How to Rent Accounting Equipment
Similar to outsourcing human resources within an organization, it is possible to rent or lease the accounting equipment you need to run your business. There is most certainly savings in capital expenditure when an organization rents instead of purchases its accounting equipment. There is also less internal effort needed to manage the computers, servers and related software. Renting your equipment shifts the task of managing and maintaining the equipment needs of your organization to companies with the core competency to help you develop the right strategy.
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Things You'll Need
- PC equipment requirements
- Peripheral equipment requirements
- Software user headcount
- RFP form
Instructions
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Lease all the personal computers that are used for your accounting group. Besides the actual computers, many leasing companies will provide peripherals such as printers and scanners, basic computer software, overhead projectors and even computer furniture. A common lease term for the computers will be a rolling three years. The leasing company will create a standard software footprint tailored to your needs so that when new or additional computers are added to the lease, the computers will arrive preconfigured and ready to use. Two popular national leasing companies are Tiger Leasing and Rush Computer Rentals. Both of these companies provide solutions for organizations of any size. There may also be other national or local leasing companies you can find using the search engine of your choice.
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Send a Request for Proposal (RFP) to at least two prospective equipment vendors. The RFP for the equipment vendors should include basic information such as the number of computers you need, the type of operating system you are running, the standard software to be used on all computers, peripherals needed and any other items specific to your accounting department. A free template for an RFP is offered by Professional RFP Letters, and they provide numerous RFP-related documents in their download.
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Move your accounting software to a server provided by an application service provider (ASP). These providers have large server warehouses off-site that host your accounting software. You pay for the service and server space your software utilizes. The ASP does all the configuring, maintenance, nightly backups and many other specialized tasks that relate to the server and software it is running for you. An ASP also provides ease of increasing server capacity, which saves your organization the headache of ordering and installing additional disk space. This means most headaches and the internal costs of managing your server and related accounting software are left to a trained specialist who is not a full-time internal resource. A couple of ASPs to consider are Rackspace Hosting and NovelASPect. Depending on the size of the server you need, there may be a local ASP to consider as well.
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Send an RFP to at least two prospective ASP vendors. The RFP for the potential ASP provider should include the type of accounting software you are using, the operating system needed for the server and how much space your accounting software utilizes on your current server. Use the free RFP template download previously.
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Select your equipment-leasing and ASP partners based on the responses you receive from the RFP and an internal cost/benefit analysis. The basic internal costs to renting your accounting equipment will most likely focus on the support of the equipment and initial setup and conversion fees. Also, you will need to know whether and when the rates could increase in the future. The benefits of renting include low capital expenditures, fixed rates based on the agreements, which helps budgeting and cash flow forecasts, maintenance and hardware support, and increased internal time to focus on the core competencies of your organization.
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Tips & Warnings
In addition to your basic computer needs, you should consider leasing additional computers to be available internally as loaners.
Ensure that your IT group is heavily involved in this process.
Have your controller and tax accountant review the proposed lease or rental agreements for approval.
References
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