If you’re looking for “Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa”, you’re going to be confronted with a variety of options, each different from the others. This article will help you to make your ultimate decision, highlighting the key points on which to evaluate an accounting service’s suitability for the needs of your own small business. This article is brought to you by SureBooks, a standout South African accounting service with a reputation for excellence.
Understand Your Business’s Accounting Needs
As a small business owner, the first step to securing the right kind of accounting services for small business South Africa will be to identify exactly what it is that you need. Are there a few specific points that you need addressed? These might be either tax compliance or payroll. If it’s only a few specific areas such as these that you need addressed or can afford to address, the best course of action would be to find an accounting service that offers a package focused on these fields.
For example, SureBooks has a number of these packages, designed to help South African entrepreneurs with specific issues. Our SureTaxes package (only R900 per month) and SurePay package (only R500), respectively, offer a bundle of services surrounding tax compliance and payments, making them the perfect bespoke tools for your business.
Alternatively, you might find yourself in a position where you need more general assistance in monitoring and directing the flow of cash in your business. If so, you’re in luck again because SureBooks offers a number of distinct generalist packages aimed at providing business general support. These packages are divided into three tiers. SureStart, SureGrowth, and SurePlus, with each addressing a small business’s needs at separate stages of development, make SureBooks services highly scalable.
Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa: Check Industry Experience
As the owner of a small business, you are doubtlessly deeply devoted to your venture, having put in all the hard work to get it off the ground. We understand why you’d want to be very careful about whom you entrust to manage the finances of your business. Perhaps most of all, you’d want to know that the people helping read and direct your cash flow understand what it’s like to be in your shoes and have relevant experience in the industry your business is operating in.
If your accounting services for small business South Africa encapsulate any kind of advisory role, this is going to make their counsel far more valuable. It is also going to be a great sign that your accounting service is more clued in on important factors such as tax rules and compliance needs.
SureBooks understands this need and is happy to assure all of our clients that we have heaps of industry experience, not just as accountants but as business owners too. SureBooks leadership is made up of entrepreneurs who have gone through the entire process of starting a small business from the ground up and growing it all the way to the top. This has given us the experience needed to know exactly what a small business in South Africa needs from an accounting standpoint, at every stage of its growth.
Consider Local Knowledge And Compliance
As utopian as it might be to have accounting experience universally applicable, the reality is that advice given in one financial environment may be totally useless when applied to another. As we all know, South Africa is no average financial environment, rife as it is with unique challenges and opportunities.
One of the first points that will come up when evaluating the suitability of an accounting service for your South African business will be how familiar it is with SARS. The South African Revenue Service is a notoriously tricky organisation, with tax laws and regulations being complex and subject to frequent change.
The accounting service will also need to know all about CIPC (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission) compliance as well. On top of this, they’ll have to be able to take into consideration local laws such as B-BBEE to steer your business on the right financial course.
SureBooks is South African born and bred, with a history of rearing businesses in these unique climates. Our packages are designed to not only overcome the challenges posed to a business by the South African financial climate, but to also seek out opportunities for increased savings and revenue when possible.
Evaluate Qualifications And Certifications
One of the best ways for you, as a small business owner, to know whether an accounting service is worth your time, energy, and money is to check whether or not it’s been certified by a governing body. Organisations such as SAICA, SAIPA and CIMA all bestow accreditation to accounting services for small business South Africa, proving that they are operating legally and up to standard.
Note that certification isn’t simply given once off and retained; it’s something that has to be maintained through continuous upkeep and improvement. This means that certified accounting services are working hard to keep up to standard. SureBooks is fully certified by the relevant South African boards, giving our clients the peace of mind they need when securing our package for their businesses.
Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa: Assess The Range Of Services Offered
As you’ve likely come to discover for yourself if you’re in the position of looking for accounting services for small business South Africa, bookkeeping is no simple business. In fact, accounting seems to simply be a catch-all phrase for what feels like dozens (if not hundreds) of separate tasks and responsibilities.
