advice. Some accountants are building an entire career around developing strategies for helping people pay the least amount of tax possible given their current and future financial position. There is nothing illegal about paying as little tax as possible. Developing a tax coaching practice could be the key to a very lucrative and satisfying accounting career. 

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.

We are really excited about our new internal communications app SnapComms.

We just adopted their program last month and already have great things to say about it. They let us create custom templates, so we are using color, design, and keywords to indicate the purpose of the communication. We have segregated our messaging into departments – Tech, Staff Task Reminders, Client Quick Tips, and Fun Stuff (marketing and staff ).

We are excited to watch the stats develop as we roll out the various initiatives. They have a great reporting function that allows us to monitor who has seen our message and who engages with it.

We anticipate improved staff performance, less disruptive technology updates, and increased engagement by clients with add-on services that will enhance their experience and increase alternative revenue streams. 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.

Easier said than done, right? Many people get stuck on the ‘what you love’ part. They simply don’t know. Let’s start with the simple fact that you probably need to generate an income since you will be spending a great deal of time doing what you love. It’s easy to say, “I love making money” or “I love being financially secure”. Now challenge yourself to fill in the blank with something you love: “I wish I could make money while _____________________.”

What is it for you? Eating food? Gardening? Making artwork? Listening to music? Playing video games? Reading? Playing with kids? Solving puzzles? Helping people? Flying? Building stuff?
It is incredible how powerful and creative our thoughts can be. Once you have manifested the idea of making money by doing what you love, you will spark an awareness of opportunities to follow your dream. You will see yourself becoming curious about how the dream may come to life, and you might find yourself doing research, gathering opinions and ideas from friends and associates, and generally developing your dream further.

Next thing you know, a problem or need will arise that you can solve – by doing what you love. Anytime you solve a problem or fulfill a need, you bring value. With the right planning and execution, value translates to money.
For me, I found during the course of my life that I was particularly good at small business stuff. I like creating businesses, learning about them, structuring them to endure, and helping others to do the same. I found that for me, the really fun part was the financial planning and analysis. It was exciting to forecast future earnings and budget expenses and create a model that was self-supporting and strong. I loved it! Fortunately for me, there are many, many people who do not like financial management – the whole idea of balancing a checkbook or reviewing a financial statement makes their eyes glaze over.

So I can help others (solve a problem and fulfill a need) by doing what I love. If you are doing what you love, you will be happy, and your creative juices will flow, which fuels your passion and makes you even more valuable. Do what you love – success is imminent. 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.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of the American economy. As accountants, we see the struggle small business owners face as they build their trade or craft. They rely on support from their community, and they can give you some perks that big box stores can’t. Here are a few great reasons why shopping for small businesses is smart and fun: 

• Diversity and Creativity – Small and local shops tend to capture the local vibe or their own unique messaging when sourcing products for sale. That means their products will be different and less accessible through mainstream channels – that artistic and creative touch adds value.
• Craftsmanship – Manufacturing at the small business level tends toward higher quality and greater attention to detail. The products manufactured by local craftsmen, from screen printers to furniture makers, will be produced in smaller batches. The business owner usually performs the quality control, so you know you are getting their very best.
• Accountability – Small business owners often live in the community they serve. As such, they are motivated to provide an excellent level of service, and they are nearby in case something goes awry. Tradesmen within your community will tend to be available when bigger businesses are closed and will usually give you their cell phone in case of emergencies – now that’s service!

Put your money where your heart is and shop your local small businesses this holiday season. Celebrate our brave and clever small businesses by putting your hard-earned money back into your community – it’s a win-win! 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.

One of the books I read early in my entrepreneurial journey was The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. He talks about the importance of a business being founded upon an idea that ‘makes meaning’ in people’s lives.

That has always stuck with me, and ‘making meaning’ remains my goal and most fulfilling reward as an entrepreneur. My current venture, Complete Controller, was born from a client’s request for access to my level of accounting expertise for his concerns nationwide.
To solve his problem, we created a hosted accounting desktop long before the ‘cloud’ was a prolific and accepted business environment so he could access our work and interact with the books and records regardless of his location. We made meaning for him, and he brought us our first round of clients that fed our growth and development.

