Outgrowing Your Accounting? The Smart Playbook for Scaling Without Chaos

In this episode of Beyond the Ledger, host Shardae Layfield sits down with Chris Tomaselli to discuss how growing businesses can build accounting functions that support long-term success. The conversation explores the warning signs that companies have outgrown their current processes, when outsourcing may become a strategic advantage, and how technology, automation, and scalable systems can help organizations manage growth more effectively.

Takeaways

Growth Often Exposes Accounting Gaps: As companies expand, accounting processes that once worked efficiently can become bottlenecks that limit visibility, reporting, and decision-making.

Outsourcing Can Be a Strategic Growth Tool: Businesses do not have to choose between control and outsourcing. The right partner can provide expertise, scalability, and operational efficiency while improving financial oversight.

Technology Supports Scalability: Selecting the right accounting software and integrated technology stack is critical for improving visibility, automation, and operational efficiency.

Scalable Systems Matter: Growing companies should prioritize solutions that can support increased transaction volume, multi-entity structures, enhanced reporting, and future growth initiatives.

AI Is Creating New Opportunities: Automation and AI continue to reshape accounting functions, helping organizations improve efficiency while still requiring human oversight and judgment.

Implementation Planning Is Critical: Successful accounting system transitions require clean data, realistic timelines, strong communication, and a well-defined implementation strategy.

Partner Selection Impacts Outcomes: Choosing an experienced accounting and technology partner can significantly influence the success of outsourcing initiatives and system implementations.

Future Growth Requires Preparation: Building scalable accounting processes early can help companies navigate acquisitions, investor expectations, audits, and increasing operational complexity.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Outsourced Accounting Solutions

03:58 Recognizing the Need for Change in Accounting Processes

07:00 Common Accounting Challenges for Growing Businesses

10:49 The Role of Technology in Accounting

14:27 Leveraging AI and Automation in Accounting

18:36 Mistakes in Accounting System Transitions

21:48 Choosing the Right Accounting Partner

23:41 Advice for Future Growth and Scalability 

🔗 Learn more: btcpa.net | Follow Bennett Thrasher for more conversations that move business forward.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome back to Beyond the Ledger, where we go beyond the numbers to explore the strategies, risks, and opportunities shaping today's business landscape. I'm your host, Shard A Layfield. As companies grow, accounting operations often become more complex than many businesses anticipate. What once worked with a small internal team or basic processes can quickly turn into bottlenecks, reporting gaps, compliance concerns, and inefficiencies that slow growth instead of supporting it. That's where outsourcing and scalable accounting solutions can become a major advantage. Joining us today is Chris Tomaselli, a partner in Finet Thrasher's outsourced accounting solutions practice, where he helps growing companies improve financial visibility, streamline accounting operations, and build scalable systems through technology and manage accounting solutions. In today's conversation, we'll discover insights on when businesses should consider outsourcing their accounting functions and how to build an accounting infrastructure designed for long-term growth. Thank you for being on the show today, Chris. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. I'm excited to get into the conversation. Let's do it. So a lot of people can understand okay, what do I need to do next? I'm growing, I'm booming. Am I outgrowing things?

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

So growing businesses often don't realize their accounting processes are breaking down until inefficiencies start impacting operations and decision making. What are some of the earliest warning signs that a company has outgrown its current accounting processes or internal structure?

SPEAKER_01 1:41

Yeah, I think I go through some of the main ones. There's no like, do you remember Microsoft Word? There was a paper clip that came in. It looks like you're drafting a memo. Do you need help? There's nothing that pops up with the money. Well, the eyeballs nothing pops up that looks that says looks like you're outgrowing your accounting system.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

So I would say one thing is is your is your monthly close taking longer and longer over time?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

You know, companies grow, right? They get have more volume, more transactions, more people, more reporting needs. And if you feel like as you're growing, your close process is getting longer, that might be a sign that you're outgrowing your system. Okay. Um or better yet, maybe you need to re-evaluate your system. Perhaps you're not taking advantages of the capabilities of the system to your advantage. So that's one. The second thing would be are you performing quite a few tasks outside of the system? Uh think about Microsoft Excel, right? Everyone loves Microsoft Excel. I love it. Nothing wrong with it.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