For a small business owner in South Africa, addressing each of these tasks is simply far too much labour to tackle on your own. So, it stands to reason that when you’re securing an accounting service for your business, you’d want them to be able to address as many of these individual tasks as possible.
SureBooks offers a range of both issue-specific and generalist accounting packages, which include services including but not limited to bookkeeping, payroll management, tax planning, VAT returns and more. We do so using a range of digital tools like Xero, to reduce human error and increase efficiency. Furthermore, we offer an advisory service that helps you plot out the path to success for your small business.
Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa: Compare Costs And Pricing Models
As a small business owner in South Africa, you’re likely going to be very considerate about costs. You know that you need to spend money to make money, but you want to spend wisely and gain maximum return on your investments. You also want to know exactly how much you’re paying and what you’re paying for. In other words, you need an utterly transparent pricing model that comes with no hidden fees. Once those bases are covered, you’ll be able to choose a package that aligns with your business’s needs and budget.
SureBooks understands the constraints of small businesses in South Africa, and aims to offer accounting packages at the highest value for the lowest price, giving you the most bang for your buck. What’s more, we do so at utterly transparent rates, so that our clients never become blindsided by hidden costs.
Use Of Technology And Software
In the modern age, so much of business has transferred to the digital realm. While there might be some points to bemoan over our technology-driven world, there’s no denying that there are incredible benefits too, especially for entrepreneurs. You should check what an accounting service’s attitude towards technology use is, and what their capabilities with these modern tools are.
A firm grasp of cloud-based accounting software will allow an accounting service for small business South Africa to work quickly and efficiently, largely free of human error. They’ll be able to access real-time data and provide automated features for your business’s bookkeeping. SureBooks uses a number of cloud-based platforms and digital tools such as Xero to help our clients achieve success, reducing labour, waiting time and frustration for everyone.
Evaluate Communication And Accessibility
An accounting service , no matter how skilled at bookkeeping, is going to be of little use to you if its communication is poor. This might become apparent in a number of ways, including slow responses and too few communication challenges. You’ll want to be sure that they’re easy and communicate with all of the time, not just outside of the busy tax season or audits.
Another point to look out for is their style of communication. You’ll want to work with an accounting service that uses clear language that’s free of financial jargon, to spare you the tasks of having to Google what ‘Securitisation of Future Flow Receivables’ or ‘Negative Amortisation’ is when asking a basic question.
SureBooks strives to be always available to our clients whenever they need us, with plenty of easy-to-use communication channels for them to use to reach us. Through the thick and the thin, we’ll be a call or email away. We also know what its like to be entrepreneur, so understand you’re securing our services specifically because you don’t want to be mired in financial jargon, so we always keep things clear and direct.
Accounting Services For Small Business South Africa: Look For References And Reviews
All of our claims of excellence are utterly genuine, but of course, that’s what every accounting service promoting itself would say. If you’re personally unsure about SureBooks (perhaps you think we’re too good to be true) and even official certification isn’t enough to convince you, why not check out the reviews and testimonials from past and ongoing clients of ours?
Online, you’ll find dozens of glowing reviews of SureBooks, praising us as a highly effective and professional accounting service that still manages to stay down to earth and direct with all of our clients. We’ve been at this game for decades and have had plenty of time to refine our strategy. Our goals have always been centred around the sustainable success of our clients, helping small business owners all over South Africa.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you’ll want to evaluate an accounting service on several factors if you’re going to choose it to help your small business succeed. You’ll want to be sure that the service is run by experienced professionals who understand not only the industry you’re in, but the unique South African context in which it operates.
They need to be certified and feature-rich, with a modern attitude towards the use of technology and transparent on their pricing. Invariably, you’ll find that SureBooks ticks all these boxes and more, being clear and quick communicators with stellar reviews from past and present clients. Reach out to us on our website today to invest in your own business’s financial success.
