Overview
A mid-sized U.S. retailer with multiple physical locations and an expanding e-commerce division was spending more and more time managing fragmented financial operations. With growing transaction volume, vendor coordination, staff payroll, and inventory purchases across channels, their internal bookkeeping process had become error-prone, slow, and expensive.
In search of cost efficiency and operational control, the company decided to outsource key financial functions, starting with bookkeeping and account reconciliations. Within five months, the retailer realized a 40% reduction in overall bookkeeping costs, gained more timely financial insights, and reduced internal errors that previously delayed monthly and quarterly reports.
The Challenge
The retailer’s financial back office was not keeping pace with the company's growth. With five retail outlets and a recently launched Shopify-powered online store, financial transactions were coming from a variety of sources: POS systems, online orders, returns, third-party logistics providers, and payment processors like Square and Stripe.
The in-house team, made up of two full-time bookkeepers and a part-time finance assistant, was overwhelmed. Bank and credit card reconciliations were consistently delayed, and closing the monthly books sometimes spilled over into the middle of the next month. Errors were frequent, especially in categorizing expenses across departments, resulting in inaccurate financial statements and audit flags during internal reviews.
Furthermore, the company was spending nearly $130,000 per year in bookkeeping salaries and overhead (including software licenses, training, and administrative costs). Despite this expense, finance leadership still lacked clear visibility into real-time profitability by store or channel, which impacted decision-making on product sourcing and seasonal campaigns.
The Solution
To address the compounding inefficiencies, the company decided to outsource its bookkeeping and reconciliation processes to a remote finance team. A dedicated setup was created to transition general ledger maintenance, bank reconciliations, AP/AR categorization, and retail-specific expense tracking to an external partner.
The outsourced team worked closely with internal leadership to design a new workflow around cloud-based platforms, including QuickBooks Online, Shopify, Square, and Bill.com. Expense documentation was digitized and synced automatically through tools like Dext and Hubdoc, ensuring that invoices, receipts, and vendor payments were captured accurately and promptly.
By week three, the team had standardized coding rules for retail cost centers, automated daily sales imports from the POS systems, and implemented a rolling close calendar. Internal staff were kept in the loop for approvals and oversight, but their involvement in daily finance operations dropped significantly.
Results After 5 Months
|
Metric |
Before Outsourcing |
After Outsourcing |
Improvement |
|
Annual Bookkeeping Cost |
~$130,000 |
~$78,000 |
🔻 40% cost reduction |
|
Monthly Close Cycle |
18–22 days |
8–10 days |
🔻 55% faster closing |
|
Bookkeeping Accuracy (QA-reviewed) |
~85% |
98%+ |
✅ Major quality improvement |
|
Staff Hours on Finance Tasks (weekly) |
~50 hours |
~18 hours |
🔻 64% time savings |
|
Visibility into Store-Level Profit |
Delayed (post-month) |
Weekly reporting available |
📈 Improved agility |
How TOP Outsourcing Partners Can Help Retailers Do the Same
At TOP Outsourcing Partners, we understand the unique financial challenges faced by retail businesses operating across physical and digital platforms. From POS-based reconciliations to multi-channel AP/AR categorization, our outsourced finance teams bring the tools and expertise needed to clean up your financial back office.
With our help, retail clients can:
● Cut bookkeeping and back-office costs by up to 40–50%
● Automate reconciliations across Stripe, Shopify, Square, and other tools
● Reduce close times with real-time reporting dashboards
● Gain location-based and channel-specific financial insights
● Free up internal teams to focus on inventory, staffing, and customer service
TOP’s flexible service packages allow you to scale support as your retail business grows, ensuring your finance function never falls behind your sales goals.
Final Thought
For this retail brand, the decision to outsource wasn’t just about saving money—it was about regaining financial clarity, speed, and control. Today, the company operates with confidence, knowing that its financial data is accurate, timely, and actionable. If you're a retail business looking to eliminate inefficiencies and gain insight into performance across stores or channels, TOP Outsourcing Partners offers the structure and support to make it happen without hiring a full internal team.
