Working with a NetSuite BPO Partner: TBS, Your Partner in Success

Businesses that are embracing NetSuite BPO services for system administration and accounting processes are reaping the benefits that both technology, and specialised expertise bring in the early stages of a businesses growth. Partnering with a BPO service provider, like TBS, is an innovative strategy that gives our clients access to both power of the world's leading cloud-based ERP, along with the experience of NetSuite and accounting professionals to help their businesses streamline accounting processes and reduce the cost of hiring, training and managing an in house finance team. By leveraging NetSuite’s comprehensive suite of business applications and leading practices, customers can quickly and easily implement the system with the plan to outsource common accounting processes such as order processing, accounts payable/receivable management and payroll management.

What BPO?

BPO, or business process outsourcing, is a strategic practice where companies delegate certain non-core business processes to external service providers. These providers specialise in delivering efficient and cost-effective administration services for tasks such as accounting services, project management accounting, human resources administration, supply chain management optimisation, and more.

The origins of BPO can be traced back to the 1980s when large organisations began outsourcing back-office functions to offshore locations to reduce overhead costs and give them access to specialised talent. Since then, the BPO industry has evolved significantly, driven by advancements in communication technologies, such as Zoom and Skype, along with an overarching trend towards globalisation.

Benefits of Outsourcing Core Accounting Functions

By outsourcing their core accounting functions to a trusted provider like TBS, businesses can experience a multitude of benefits. One of the key advantages is increased efficiency and accuracy in financial management. Our team's expertise in both accounting & finance coupled with our NetSuite Business Management Platform expertise allows businesses to streamline their accounting processes from day one, ensuring that all transactions and financial statements are handled with precision. This not only reduces the risk of errors but also provides businesses with a clear and up-to-date view of their financial health without the hassle of managing a bloated accounting team

Simplifying Complex Accounting Processes

With the right BPO partner, organisations can minimise the upfront cost of hiring and training users on a new system, and instead allocate their resources more strategically and focus on other important aspects of their business. Partnering with NetSuite BPO provides businesses with the peace of mind that comes with knowing their accounting operations are being handled by experienced professionals. This allows business owners to concentrate on their core competencies and drive growth, without the worry of constantly managing complex accounting tasks. 

Streamlining Accounting Approvals

Streamlining accounting approvals is a crucial step towards improving accounting department efficiency and minimises the risk of costly errors that occur too often, when approval processes are not systemised, or managed manually. NetSuite's robust approvals and workflow platform offers businesses the tools they need to automate and optimise their accounting approval workflows, ensuring that your approval procedures are followed every time.

The process of streamlining accounting approvals begins with defining approval hierarchies. Businesses can establish a clear chain of command to ensure that financial transactions are authorised by the appropriate individuals. This helps eliminate bottlenecks and delays in the approval process, leading to faster and more fluid operations.

Your BPO partner can then set up automated workflows in NetSuite to streamline the approval process even further. Automated notifications are sent to the designated internal approvers when transactions are ready for review, eliminating the need for manual reminders and email chasing.

Enhancing Finance Team Productivity and Efficiency

Finance teams are under increasingly high levels of pressure to deliver accurate, timely, and insightful financial information while also managing day-to-day accounting tasks. To stay competitive, businesses are turning to business process outsourcing (BPO) services to supplement their finance team's capacity by moving responsibility for tedious, and time consuming accounting activities to an outsourced team of experts.

BPO providers like TBS give clients access to externally managed accounting talent, automation tools, and best practices, which gives business owners the ability to recruit and invest in more strategic financial resources that provide more significant value and have a more meaningful impact on your companies performance.

Working with a BPO provider also gives smaller businesses, with limited resources (with both capital and finance expertise) access to a team with the right knowledge and education, that is needed to handle complex financial processes, such as bank reconciliations, revenue recognition, financial statement preparation and strategic financial planning.

Accounting Functions that Can Be Outsourced to a BPO Specialist

Accounting functions that are commonly outsourced to BPO specialists include invoice creation and processing, AP and AR transaction creation and managing day to day bookkeeping tasks. These core accounting activities are often time-consuming and require a high level of accuracy, making them ideal candidates for outsourcing.