As I developed processes for performing the bookkeeping and reporting services remotely, I became enamored with the luxury of being paid for my work product rather than my hours. Meanwhile, I wasn’t diluting my effective hourly rate by commuting to serve my client base. This made meaning in my life as I was finally positioned to be free to serve my clients without sacrificing my presence at home with my three beautiful little girls! As the word got around that we could provide bookkeeping services at a fraction of the price of traditional methods because we were working product-centric, and more and more businesses were asking for our service. After all, that savings made meaning to them. When their tax preparers reviewed the books and needed someone to talk with about transactional structure, financial management, and ongoing maintenance, our accounting teams were accessible and knowledgeable. So, the experience was much more fulfilling than in prior years when they only had their clients to interact with about the bookkeeping and records. This really made meaning to them, and it made good sense to encourage their other clients to work with us as well. What do I love about being an entrepreneur? That through my business, I can make meaning in all of these people’s lives in a very real way. 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 primary reason elder financial abuse is allowed to happen is the lack of transparency in our current systems and processes. Upon appointing a power of attorney or trustee, encouragement or even a requirement should be made to have an outside accounting firm either perform the bookkeeping or oversee the bookkeeping.

Furthermore, in this age of cloud technology, it is not too much to ask that the books and records be hosted on a platform where all beneficiaries and professional team members can view the financial activity. Advisors, attorneys, and accountants need to see themselves as services to the elderly client, not the trustee or beneficiaries – split loyalties can cause moral and ethical dilemmas. Those professionals should be making the recommendation for transparency right out of the shoot before any impropriety when the trustee is eager to show that their intentions are pure.

Suppose the professional is called upon to fulfill the role of trustee. In that case, there is even more reason for all to be transparent as it reduces suspicion by the family and increases accountability. In fact, it can be a positive differentiating factor for those professionals that are positioning themselves to be providers of that service. Just submitting quarterly reports is not an acceptable level of transparency today – there are better options in the marketplace for that intent upon doing the right thing – those books and records should be hosted and regularly reviewed by an outside firm! 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.

In many areas of our lives, we share struggles and triumphs with others, but our financial lives remain secret. Why? I think a lot of it has to do with shame. Everyone compares their own financial fitness with the parts of their friend’s and neighbors’ financial lives that they chose to share – the good part. It’s likened to viewing someone’s FaceBook page and believing that the slew of smiling moments with groups of friends and family is a fair representation of their life. That’s not their life – that’s what they want you to see!

Talk to your kids – In our line of work, we get the inside scoop on how many households with varying degrees of wealth and income manage their affairs. One thing that is evident – wealthy families are more likely to teach their heirs about money management. If financial security and self-supporting skills are important to a family, they will talk about it. Too many kids leave home to go to college without understanding basic financial rules of thumb: What portion of your income should your rent be? When is it smart to use credit to make a purchase? How much of your income should be saved?

Talk to your friends – When you show up authentically in a relationship, you accomplish two very important things – you make yourself teachable. You allow room for the other person to be authentic. When you are young, and it’s hip to be broke, everyone is broke, but one friend gets a good job and buys a fancy car, and then you stop talking about your finances. If you knew the truth, you might find that they are more broke than you. While you are living paycheck to paycheck, they owe more than they will make for the next six months!

Talk to your spouse (and your spouse-to-be) – It is interesting how we will date someone, become physically intimate, and even meet their friends and family without ever knowing their credit score or bank balance. Then we fall in love and resent our partner for their past financial flaws. What would be so wrong with talking about those things early in the ‘getting to know you’ stage? And how many marriages that have underlying financial problems wind up in divorce? More than those that don’t – financial stress is one of the common factors found in relationships that suffer from the big three: abuse, addiction, and adultery. Developing open and frank financial conversations at the beginning of the relationship is healthy. At the point when you decide to live together, creating a household budget will foster honesty and collaboration in financial matters.

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.