You’ve likely heard of the benefits of outsourced accounting services and how they can eliminate the challenges of an in-house accounting team. In fact, 78% of businesses all over the world feel positive about their outsourcing partners. However, business owners need to know that Finance-as-a-Service (FaaS) and accounting are two different things. Outsourced accounting can serve as more of a generalized term that describes any number of services that respond primarily to bookkeeping or compliance issues.
Finance-as-a-Service, on the other hand, provides access to a team that responds to the core functions and strategic initiatives of your business. Using these professionals, you can communicate directives across your organization and ensure your entire company stays on the same page regarding specific procedures and operations.
Continue reading to learn more about the benefits of Finance-as-a-Service.
What Is Finance-as-a-Service?
Finance-as-a-Service focuses on working capital, integrated acquisitions, and long-term business strategy aimed at sustainable success. It transforms the traditional “back office” and integrates new technologies. It can also roll legal, statutory, and tax reporting into one department, making your business more efficient. It takes a broader approach to the finance department and governs wider decision-making with financial business intelligence, data analytics, and KPI benchmarks.
Finance-as-a-Service enrolls the C-suite executives in the decision-making process. It helps them tear down operational walls while fostering relationships with sales, supply chain, IT, HR, and other departments. It is the most effective way to collaborate initiatives across an entire organization.
How Can Finance as a Service Companies Help?
FaaS teams combine financial strategy and accounting in one department. They promote continuity within the organization and give you access to a full-service accounting team without the hassle of hiring and retaining an in-house team. In part, finance-as-a-service teams are different from outsourced accounting teams because they look at your internal operations, offer scalable solutions, and can integrate with any existing software while recommending new solutions. These factors are what give FaaS teams more agility. They are fractionalized and can respond to the needs of your business regardless of your industry. They can also clearly communicate insights and directives with your entire team, including C-suite executives.
What Are the Benefits of Finance-as-a-Service?
The core FaaS benefits for business include:
- Cost benefits
- Scalable solutions
- Specialized directives from a strategic CFO
- Increased synergy among departments
- Optimized business procedures
- Prioritized growth
Cost Benefits
Cost is one of the more significant business benefits of FaaS. Choosing a FaaS solution instead of a full-service, in-house accounting team can save you costs. The cost savings don’t only occur upfront. Rather, they last over the long haul. These cost savings last because, over time, you can increase the number of procedures you automate, respond to challenges faster with a more agile approach, and provide data analysis that leads to more confident decision-making and reduced risks. Lastly, a FaaS team will be able to streamline your financial reporting.
A company with an in-house team but without a CFO will produce reports designed for compliance. A company with access to a CFO has data in its hands that leads to more forward-thinking insights. FaaS providers give companies access to numerous analytics and metrics that help them leverage enterprise-level finance and accounting software for better reporting in easily understood terms.
Scalability
Finance-as-a-service providers give you the benefit of agility and freedom so that your business can use their services as needed. They provide the tools to set up systems without the overhead or commitment of an in-house team. These fractionalized professionals will already have experience in your industry, and your company will be able to scale easily and effectively.
CFO Support
If your company lacks a CFO, you can use one provided by your FaaS company. Strategic CFOs, such as those at Fully Accountable, can give your company financial guidance, leading to long-term success and a strategy that fits your evolving needs. Having an outsourced CFO will give you financial leadership and allow you to focus on your core business principles. They will be able to guide you in creating a strategy that fits your goals.
Increased Synergy Among Departments
FaaS companies streamline financial data management, replacing outdated paper and spreadsheet methods that are error-prone and time-consuming. They provide unified financial reporting and analysis, ensuring company-wide alignment on financial strategies. Benefits include improved understanding of profitability, clearer communication with investors, easier fraud detection, more accurate business forecasts, and reduced risk in decision-making. By connecting and managing financial data effectively, FaaS companies foster departmental synergy and help form clear business objectives, which is essential for long-term financial planning.
Optimized Business Procedures
Business procedures are at the heart of your financial directives and strategy. If the various departments don’t have clearly defined procedures that help them understand the company’s overall financial strategy, you won’t be able to realize all of the benefits of a FaaS company. FaaS teams implement the correct procedures for each department to minimize costs and ensure every team member is on the same page regarding financial objectives.
What Should You Look for In a FaaS Company?
There are three primary areas a Finance-as-a-Service company should focus on. What resources your team needs, the team you choose, and communication will dictate whether the transformation from Finance-as-a-Function to Finance-as-a-Service is successful.
Resources
Your Finance-as-a-Service provider should define their service scope and offer scalable solutions with transparent pricing. Their standard package should include technology, necessary deliverables from your team, and a monthly meeting agenda covering long-term planning, monthly reporting, and cash flow planning.
The Team
Choose a Finance-as-a-Service team based on your specific needs, considering whether you require a full finance and analytics team or just a controller. Transitioning to a FaaS model may require different skills and resource allocation.
Communication
Ensure regular and consistent communication with your finance team, including meeting schedules and deadlines. Clarify how and when results are delivered, and confirm that your communication needs are met, as this is a standard commitment for most CPA firms and staff.
Bottom Line
The benefits of outsourced accounting have long been recognized by companies trying to automate some of their bookkeeping and compliance processes. However, Finance-as-a-Service takes these benefits one step further. They do this by automating the correct analytics, implementing software, providing a scalable solution, and clearly communicating objectives across your organization.
As an outsourced financial services and accounting company, we at Fully Accountable believe businesses of all sizes can benefit from our FaaS offerings. Whether you’re a small company struggling to scale or an established company that stands on the precipice of a high-stakes game of growth and needs clearly defined financial strategies, we have a fractionalized team that can help.
If you’re ready to hire a company for FaaS services, contact us today to learn more about how you can benefit from the FaaS team at Fully Accountable. Sustainable growth is only a phone call away.
Fully Accountable is an outsourced accounting and fractional CFO firm that specializes in ecommerce accounting for online businesses. As a Inc 5000 fastest growing companies award winner, our diverse team of accountants, bookkeepers and CFOs can help you improve your cashflow and effectively manage and grow your bottom line.
