Benefits of Outsourcing

Benefits include:

• Better quality management information that allows Trustees and management to plan for the future, understand their current position and manage projects more effectively.
• The freeing up of Trustee, management and staff time so that they can fulfil the main objectives of the charity without getting bogged down in financial matters.
• The lowering of the administrative costs for the charity will attract further funding.
• The responsibility for the timely processing; payment; invoicing of customers; delivery of management information and cover for staff on leave is borne by Charity Business.
• The cost and inconvenience of recruitment of financial staff as the charity grows and of the upgrade of new systems is borne by Charity Business not the charity.

Main reasons for Outsourcing:

Access to specialist knowledge/ skills. In a study carried out by Charity Business in 2003, this came out as the main reason charities wanted to outsource. Sometimes it is not efficient to employ a person with specialist skills if you may only need them once in a while. By outsourcing, you can access expertise as and when.

Cost savings. If services are being shared with other charities costs will be saved through the more effective use of resources.  This means that more can be spent on fulfilling the aims of the charity.

Flexibility. Charities are continuously changing in terms of size and structure. By outsourcing, volumes can fluctuate without causing the charity too much trouble.

Time. Management’s time is often wasted carrying out administrative activities. This could be much better spent looking at the more strategic issues and managing the charity.

Shared Risk. Charities will not be tied down to using the same resources and as technology or situations change, the charity need not invest heavily.

Quality. A specialist provider is likely to be able to provide a better service than if the function was performed in house by a non-specialist.

How does it work?

Each element of the finance function can be used separately or the whole finance function can be outsourced depending on needs.  Some charities, for example, outsource only their debtor management or up to trial balance level, but most will outsource the whole function which is often where the highest cost saving lies.

You are still responsible for the information that goes into the finance system including coding and authorisation however once the information is received, our experienced operations team then take over the processing. This includes raising sales invoices, processing invoices and expenses, dealing with supplier queries, payroll, treasury and production of management information. As we use the best technology and introduce electronic and best standards of practice, the processing becomes very efficient and therefore decreases your costs.

Because our services are covered with a service level agreement, you need not worry about the work being covered in times of fluctuating workloads, emergencies, staff illness and annual leave as we can assure you that it will get done.  Just pass it through your dedicated client email and our service desk will get it to the right place.