Outsourced Accounts Services for UK Businesses
Tailored outsourced accounting solutions for growing businesses
With 19 years of experience and a team of fully qualified accounting professionals, Haggards Crowther provides outsourced accounting services trusted by businesses across the UK.
Considering Outsourced Accounting for Your Business?
Our outsourced accounting service is the solution for companies that want access to a skilled financial management team.
As businesses grow, meeting the demands of an internal accountancy function and recruiting the right people can be challenging. Some companies simply don’t want to manage their accounts in-house, preferring instead to invest in other teams such as sales, marketing or product management.
Others have an internal accounts processing team but lack the higher level of financial guidance and direction that senior, qualified accountancy professionals can offer.
Our team of outsourced accountants supports businesses across the UK, managing everything from day-to-day compliance and payroll through to high-level financial strategy, giving you the expertise of a full accounts department without the overhead of employing one.
Our Outsourced Accounting Services
Whatever the drivers, the ability to outsource part or all of your accounting function can allow you to focus on other aspects of your business, safe in the knowledge that credit control, payroll, sales invoicing, management information, VAT and company secretarial matters are being taken care of.
Whether you want to outsource your accounting function entirely or need to complement an internal team with specific skills, we can help.
Our services include:
- Day-to-day bookkeeping and accounts processing
- Credit control and accounts receivable
- Payroll processing and compliance
- VAT returns and company secretarial services
- Management accounts and financial reporting
- Virtual Finance Director (FD) services
- Making Tax Digital (MTD) compliance and support
Flexible, responsive and able to undertake a range of different services, our outsourced accounting service gives you access to everything you need to run an efficient accounts department and make timely, informed decisions based on accurate financial data.
Our team holds membership of recognised professional bodies, including ICAEW and ACCA, and is subject to ongoing CPD to ensure the highest standards of service.
Outsourcing Your Accounts: Your Key Questions Answered
Is outsourcing right for my business?
It certainly can be, yes. The scale, timing and method of outsourcing is down to each business to determine its requirements, and it’s fair to say that companies that choose to outsource do not fit a specific mould. However, experience suggests that companies that have chosen to outsource their accounting to us are typically:
- Businesses with a turnover in excess of £1m
- Owner-managed, or with a small senior leadership team
- In need of good financial management and data to support their growth plans
- Keen to avoid the risk of a single point of failure, i.e. a one-person accounts team
If you’re reading this, you are probably in the research phase and are likely to be weighing up the options of building an internal team or working with an external firm like ours. This would further suggest that your business currently falls into one of three categories:
- You need to downsize or want to reduce your cost base
- You are experiencing rapid growth and need to upscale your resource and skillset whilst avoiding increased headcount
- You’ve currently got, or previously tried to build, an internal team, and it’s not working for you
As noted, there is no one-size-fits-all approach or a particular size or sector of business which is best suited to an outsourcing arrangement. However, if your situation links to one of those above, then it is more than likely that outsourcing will work for you and deliver rapid benefits.
Is it easy to outsource my accounts?
This is a big question, and the simple answer is yes – but with a caveat that it relies on finding the right outsourced accounting partner first. It is relatively easy to find someone to do your accounts for you, but finding a company that will work in your best interests is harder. Choosing who to work with is a significant decision and not one taken lightly or quickly.
Firms like ours act on behalf of a growing number of businesses looking for scalable access to a broad skillset of qualified accounting specialists. We have worked with all our outsourcing clients for many years in one guise or another, or they have been referred to us by other satisfied clients, where that trust and capability is established.
So, if you are thinking about outsourcing, the first step is to find a firm that offers one of the following traits:
- Has a proven track record in handling the entire accounts function for other, similar-sized companies
- Comes highly recommended via someone you trust who has direct experience with their service
- Is local to you: Overseas outsourcing is definitely cost-effective, but where’s the data, who’s processing your figures, are they regulated, and what recourse do you have?
It’s worth bearing in mind that good providers will build a bespoke, flexible solution for you, and it is relatively easy to layer in additional services as the relationship develops.
How much does outsourced accounting cost?
The cost of outsourcing your accounting function varies depending on the size of your business, the services required and the level of expertise needed. As a guide, our clients typically pay between one-third and half of the equivalent cost of maintaining an in-house team. We build bespoke proposals for each client. Contact us for a no-obligation conversation about your specific requirements.
The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Accounting
Reduced headcount and payroll costs
As the table below demonstrates, building an internal team can come with a cost of more than £250k per annum. When you consider that we can provide the same or even an enhanced range of services for between one-third and half of the typical costs, you can see why outsourced accounting makes good financial sense.
In one recent example, a client was able to more than halve their costs when their Finance Director left, and they chose to outsource to us. Having a sole finance director, on a salary in excess of £150,000, delivering the entire accounting function, was not financially viable. By outsourcing the accounts function to us, we have been able to expand the remit, provide the appropriately skilled staff for each aspect of the role and reduce their costs to just £6,000 per month. They also now have the added benefit of a scalable team at their disposal.
| Job Title | Salary | Total Cost |
| Financial Controller | £69,577 | £83,494 |
| Accounts Receivable | £26,865 | £33,238 |
| Accounts Payable | £26,064 | £31,277 |
| Payroll | £45,240 | £54,288 |
| Credit Controller | £25,940 | £31,128 |
| Accounts Administrator | £24,027 | £28,832 |
| Total | £217,713 | £261,257 |
*This example shows a typical in-house accounts team. Salaries taken from Glassdoor, correct as of May 2006 and represent average levels for each role. The total cost includes employers’ National Insurance, current minimum pension contributions, gross pay and expenses.
Aside from reducing headcount and overhead costs, outsourcing also offers many of the less tangible benefits, such as no holidays, no sick days and crucially, no training and personal development costs.
Access to a broader range of skills
As shown in the table, a typical internal accounts team of around six employees provides a one-for-one resource for each function of the process. By outsourcing, one phone call or email gives you access to everyone from a bookkeeper to a fully qualified management accountant or virtual FD, and in a good-sized firm like ours, you will have access to more than one of each of these, too.
As the earlier example showed, in smaller internal teams, it is not unusual to end up with one FD or FC delivering a range of tasks, which makes the administrative aspects very expensive if you are paying £70k+ for someone to handle bookkeeping or credit control.
Unlike an in-house team, outsourced accountancy firms are also scalable, at speed. You can add on payroll, have peak seasonality, merge or enjoy rapid growth easily. Our team is on hand to pick up the extra work, without the cost or delay of further recruitment.
And of course, those working within a professional services firm will be fully qualified, subject to regular CPD and have experience gained from working with multiple businesses and alongside other professionals.
Reduced compliance risk
Keeping up with changing HMRC regulations, Making Tax Digital (MTD) requirements and reporting deadlines can be a significant burden on internal teams. Our outsourced accountants stay current with all regulatory changes, reducing your exposure to penalties and ensuring your business remains fully compliant at all times.
Making Tax Digital is already mandatory for VAT-registered businesses, and from April 2026, it will extend to those with income over £50,000. Ensuring your accounting team stays ahead of these changes, and the penalties that come with missing them, is something we take care of as standard.
Get Started with Outsourced Accounting
You can see that outsourced accounting services can be hugely valuable in terms of giving you access to a broader range of skills at a considerably lower cost to your firm. But as you will also have read, it is not something to be undertaken lightly or on a whim. We would strongly recommend seeking references from any potential firm you are thinking of working with.
Here at Haggards Crowther, we have a highly skilled and experienced team with 19 years of experience providing a full range of outsourced accounting services to clients. To speak to one of our partners on a no-fee, no-commitment basis, contact us today.
