Those running a SaaS business know all too well the importance of retaining a firm grasp of their business’s financial position. Without this understanding, it’s impossible for founders and other leaders to make informed decisions. In some instances, this can hold a business back from reaching its full potential. In others, it can throw the whole business into jeopardy.
Building a comprehensive picture of any business’s financial position, let alone a fast-scaling SaaS business, is a complex undertaking. Early in their entrepreneurial journey, many founders might manage accounting and financing tasks themselves with a bare-bones accounting set-up that performs only the most basic of tasks.
Accounting might not be as exciting as product, marketing, or hiring, but there’s no doubt it’s equally important to your business’s success. But with leadership focused squarely on growth, finance is an area many founders are reluctant to allocate significant resources toward.
The answer to this challenge lies in Client Accounting Services, often referred to simply as CAS. By delegating their accounting needs to an external service provider, SaaS businesses can cut costs, boost efficiency, and focus on growth.
Client Accounting Services (CAS), also known as outsourced accounting services, are services that enable a business to outsource some or all of its accounting and finance needs.
This approach enables SaaS businesses to fulfill their accounting needs without hiring an in-house accounting and finance team. A wide range of accounting and finance tasks can be outsourced to a CAS. In most engagements, leaders have the freedom to decide which tasks they would like to outsource.
CAS are typically offered across three tiers:
By working with a Client Accounting Service Provider, SaaS businesses can essentially outsource the full spectrum of their accounting and finance needs. In doing so, they realize several benefits.
Forming a partnership with a CAS provider can be a game-changer for SaaS businesses. This is particularly true for businesses that have not taken a sophisticated approach to finance and accounting in the past.
Here is an overview of some of the most impactful benefits SaaS businesses can realize.
Businesses will likely find that a partnership with a CAS firm represents a much more affordable approach to managing finance and accounting than building an internal team. Once the business reaches a certain critical mass, it will be necessary to build an internal team, but for firms still in the process of scaling up and raising venture funding, CAS represents an affordable yet highly effective solution.
In addition to saving money on overhead expenses that would otherwise be spent on in-house accounting and finance professionals, working with a CAS also allows businesses to improve their financial performance in other ways.
CAS providers may help businesses identify new growth opportunities, make recommendations to improve margins, and suggest areas where the business could be streamlined to yield profit improvements. CAS providers may also suggest actions that can improve cash flow, such as presenting customers with the option to pay upfront for a year’s subscription, rather than on a monthly basis.
Access to up-to-date, high-quality financial data is at the heart of all effective decision-making. But today, too many SaaS business leaders remain unsure of where their business stands, leading to significant uncertainty when it comes to resource allocation and strategic planning.
By working with a CAS, SaaS businesses can access real-time, customized dashboards that show them how their business is performing. The best CAS providers will work closely with your leadership team to identify meaningful KPIs that provide a true indication of your business’s progress toward its goals.
CAS vendors don’t just provide simple accounting and bookkeeping services: many are also equipped to provide their clients with a suite of sophisticated advisory services.
At G-Squared Partners, many of our team members have served in financial leadership roles at leading private and public SaaS businesses. They leverage that experience to provide a wide range of consulting services that cover everything from building long-term financial forecasts to assisting firms in M&A transactions.
CAS firms work with a wide range of businesses at various growth stages. They’re equipped to handle the needs of SaaS businesses at various growth stages, from seed funding to exit.
The right CAS provider will have the capacity to scale with your firm. As your business grows, so too does your relationship, and it’s common to add on additional services as the needs of your business evolve. Over time, this results in CAS providers coming to understand your business on a very intimate level, strengthening the relevance and impact of their guidance and improving your business’s performance.
Client Accounting Services, and all the benefits that come along with them, clearly have the potential to have a major impact on the financial performance of your SaaS business. But to increase your likelihood of success, it’s vital you find a CAS partner with a proven track record of operating in the SaaS industry.
SaaS businesses, particularly in an accounting sense, differ from more traditional businesses in many ways. Many SaaS businesses operate with negative cash flows, investing heavily in areas like product development and marketing to drive growth. Revenue models are different, often operating on a recurring basis. Growth is fast-paced, with constantly changing priorities that can be difficult to manage. These complexities demand the knowledge and strategic nous of a CAS firm that specializes in the SaaS industry.
At G-Squared Partners, our CAS team is equipped to cover the full spectrum of a SaaS business’s finance and accounting needs, from monthly bookkeeping to assisting with raising debt and equity financing. Our team has decades of experience in the SaaS industry and a passion for helping innovative start-ups grow and prosper.
Interested in learning more about G-Squared Partners’ Client Accounting Services for SaaS Businesses? Contact us today.