What to Look for in an Outsourced Accounting Firm for your VRM Business

What to Look for in an Outsourced Accounting Firm

Here’s a common misconception about outsourcing: Any firm you choose must be better than what you already have. People assume that once they’ve selected an outsourcing firm, their problems are solved. But some firms are better than others. And while the option you choose may improve on what you had before, that doesn’t mean it delivers everything you want and need.

Outsourcing shouldn’t just do things better. It should do them perfectly. You’re not outsourcing something as important as accounting and finance for someone to do them adequately. You’re paying and trusting a partner to do things perfectly – because there could be serious consequences for your business if they’re not.

It might sound obvious to pick only the top outsourcing providers. Nonetheless, it’s common for people to rush their pick of a provider because, at that point, they’ve decided the organization needs skills and capabilities it doesn’t have, so they incorporate them ASAP. As a result, they end up with an outsourcing partner that’s inadequate, underwhelming, or worse. This happens more often than you would expect.

Don’t let it happen to you. When your vacation rental management company needs outsourced accounting help, there are a select number of options available, but only one right choice. Look for these qualities:

Trust Accounting Expertise

The hardest part of accounting at a vacation rental management company is handling trust accounting. It’s a detailed, fast-moving, and highly-specific approach to accounting that many financial professionals haven’t practiced before. Worse, if it’s not done right, it can alienate each of the owners you work for. Therefore, only work with a firm that has deep, demonstrated expertise with trust accounting. Nothing less will do.

Vacation Rental Experience

Trust accounting isn’t the only financial feature unique to the vacation rental management industry. As the central financial point between owners, guests, and service providers, property managers must have an effective accounting system in place that serves a lot of different interests. If an outsourcing firm hasn’t worked in this industry before, extensively, it calls their abilities into question.

Cutting-Edge Software

People often decide to outsource when they’ve reached the limits of their in-house accounting software (usually QuickBooks). So it makes no sense to outsource to someone who also uses QuickBooks, or a similarly limited piece of software that doesn’t line up with the demands of vacation rental accounting. Your outsourcing partner should rely on advanced financial management software that’s appropriate for the short-term rental industry.

Innovative Offerings

Outsourcing isn’t about doing your work for you; it’s about solving your problems. More than just replicating your workflows, a great outsourcing partner will introduce better ways of conducting accounting that save you time and money while expanding and accelerating your growth. Look for the partner that’s offering solutions and not just services.

Ximplifi is an outsourced accounting firm that serves vacation rental management companies specifically. If that’s you, we deliver precisely what you need to achieve financial success.

Let’s talk.