D R Grey Opticians

D R Grey Opticians

Outsourcing your finance function to Price Bailey brings efficiencies to your business’ processes; providing owners with accurate up to date information to run their business, often at a reduced cost than housing an accountant internally.

D R Grey Opticians, a long-established optometrist and contact lens practitioner based in Norwich, made the move to outsource their accounting function to Price Bailey over 10 years ago. Paul Reeves, recently sat down with us to talk about his outsourcing experience and the benefits to his business.

The challenge

With developments in technology systems and the movement to Making Tax Digital, most owner-managed businesses have or are looking to migrate to cloud-based accounting systems. Operating from the cloud has quickly become fundamental to modern-day accounting. As Paul discusses below, it allows your accountant to access and examine your records remotely, meaning that everyone is working with real-time data. At the outset of our relationship with Paul, we reviewed his systems and advised on the most suitable package for his business.

“We were advised that the Xero package would be suitable for our business…it is not overly complicated, and it is a manageable software package for us. It also works really well with the Price Bailey team remotely accessing the figures…It certainly seems to work well for a company of this size.”

For more on the benefits of cloud accounting software, you can read our article here.

The solution

Outsourcing to Price Bailey provides access to a larger pool of expertise and experience than you would otherwise expect to get from hiring an internal accountant or financial controller. You can do this without losing the benefits of a trusted relationship and rapport with those responsible for your finance function. 

“Price Bailey are in touch with us at least once a week…We keep in touch with Kirsty [Beck, Outsourcing Supervisor at Price Bailey] regularly, and it seems to work really smoothly as a result.”

At Price Bailey, our growing outsourcing team consists of a varied blend of skills and experience from supervised trainees to experienced partners. What is guaranteed is that CPD, knowledge of the most up-to-date legal and regulatory requirements and professional standards are closely adhered to, giving you both peace of mind as a business owner and access to top-quality personnel without the need to house and manage them.

This is particularly relevant for businesses, such as D R Grey Opticians, which don’t have the requirements for someone in the company full-time. However, they still need to ensure that their reporting, VAT calculations and payments, and payroll are completed accurately and efficiently.

An additional benefit of having an external team is that they are one step removed from the business’s day-to-day operations. Therefore, with real-time information and extensive experience, they can spot potential issues and advise accordingly without being caught up in other business activities. Paul notes how he has benefitted from having this relationship with John Warren, one of our Norwich office Partners.

“We have such a strong relationship with John Warren; this means that we know that we can approach him at any stage if we have any queries or problems or need advice from him.”

By outsourcing, you not only save valuable time but have peace of mind that your finances are taken care of and compliant. You also benefit from the additional support of specialists you can trust to make agile, strategic decisions.