A business needs accurate and up-to-date bookkeeping for two main reasons - to determine the amount of taxes and VAT to be paid and to understand how your business is doing.
These tasks can be done as follows:
* In-house by an employee or full time bookkeeper - this option is normally expensive. If a qualified bookkeeper is employed the cost to company can be exceptionally high.
* By the business owner - inexpensive but very time consuming. Most business owners are not qualified in all the aspects of bookkeeping and mistakes can have serious consequences for the business and the owner/s.
* By an Accountant - this option is very effective but extremely expensive as Accountants are highly qualified and therefore charge accordingly
* This brings us to the fourth option:

Outsourcing the bookkeeping and payroll functions is:
* Inexpensive - thereby saving the company time, money and any HR problems that may occur with a permanent staff member.
* Effective - an outsourced bookkeeper will submit all information correctly and on time.
* Management Accounts - submitted monthly to the owner/manager thereby keeping him/her informed of the business's financial position and performance at all times.
* SARS - all reconciliations submitted to the owner/manager for payment in order to avoid penalties.