Running a real estate business is no small task, even if it is a small business. You have to deal with multiple clients demanding your full attention on top of regulation compliance, market volatility, internal operations, and a multitude of other responsibilities. One of those responsibilities that can add significantly to the difficulty is the management of financial transactions.
Pinning down exact numbers for multiple property transactions in a dynamic and highly regulated environment while seeking to profit and save on taxes requires the deft touch of a capable professional. Such an expert can be found in an offshore real estate bookkeeper service agency. They perform a multitude of financial tasks for your business to keep it in line with regulations while assisting you with financial responsibilities beyond mere bookkeeping.
Tables of content:
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The Differences Between A CPA And A Bookkeepers
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The Benefits OF Hiring An Offshore Real Estate Bookkeeper
If your real estate business needs an outsourced real estate bookkeeper but are unsure about the benefits they bring to the table, and how they differ from a CPA, then this article is for you. Continue reading to learn more about how they can increase your ROI and brand value in the market.
The Differences Between A CPA And A Bookkeeper:
You may be wondering about the need for a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with a bookkeeper already present. The reason is that while their job profiles may overlap in some areas, the two roles are vastly different.
A CPA can be considered a superior role compared to a bookkeeper as they carry out more responsibilities than the latter. An outsourced real estate bookkeeper, for instance, cannot perform the following duties that a CPA can:
- Prepare audited financial statements for group investors
- Represent an investor at an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audit
- Sign tax return and audited financial statement
- Can provide financial advice in matters beyond the scope of a bookkeeper
While CPAs perform multiple functions, they come at a premium. You should decide if you need to hire one based on your requirements. Most firms providing real estate bookkeepers also have CPAs in-house for hire. Unless you have large tax filings and group investment management needs, a bookkeeper is who you should hire.
Read More: Bookkeeper, Accountant, and CPA: Comparison 2024
The Benefits OF Hiring An Offshore Real Estate Bookkeeper:
The real estate business by its very nature involves the movement of large sums of money and client confidentiality clauses. Thus, it may be instinctual as a real estate business owner for you to go with an in-house hire for your bookkeeping needs. And this is not without its merits either, since it means you get to have more control over those matters and the person.
However, the benefits offered by in-house bookkeeping for real estate are dwarfed by the disadvantages they bring along with them.
- The hiring process can prove expensive and delay your work.
- The bookkeeper may not be up to the job, requiring firing and re-hiring, all of which add to the time and other losses.
- You need to invest in their equipment and office space
- Quality bookkeepers come with high salary demands that can eat into your budget
- It’s nearly impossible to get the required number of bookkeepers during high demand, and your present hires may not be able to keep up with the demand. This leads to delays and subsequent losses.
The better option is to go with outsourcing, especially offshore, as it offers multiple benefits. They can counter the downsides of in-house hiring while meeting all your requirements.
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You Save On Expenses
The financial aspect of a real estate business is extensive, involving rigorous monitoring of multiple income and expenditure sources. The sums of money to monitor is also large, meaning a lot of work is needed to ensure the accuracy of the highest order. Such high-quality work is only possible by an experienced professional who comes at a high price.
With an outsourced real estate bookkeeper, however, you needn’t worry about losing much of your budget. The outsourcing agency brings cost reductions via the economy of scale. They will have many professionals working for them and numerous clients too which distributes the cost and brings down the price for you.
The services also tend to be offered by clubbing them into packages, each containing a different number. Some of these can be customized to your specific requirements too. Such categorizations also help in bringing down the costs. They also perform the job remotely in most cases, saving you the need to spend on office space and equipment.
By far one of the most important measures that help reduce bookkeeping costs for your business is the presence of the outsourcing business in a different country. If you get a bookkeeper from a developing country, you get to enjoy the savings brought about by currency exchange values while not compromising the quality of work. They will also be familiar with the local market regulations and idiosyncrasies, helping to prevent losses from failing to go along with them.
Thus, the cost savings gained is one of the top reasons businesses go with an offshore real estate bookkeeper for their accounting needs.
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You Save Time
The speed and accuracy of your financial management directly impact your ability to list properties on the market in time. Your bookkeeper should be able to finalize the necessary calculations in time for you to make critical business decisions at the most opportune periods. DIY bookkeeping and in-house hiring can both hamper these prospects as they introduce delays.
Get yourself an external bookkeeper from a reputed agency and you can forget about such delays. With a combination of their experience, expertise, numbers, the use of the latest tools, and other factors, the outsourced real estate bookkeeper delivers flawless accounting in record time. This turnaround time helps you maintain low time-to-market figures, helping you attract customers before your competition.
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You Ensure Compliance
The real estate industry is filled with regulations, covering every aspect, from property conditions to the realtor’s taxation. You cannot afford to fail any of them if you don’t want brand value and monetary losses. But keeping up with them is also a challenge, especially if your operations are large, and involve properties across borders. It, thus, falls on the bookkeeper to ensure that all financial regulations are adhered to constantly.
Outsource bookkeeping for real estate and you will ensure that your books are in line with all applicable regulations. This is because the bookkeepers constantly update themselves about prevailing taxation and other laws governing their practice. Their years of experience mean that they can identify compliance issues in no time and introduce appropriate solutions for them, saving your business from getting into trouble with concerned authorities.
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You Prevent Financial Mismanagement/Frauds
Doing your bookkeeping yourself could lead to scammers taking advantage of your inability to scrutinize your finances constantly. You may not have the experience to spot discrepancies before their impact. In rare cases, an in-house bookkeeper may work against your interests and participate in fraudulent activity. The blow you receive when their plans come to fruition can devastate your business for good and harm your customers.
Read More: Top Real Estate & Property Management Software
Using an offshore real estate bookkeeper, you introduce the necessary competence to detect such fraudulent activity and preempt the mismanagement of your finances. The distance between your business and the remote bookkeeper means that there is no chance of the bookkeeper getting involved with defrauding your agency. Thus, you ensure the safety of your business transactions and keep your customers’ money safe.
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You Get The True Picture Of Your Finances
With big numbers per transaction, and many such transactions occurring regularly, it’s easy to lose sight of the overall state of your business’s finances. This is especially true if you’re doing your bookkeeping and are not experienced. You can lose sight of the business’s financial picture as you tend to your other responsibilities, and this is never a good development.
With an outsourced real estate bookkeeper helping you, the picture looks different. They can consolidate the entirety of your financial status in a tidy and comprehensible report that provides a clear picture of the same. You also don’t have to deal with unwanted quantities of paperwork for the same. It helps you avoid mistakes like the overpayment of taxes and aids in the planning of your business’s future direction.
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You Gain More Time
The lack of financial responsibilities on your shoulders, or even that of managing a team of in-house bookkeepers, means you get more time to concentrate on the core functions of your business. You and your employees gain a stress-free environment that’s conducive to increased productivity and high employee retention rates. The accuracy guaranteed by outsourcing bookkeeping for real estate means you free yourself from related worries too. You can strategize and organize your business better as a result.
Conclusion:
A realtor’s life is one of tense anticipation while waiting for a deal to lucratively materialize, and multitasking to manage various aspects of the business in the meantime. You don’t need the stresses that come with bookkeeping to add to those. Hire an offshore real estate bookkeeper and you need not concern yourself with stressful real estate financial management problems. You can look forward to an efficiently run business and error-free accounting that gives high ROI and helps build your brand’s reputation in the market.