Bookkeeping vs. DIY Taxes When to Hire a Bookkeeping Expert Who Saves You More

Written by Ben Falloon | Published on October 5, 2025 | 10 min read
Bookkeeping vs. DIY Taxes When to Hire a Bookkeeping Expert Who Saves You More

The primary reason why knowing when to hire a bookkeeper is important for a business is that it could make or break its future in the industry. These times are of cutthroat business competition and specialized services, where a minute’s lapse in time to make a decision could be a dealbreaker. Therefore, businesses often outsource their crucial but non-core functions to reliable third-party agencies. By doing so, the business can better streamline its operations and prioritize high-value work rather than waste time on solving bottlenecks that are not even related to its core functionalities.

Cynical about the role of bookkeepers whom you do not know and cannot trust with your company’s finances. Perfectly understandable. However, outsourcing as an industry has come a long way, and research data shows that outsourced bookkeeping is quite a common practice:

  • Businesses save 30-50% on financial resources by outsourcing a bookkeeping job rather than doing it themselves
  • A still more important thing to understand is that while 65% companies have cost-reduction as their main objective for outsourcing, 48% do so for access to automation 

Therefore, your business could take a decisive step towards a more sustainable way to grow by modernizing crucial processes, saving time, and enhancing profits in 2025.

In this article, we will first attempt to understand the benefits of hiring a bookkeeper compared to the do-it-yourself (DIY) method, as well as when to hire one. Thereafter, we shall focus on how opting for the former could save you considerable financial resources that could be utilized in more pressing touchpoints.

What are the Advantages of Hiring a Bookkeeper?

There are several errors that DIY tax filing can introduce to the work processes, mostly owing to human errors. By outsourcing the bookkeeping tasks, your business can save on taxes, avoid penalties, and deal with more complex filing technicalities without a hiccup. The following table charts out the principal advantages of opting for a bookkeeping service instead of doing it yourself.

Aspect DIY Taxes Bookkeeping
Primary goal File tax returns (annual/quarterly) and minimize tax bills. Keep continuous, accurate records of daily transactions to inform taxes and operations.
When it matters Mostly at tax-filing time, errors show up during filing or audits. Always — good bookkeeping prevents errors, missed deductions, cash-flow problems, and audit surprises.
Complexity & risk Lower for very simple returns; risk of missed deductions or incorrect filings for business owners. Higher ongoing detail required (invoices, payroll, reconciliations); poor bookkeeping raises long-term risk.
Business impact (quantified) DIY tax mistakes can result in penalties, interest, and missed tax credits. For context, recent reporting shows small businesses failed to pay 40.1% of the corporation tax they owed in the UK fiscal year 2023–24. Accurate bookkeeping reduces the chance of tax shortfalls, improves cash-flow forecasting, and audit readiness — it’s the preventative work that reduces such losses.
Typical tools & who should do it DIY tax software (TurboTax, ClearTax, Quicko) is fine for simple personal returns; however, you must consult a CPA for complex business tax situations. Accounting platforms (QuickBooks or Zoho) and/or a professional bookkeeper/CPA are recommended for businesses.

In 2025, the best way to make sure that your business runs with optimum efficiency is to outsource non-core functions like bookkeeping.

What Drives Businesses to Hire a Bookkeeper? 

You must have a lot of questions in your mind, even if you have decided to hire a bookkeeper. Questions such as how much do bookkeepers charge, or when do I hire a bookkeeper, are sure to trouble you. Outsourcing to the right outsourcing company could save you a lot of money when compared to the price you pay for in-house roles. As for how to understand that it is time to hire a bookkeeper, here are seven pointers:

  • Familiarity with Bookkeeping

Ask yourself if you have the required resources to carry out the accounting jobs by yourself. Even with an in-house team, it is not always possible to produce the best outcomes; even the slightest lapse in focus could land you in legal trouble or cause financial penalties.

  • Revenue Insights

What you infer from your data insights is important. Are you generating substantial revenue but struggling to achieve a high profit percentage? Time to rethink finances. Hiring bookkeeping experts for small businesses could help you identify key areas that are sucking up more resources and channel your funds better.

  • Professional Requirements

You would not have any second thoughts about when to hire a bookkeeper if you have clients who require professionally detailed and accurate reports. Moreover, a detailed and error-free financial report could keep you ahead of others in securing loans for further investments. Successful investments always work when made within a specific timeframe, and you could have the time advantage if you keep things prepared.