I'm glad you enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

But I mean, if you find yourself in the situation where you are growing and you have multiple locations now in your business with different legal entities where you're having to pull data from different points and putting it all together in Excel workbook and manipulating that data in Excel rather than having the system do it for you, that might be a sign that you may need to reevaluate your system, right? Again, there's nothing wrong with that process. It may work fine. But if you're gonna continue to grow and scale as a business, that might be a very tedious, cumbersome task for a lot of people. So that is another thing. Um, I guess the third thing I would say is um it kind of ties into the first two. Are you relying upon just one person to do all that for you?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Okay, there we go.

unknown 3:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Susie in accounting does a great job. She has all this institutional knowledge, right? She knows where to pull it from, she knows what formulas to update and excel. Yeah, but at the end of the day, Susie can only do so much. Right. Susie takes vacations. Something might happen to Susie, god forbid. And also um she could quit, right? And that'll leave you in a pickle. So um, that's another sign that uh not having something designed in the system to do that for you, and having that one person to do all that outside of the system, it's a sign that you might need to re-evaluate your process.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

And it helps reduce that human error that always can come into play, especially if you're relying on one person to do so many different things. 100%.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Yes.

unknown 4:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Okay, so outsourcing accounting can sometimes feel like a major shift for leadership teams, especially for businesses used to manage everything internally. And many businesses hesitate to outsource accounting because they feel like they may lose control. How do you help companies shift their mindset to see outsourcing as a strategic growth tool instead?

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Well, I think we we try to make them realize that we have two main benefits to our team, at least internally at Bennett Thrasher. We have structure and expertise. Yeah. We've been doing this for years. We have team members that have literally been doing this for decades. So I I mean, it's not their first rodeo. They know we specialize in two main systems, QuickBooks Online and Sage Integ. Okay. So they know these systems like the back of their hands. So having that expertise and knowledge of how to um navigate the system and when they encounter issues, they know how to resolve them. So I think that gives business owners the peace of mind that, okay, these guys really know their stuff, they know how to operate within the system. Whereas their internal team may not know that as much, but their their strength, their internal team, they have that institutional knowledge of the business, right? But that's something that an outsource provider can gain over time, right? We can understand companies over time, just give us a few months. Yeah. Um, and as far as structure goes, I mean, we have we have a very structured, standardized process for all of our clients, right? And now some of them may be nuanced, right? Not every client is are the same.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

It's not a cookie-cutter process.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

It's not, but for the most part, I mean, we put processes in place from the get-go. Um, we have at least two people on all of our clients, right? A manager and a senior or staff assigned to every client. And it's like, hey, we're gonna go in weekly to make sure all of the accounts payable bills are coded and ready for payment, right? We want to make sure vendors are paid timely. Uh, we want to make sure our invoices get out uh at least on a monthly basis. We're gonna perform reconciliations at this point. So it's like preparation, review, report delivery. It's like we we have it you know to a T on a monthly scheduled basis. So I think if we have um if we make business leaders and business decision makers aware of our expertise and structure, they'll actually realize, oh, I'm probably gaining more control now because I'm giving the putting this in your hands, yes, but I'm still in charge, I'm still in review of this information. And not only that, but nine times out of ten, their team is probably doing more than they should. Yeah. When they can get that off of their plate, give it to us, they can focus more on strategically growing the business, which is what they really want to do. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Absolutely. Okay, so as companies scale, financial complexity tends to increase quickly, often creating operational and reporting challenges behind the scenes. So, what kinds of accounting challenges do you most commonly see mid-sized businesses struggle with as they begin scaling operations?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Everyone's favorite topic, revenue recognition.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Revenue recognition is huge. I mean, from the get-go, like it's simple. From a startup, you collect cash. Oh, I'm gonna record it as revenue. Right. But it's it gets more complicated as you grow. You get investors in the mix, you have lenders in. Potentially, you might need to go through an audit, right? You need to transfer or uh go into that accrual mindset of being on an accrual basis for your accounting records. So uh revenue recognition is one. I would say lack of process standardization and structure, that's something I already spoke about. That that's where what we could bring to the table. Yeah. Um, and that's what institutional knowledge from staff accountants are is great, but they just might not be going about the process in the most efficient manner. They're just they have that mindset of this is the way we've always done it. So they just they just keep doing it that way, right? So process standardization is another uh something that I see a lack of in a lot of companies. Um internal controls is a third thing I would say, specifically around approvals, the approval process. So think about you have invoices coming in, vendor invoices, right, that need to be paid. Um, and there may not be a formalized process, there may be like approvals via emails, right? Like emailing people, can I pay this invoice? This is approved, walking down the hallway, is this good to go? You know, just can I get your signature? So those type of things I see most common, and that's something that you know outsource providers typically can help remediate and increase efficiencies.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