However, by working with a local BPO provider like TBS, business owners can also outsource more advanced accounting tasks, like Payroll, Fixed Asset depreciation calculations and journal management, bank reconciliations, revenue recognition calculations and financial statement preparation.

Accounts Payable

TBS' BPO services offers turnkey accounts payable management services to streamline and optimise AP processes for businesses of all sizes. With our accounting and NetSuite expertise we can provide efficient and accurate entry of supplier invoices and related forms into your NetSuite system, and manage the full AP lifecycle through to bill payment. We can also ensure that any complex variations, such as vendor return authorisations and credits are applied correctly, ensuring an accurate representation of your AP position at all times.

In addition to supplier invoices, TBS also administers and verifies employee expense claims. We have in-depth knowledge and experience in using both NetSuite's native expense policy management tools, as well as third party tools like Webexpenses, Concur and Expensify, ensuring compliance with your business' expense policies and standards. Our team meticulously reviews and cross-check receipts and expense claims, ensuring accuracy and reducing the risk of fraudulent claims.

Accounts Receivable

Managing accounts receivable is a critical process in any business, as it directly affects your business' cash flow. Ensuring timely and accurate invoicing is crucial to ensuring a consistent revenue stream, as well as setting clear payment expectations for customers. Implementing efficient credit policies and conducting credit checks on new customers helps mitigate the risk of late or non-payment. Regularly reviewing the ageing report and following up with customers who have outstanding balances can also improve cash flow.

TBS offers AR services to clients who are needing to unburden their team from the day to day AR management. We can create invoices for customers, manage customer credit balances and review and update customer payment terms as needed. Our team will also regularly review the ageing report and ensure that any overdue invoices are followed up in a timely manner.

Payroll

Outsourcing payroll services to a NetSuite BPO partner like TBS can bring significant cost savings to businesses. By eliminating the need to hire and train in-house payroll staff, purchase expensive off-platform software , and constantly update systems, businesses can redirect these resources towards core business functions and business development activities.

Payroll is one of the most complex, and risk prone areas of accounting. It may sound like a straightforward task, but anyone who has dealt with complex tax regulations, employee benefits, and government compliance requirements knows it's anything but simple.

Managing payroll can be a time-consuming and error-prone task, especially for businesses with a large number of employees, or who do not have the budget to hire a dedicated internal payroll specialist. From collecting and verifying timekeeping data to calculating deductions and taxes, payroll involves many intricate processes that require accuracy and attention to detail.

Benefits of BPO Over Hiring Internally

BPO is More Cost Effective 

One of the key advantages of BPO is cost savings. Hiring and training new employees can be expensive, not to mention the costs associated with providing office space, equipment, and benefits. By outsourcing tasks to BPO providers like TBS, businesses can eliminate these overhead costs and instead pay for only the specific services they need. 

Access to Trained Accountants with NetSuite Experience

Another benefit of BPO is access to specialised expertise. For businesses who have recently implemented NetSuite, partnering with a member of the NetSuite BPO partner program means businesses can tap into their knowledge and experience without the need to invest in training or hiring additional staff. This ensures that tasks are handled by professionals who understand the complexities and intricacies of the specific business function, resulting in higher quality and efficient outcomes.

A Scalable Strategy for Managing Core Accounting Activities

BPO offers scalability and flexibility to businesses who may have elastic requirements when it comes to accounting task management. As companies grow, their needs may change, and they may require additional resources or different skill sets. Similarly, businesses who are seasonal, or experience frequent fluctuations in demand are able to take advantage of the elastic nature of BPO service commitments.

By partnering with a BPO provider, businesses can easily scale up or down their operations based on their immediate and upcoming requirements. This eliminates the need to frequently onboard and release employees, making the process more streamlined and cost-effective.

Why Working with a NetSuite BPO Service Provider Just Makes Sense

Partnering with a BPO provider like TeamBlueSky offers NetSuite users with a range of benefits over hiring internally. While this approach offers cost reductions in a number of key areas, such as recruitment, training and maintaining full time employees, it also gives a business access to specialised expertise that is quickly scalable. 



If you are interested in learning more about TBS's NetSuite BPO service offerings, reach out to one of our experts to arrange an obligation free needs assessment and monthly pricing estimate. You'll be surprised at how affordable outsourcing your accounting function actually is.