  • Rapid Growth

Businesses make a point to hire bookkeepers when they achieve considerable growth within a small timeframe. The reason for this is that with more growth, the amount of paperwork to take care of increases exponentially. Moreover, keeping financial records streamlined comes in handy during audits, wherein your business comes off as a responsible one.

  • Streamlining Operations

Businesses outsource their bookkeeping services when they feel the need for immediate streamlining of business operations to bring more efficiency and productivity to the processes. Research shows that businesses spend six to ten hours on average per month on bookkeeping tasks, which can be reduced by up to 80% with automation-based outsourcing.

  • Audit Management

Audit times could be stressful, but you do not want to stall your daily operations because of it. These are the times when hiring a bookkeeper could be a brilliant strategy: guiding you through the circuitous accounting processes, relieving you of stress, and helping you stay productive.

  • Disinvestment

If you are thinking of disinvesting, you probably are not new to the demands and challenges of bookkeeping and know a thing or two about when to hire a bookkeeper. You need comprehensive and reinforced financial paperwork that works wonders by making the disinvestment process hassle-free and doing away with the ordeal of paying hefty taxes.

Therefore, these key pointers help you realize when to hire a bookkeeper and stay prepared for a growth curve that your business truly deserves in 2025.

What Does a Hired Bookkeeper Do to Save You Money?

Outsourcing your bookkeeping work to a trusted and credible finance and accounting agency would mean you have increased cost-efficiency in your operations. Here is how:

  • Automation and organization: Bookkeeping agencies make sure that the repetitive and regular processes of accounting are automated. Therefore, your payments and financial commitments are taken care of, and your bank statements reflect your credibility as a business. Such a strategy also goes a long way to making timely payments and avoiding late fees.
  • Intelligent reporting: Bookkeeping, when outsourced, also works better towards detecting inefficient resource allocation that is not profitable for the business. Thus, such actionable data helps you strategize for better growth.
  • Ensuring compliance: Staying updated on legal frameworks is important because it protects you against disruptions caused by government policy changes. Apart from financial loss, it could also cause potential reputation loss.

In 2025, outsourcing bookkeeping could save your business a lot of financial resources by identifying profitable scopes, avoiding legal penalties, and ensuring timely disbursement.

Confused About Hiring a Trusted Bookkeeper? Collaborate with Atidiv for Instant Solutions!

It is important to accept that even big companies often do not handle their finances with in-house teams. The principal reason for this strategy is that it is incredibly difficult to hire a workforce that is experienced in multiple domains. By collaborating with Atidiv, you could find effective solutions to the challenges unique to your domain, such as investor profiling and market scenario planning. Take a look at this article to understand how Atidiv helped an NYC-based company worth USD 10 million in annual revenue achieve a 50% reduction in costs.

These are the other significant advantages that you would unlock by partnering with Atidiv:

  • From daily transaction management to regular banking reconciliation, all your financial needs taken care of
  • Customized services because every business, whether it is a startup or an established business, has unique challenges
  • Cash flow analysis and flexible budgeting to suit the best interests of your business
  • Integration of software solutions with financial planning and efficiency management for the best business outcomes
  • Access to a highly specialized offshore team that is committed to providing crucial advice for effective client management

With 16+ years of proud presence in the industry, Atidiv has achieved 95% client retention and delivered 100% accuracy in its financial services. Get in touch with us today to make use of the best finance and accounting services for all your bookkeeping needs!

FAQs about When to Hire a Bookkeeping Expert

1. Is a bookkeeper relevant when my business is experiencing rapid growth and has enough resources to maintain an in-house team in 2025?

Yes, absolutely! A bookkeeper is all the more important when you expand your business, because maintaining in-house teams could cause potential roadblocks to your operations. From hiring a competent team to retaining them for consistency in performance, there would be too much pressure to maintain the same level of performance. Alternatively, if you partner with Atidiv, you could very well focus on the key business operations, while reaping the fruits of a superior and consistent bookkeeping service.

2. Why is bookkeeping important for disinvestment?

Bookkeeping is important when you decide to sell or lease out your resources for financial restructuring. A professional accounting service helps you go through financial data and tailor it for your business needs so that the disinvestment process is smooth. Furthermore, with real-time financial analytics, you could have access to data that would be crucial to the disinvestment process itself.

3. Can I stay on the right side of the law by hiring a good bookkeeper?

Yes! Bookkeepers have the responsibility to streamline financial policies according to local law enforcement to ensure that you always toe the line. Performing this function in-house is a bit troublesome because you would then have to recruit a dedicated legal team, considering you expand your business reasonably with time.

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