At a certain point, continuing to add internal resources may not always be the most efficient or scalable solution. At what point does outsourcing become more efficient or cost effective than continuing to build internally?

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Well, I think in situations where you need like specialized expertise, like the examples I already gave, if you need to move from cash to accrual basis, if you need to be audit ready, you may not have an internal staff that is capable of getting you ready for that. And hiring someone just for that purpose, I feel like doesn't make a lot of economical sense. So looking in the marketplace for that outsource provider for an ad hoc project like that makes a lot of sense as far as a cost perspective goes. But from you know, from an outsourcing model, like a permanent outsourcing model where you're looking considering outsourcing the accounting function versus internally, I mean, your typical tree of an accounting um department is you know, CFO, controller, and then you have some staff accountants, maybe an AR AP clerk. Um again, outsourced providers, a lot of them have been doing this for years. They have the expertise, they know how to efficiently go through the process. A lot of times a two-person team outsource provider can do just as much as a for four individuals in a company sometimes. And um, nine times out of ten, the cost of an outsource provider is more beneficial compared to two or three full-time salaries and benefit load. You know what I mean? So um, so I I would say those are two examples of where you know outsourcing your accounting function could be more cost effective.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Got it. So technology plays a major role in how accounting teams operate today, especially for companies focused on growth and efficiency. How important is accounting software selection in the outsourcing conversation and what role does technology play in scaling accounting operations successfully?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Extremely important.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Understatement.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

You need to understand not just where your business is today, but where it's going. Yeah. What is it going to look like in you know 12, 24 months? So there's other things to keep in mind for an accounting system, but technology plays a huge role in that. And so businesses need to they understand their tech stack, but you need to keep that in mind when evaluating your accounting system. What does your tech stack look like? What bank accounts do you have? Credit cards, payroll provider, CRM system, inventory systems, point of sale system if you're in retail or um restaurants. So all of that plays a role in your accounting system because accountants and finance teams, they need data from all of these sources, right? So to grab that manually is can somewhat be a nightmare. So understanding the integrations available between your accounting system and everything I just mentioned, and ensuring even if like three-fourths of them can be integrated, is a huge game uh game changer. So um technology is huge, yeah, 100%. So definitely evaluate your tech stack and understand what can be connected to your GL system in that sense.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

So there are countless accounting platforms and tools available today, but not every system is designed to grow alongside a business. What features should growing companies prioritize to ensure scalability and long-term flexibility?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Mm-hmm. Well, think about again, think about the future of your business. Are you looking to add more locations? Are you looking to add departments or or different revenue streams? And if you want to report on that differently, can your accounting system do that for you? Or are you gonna have to rely on the manual processes of Excel? Integration capabilities. I already mentioned that, just talked about that. Making sure you consider that. Automation kind of plays into that too. Can I automate some of my AP or AR processes or bank reconciliation processes? Um, reporting and dashboards are another big thing to consider. Um like I mentioned different locations, different entities. What does leadership want to see? Or what are they going to want to see? What kind of reports do they want to see? It's not going to be just your typical income statement balance sheet. Okay. They might want to see more detailed reports, um, forecasts, budget to actuals, things of that nature uh by service line, by location, not just consolidated as one company. So um, and dashboards are another thing. Dashboards are hit and miss with some leaders. Some leaders love them, they love looking at them and seeing how the state of their company today. Yeah. Some don't care and they can wait till their monthly reporting package closed. But I will say, I mean, it is a useful tool because most dashboards available in like cloud-based accounting systems, it's real-time data, and that's helpful because um you want to know what's my cash position today? I owe how many vendors, how much money in the next two weeks. I'm gonna make sure I have that enough cash for that. What's due to me? Is anything stale as far as my accounts receivable go? What customers do we need to hunt down to pay us? Um, so just having that real-time visibility instead of waiting for the monthly reporting package to be given to you is I think is really valuable and something to consider when evaluating accounting systems.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Yeah. So AI and automation, as we mentioned just a second ago, continue to reshape finance and accounting functions, creating both opportunities and new considerations for businesses. How are you seeing companies leverage AI and automation today? And where do you think the biggest opportunities still exist?

