Virtual Agency gives recruitment businesses timely and relevant management information

Vantis Outsource, a division of Vantis plc, the AIM listed top 20 business advisory group, and CashFriday, a specialist division of Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance, have joined forces to offer a fully outsourced accounting and payroll service specifically for small and medium-sized (SME) recruitment businesses in the UK.

The collaboration offers SME recruitment companies a Virtual Agency Support Service, which delivers scaleable accounting and payroll resource that can be ëflexed upí or ëflexed downí according to individual requirements.

Vantis Outsource will take full responsibility for the finance function, including management reporting, budgeting and forecasting, and HR management. In addition, CashFriday is responsible for processing the temporary staff payroll and providing payroll and invoice finance, sales ledger management, bad debt protection and credit control services.

David Rankin, Managing Director of Vantis Outsource, says, ìJust what value are recruitment companies getting from having their own finance function? All too often, skilled finance staff spend more time number-crunching and wrestling with inadequate, outdated finance software, than analysing information to improve the business. As a result, not only is the finance department failing to deliver value, but skilled personnel are not being truly exploited. This makes little sense.î

He continues, ìTo date, few recruitment companies have considered using external resources to handle finance. Outsourcing the finance function is not simply about reducing costs ñany organisation that simplistically focuses on this is missing the point. Yes, of course, taking into account IT infrastructure, office space and salaries, outsourcing can be a cheaper option. But this is not about using a bookkeeper to undertake basic finance processes. This is a tailored service designed to deliver measured business improvement: it provides cost control, improved business information and quantifiable value from finance for the first time.î