Frequently Asked Questions                                      

What is outsourced bookkeeping?

Instead of hiring your own bookkeeper incurring recruiting, training and management costs, The Finance Department will provide you with a team of professionals who will take on your bookkeeping, accounting and financial reporting functions.  By employing The Finance Department you have hired a service that does not take vacation, call in sick or quit without notice.

Where is it outsourced to?

Our staff is located in Woodbury, New York and are available to you from 9:00am to 5:30pm EST, Monday through Friday.  Additional hours of service are available upon request.

How much will it cost?

Our service is completely customized to each client.  We evaluate your bookkeeping and accounting requirements, current staff, volume of transactions and your budget to develop a solution that works best for you. We can either quote you a fixed monthly fee for specific services or you can pay on a time & material basis for only the time you use. Generally, we find that our fee is about the same cost as the compensation to your own bookkeeper however you save on all of the hidden costs that companies tend to forget.  

The costs associated with employee turnover & replacement, training, sick time and management time add up.  In addition you save of the cost of office space, equipment, supplies and other staff support costs.

But don't ignore the cost of having sloppy and inaccurate books and records.  What is the value of your credibility?  How does it translate into your annual audit fees?  These items cost companies significant amounts of money each year and are often overlooked.

We already have a bookkeeper and a year-end accountant. Why should I switch?

With our service, you get a team of accounting professionals not normally available to small or medium sized business. You no longer have the headaches and costs of employee training, supervision and turnover.  A degreed accountant supervises the bookkeeping and you do not have to provide computers or office space. We offer a higher quality of accurate accounting and bookkeeping and make it easy by being on-line.  Full-time availability is at your fingertips.  Your time will be freed up to grow and manage your business, not your bookkeeper.

How do on-line services work?

It's simple.  The Finance Department hosts the software and your company data.  You have 24 hour real-time access from anywhere through a secure, encrypted Internet connection and can print to your local printers.  Your confidential, up-to-date data is always available!

How secure is it?

Your data is hosted on a server that resides with a Managed Service Provider located in New York and is accessed via our website.  The SSL encrypted link assures your data's privacy and security.  The connection is filtered and fire walled.  It is specifically designed to safeguard sensitive financial information.  All your data is backed up daily and stored off site.  You also have the ability of backing up data to your computer for added protection.

Is there specific software we have to use?

The choice of software is up to you.  You can either remain on your existing accounting system or we can help you convert to one of the several internet based accounting applications that we have made available to all of our clients.  We will help you select the one that is right for you and then we will set-up your application, train your staff and convert your data to make the new system implementation a straightforward and easy event.