SPEAKER_01 14:59

So I think it started, I don't know if it started here, but with invoice processing. That was the biggest game changer. Like the old process of vendors emailing you PDFs of invoices that you owe, opening that attachment, keying in the date, the vendor name, the amount, the description, that's all over with now. At least I hope for companies that are taking advantage of the AI and automation, it's it is over with because now you could set up your own dedicated inbox, whether it's inside the accounting system or if you're using a third-party accounts payable system like a bill.com or a ramp or something like that. Okay. You have your own dedicated inbox where vendors can email the PDF and the system will read the PDF. It'll auto-populate the fields of the vendor name, the description, the amounts. It'll even auto-populate the coding, like, oh, this is a real estate tax expense or this is a cleaning expense. Now, the important thing here is you need to still have human review. Yes. Okay? Yes. So there isn't a machine doing the work for you, which is great, but you need to have that human set of eyes to make sure that it did properly. But the good thing about it, most of these systems have, I think this is what's considered an agentic AI where it learns. So if you realize that the system coded an invoice to insurance expense or something like that, and it oh, this is actually a real estate tax bill. That's totally two separate things. I doubt it would make that error. But that's an example. Like if you correct it, it's gonna realize that in the next month it will not make the same mistakes. So it kind of learns from it learns, it's like a staff person. It's like you're teaching a person, and it learns from its mistakes, and it it just gets better over time. So I think taking advantage of the invoice processing, that's the most common and probably one of the first things where AI showed its head in accounting. Um, automating reconciliations is another thing, like bank reconciliations, credit card reconciliations, pay reconciliations to payroll reports. Um, so all of that can be automated within the system, saves time again. Still need that human touch as far as a review point goes. Of course. Um another thing I really like is like anomaly detection, like outlier detection. It can look at your historical trends. Maybe your insurance expenses were like 40, 50 grand a month steadily, and all of a sudden it shot up to 90, it'll flag that for you, right? So it'll flag unusual spikes in costs or or what have you. So having that type of notification from AI is really helpful for for reviewers and business leaders. Um, I I do have somewhat of a concern though with AI is in the world.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Okay, what's the concern?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Well, I I mean, I mentioned you have to have a set of human eyes to review. Yes. Right? With our next generation of accountants, um, I really hope they keep up with the education of accounting and learning the fundamentals. Because right now, we're teaching AI to do the fundamentals. How are our future reviewers gonna know if it's right if they've never been through the fundamentals process? Right. Right. So it's really I really hope that we keep the education going with accounting because you're not gonna know how to review something if you haven't been through the fundamental preparation process.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Yeah. And like you said, it's it can still make mistakes. So can't solely 100% rely on AI. I mean, it is phenomenal, but again, like you said, it has to have a human set of eyes in its oil. I'm cautiously optimistic about AI. We'll be okay. Okay. Implementing new systems or outsourcing processes can create major improvements, but only when the transition is handled correctly. What mistakes do companies commonly make during accounting system transitions or outsourcing initiatives?

