Offsite Accounting opens office in Rochester

CICERO — Offsite Accounting & Management, Inc. — a more than three-year-old company that handles accounting duties for small businesses, local governments, and nonprofits — recently opened an office in Rochester.

The new 600-square-foot office, which opened Nov. 1, is the company’s second location and intended to stimulate “growth,” says Michael Benn, company president.

The firm’s Rochester office is located in that city’s Clinton Square building, Benn says.

Benn also describes himself as the “majority” owner of Offsite Accounting. Two other individuals, who Benn didn’t name, are “minority” owners, he says.

Benn anticipates serving the same types of clients in Rochester. Offsite Accounting has conducted marketing activities through conventions in the last few years in anticipation of growth in that market, Benn says. 

The company’s clients like having their outsourced accounting department “in the neighborhood,” Benn says.

“So in order to gain growth in that area, we had to have a physical presence there [in Rochester],” he says.

At the same time, Benn acknowledges that proximity isn’t a concern for all clients. Its first client was a German-owned U.S. subsidiary, which required Offsite 

Accounting to communicate with Germany, Benn says.

The firm currently services a total of 25 clients, Benn says.

Offsite Accounting already operates in a 1,000-square-foot space at 5797 State Route 31 in Cicero in shared office space with Benn & Company CPAs, which launched Offsite Accounting as a separate entity in October 2010.

Offsite Accounting and Benn & Company lease their space in Cicero, but Benn declined to disclose the name of their landlord.

Cicero Estates, LLC owns the building at 5797 State Route 31, according to the website of the Onondaga County Office of Real Property Tax Services.

The company’s website lists Benn & Company CPAs as “an authorized affiliate” of Offsite Accounting, which is the result of a services agreement between the two companies, Benn says. 

“[Benn & Company] renders some services to Offsite Accounting & Management,” he adds. 

Offsite Accounting found its Rochester location through Luxembourg, Belgium–based Regus plc, Benn says.

The global firm provides serviced-office accommodations in business centers in 600 cities in more than 100 countries, according to its website.

“It supplies furniture, phones, and space,” Benn says.

Regus controls the space in the Clinton Square building in Rochester, he says. 

Offsite Accounting is leasing its space from Regus for a “reasonable fee,” Benn says, but declined to disclose a specific figure.

Regus doesn’t have a presence in Syracuse, he adds.

Benn declined to disclose specific revenue figures for Offsite Accounting, but indicated the company generated 15 percent more revenue in 2013 compared to 2012. He’s also projecting 20 percent revenue growth in 2014. 

Offsite Accounting employs seven people altogether, a figure that includes six full-time workers and one part-time employee. Those employees will provide accounting services to clients in both markets, the firm says.

The business processes transactions and handles tax and regulatory reporting for its clients. It also works to help its clients avoid instances of fraud and embezzlement, says Jackie Johnson-LeBlanc, operations manager at Offsite Accounting.

“People don’t think of our service until after that. We want to get them to think of it before things like that happen,” says Johnson-LeBlanc.       

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com