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Um one of the biggest things when implementing a new system is companies just want to rush through the implementation process. Okay. They they just want, I want my new system, I want to go live and just get this over with.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Not a good play. Um especially if you're implementing a more sophisticated system with like Stage Intact, it can handle multiple entities, multiple um locations or reporting. And it's very um you need to design the system properly to meet the business needs. Okay. And so part of that implementation process is you know, your outsource provider learning about your business, asking very detailed questions, and this can seem very tedious for clients, for companies, right? Going through every little possible outcome of a simple process. But it's necessary to make sure the system is designed for your business. Right. And if it's not, you're gonna encounter issues later and you're going to be kicking yourself of, oh yeah, I probably should have slowed down during the information. Right, right. Um, and trying to rush through that process is one huge thing to avoid. Okay. Um, data, clean data is good. Yes, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:14

You gotta start with clean data.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Yeah, you don't want to start with garbage, you know what they're saying, garbage in, garbage out. So I just making sure you're starting with clean, accurate, complete data before transferring all of that into a new system is definitely key. Um as far as you know, from an outsourced model, if you're considering switching outsource providers or just adopting an outsource provider for the first time, just make sure everyone's on the same page as far as responsibilities. Um, it this somewhat falls on the outsource provider because we're providing an engagement letter, right? We're defining what should be in that engagement letter, who's responsible for what. But this is based on discussions with the company, with the client, right? We only know what we know from talking to you. Like if you happen to leave something out and later on they may assume that we are in charge of this, like, well, and that and there can be some conflict there, there can be some uneasiness because maybe fees need to go up because a certain responsibility was assumed to be on one plate and it actually needs to be on another. So just from the get-go, clearly defining all responsibilities between two parties, I think, um, is it can avoid a lot of conflict in the future.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Yeah. And that pretty sounds essential.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Right. Selecting the right outsourcing or implementation partner can significantly impact the success of a company's accounting transformation. What should businesses look for in an accounting partner or implementation specialist to ensure long term success?

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Um, think about your industry. Industry experience is good, right? So if you're in in retail or or restaurants or real estate, what have you, just Just inquire your outsource provider about their experience in that industry and and um that's always good because there's nuances in every one of them, right? Um see how they communicate. What is what is their communication style? Understand that a little bit better. How are they communicating during the interview process or the the discovery process? Are they communicating with you timely? Understand how they're gonna communicate during the job. Like what's our cadence? Are we gonna meet monthly to go over financials and what's in the future? Are we gonna meet weekly? Um, so communication is always key. Um and the third thing I'd say is technology expertise. This ties back to what we talked about earlier with integrations and um just a lot of companies when they're looking to outsource, you know, sometimes they don't know what they don't know, and but sometimes they are aware of their inefficient processes. They're like, I know we could be doing this better, we could be handling our AP process better. Do you have any suggestions for us? So having an outsource provider with that type of experience and like, oh yeah, you know what? Um we we adopted RAMP for this one client or build.com for this one client or multiple clients. We have multiple clients on this platform. Um and it worked great. Let us put you through a demo. So having an outsource provider without that type of knowledge of the marketplace of different systems that are available outside of the accounting system that could help improve processes uh and increase efficiencies, I think is um definitely one thing to consider.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Okay. And long-term growth often brings increased investor expectations, audit scrutiny, and operational complexity that businesses may not fully anticipate early on. If you could give one piece of advice to a growing business, preparing for future growth, acquisitions, or even increased financial scrutiny, what would it be when it comes to building a scalable accounting function?

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Build for the future. For the future. Always keep the future in mind. Um not just uh build for the future and focus on your pain points. That's what I'd say. I can't just give one, I gotta give two. Okay. Um, great. Because you focus on your pain points and focus on your struggles today, that solves the issue today. Focus on or think about where your business will be in one to two years so that the system is designed for you to grow within it and not box you in, right? So um that takes care of the current status of pain points, takes care of the future if you consider both of those when evaluating accounting systems.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

Okay. Well, thank you, Chris. This was an awesome conversation. I know a lot of people are going to be reviewing what they currently have going on and potentially see what they need to outsource, hopefully, in their growth stages. And I hope to see you back soon. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Of course. That wraps up today's conversation with Chris Tomaselli. As businesses grow, accounting can no longer be treated as just the back office function. The right systems, processes, and strategic support can make the difference between scaling efficiently and struggling to keep up with growth. Whether you're evaluating outsourcing, implementing new technology, or preparing your business for the next stage, building a scalable accounting foundation is critical for a long term process. Thanks for tuning in to Beyond the Ledger. For more insights and expert perspectives, visit btcpa.net. And don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe. And until next time, I'm Sardet Layfield, and we'll see you for the next conversation.