Most people’s first impression of outsourcing is that it’s all about reduction – reduction in office space, equipment, on-site personnel, hiring costs, and so on. While outsourcing can indeed save you a fantastic amount of overhead, its core value isn’t in reduction, it’s in expansion. Outsourcing is a powerful tool to help your firm grow.
How your firm grows is a result of the type of outsourcing provider you choose to work with. Let’s take a look at some of the core considerations you should make when choosing a provider and how they can affect your firm’s growth.
Full-service permanent dedicated staff
In this model your outsourced accountants essentially work just like they were another member of your permanent staff, they just happen to be overseas.
You’re able to decide if you want a full-time or part-time accountant or bookkeeper. You can choose if they work for you anywhere from 1 to 5 days per week. They can do your compliance work utilising the exact same methods as your in-house staff. They can use your accounting software, your preferred document management system, and they become familiar with your clients and their particular needs.
With a premium full-service provider you should only have to manage workflow. You can use your in-house procedures or have the provider use their own.
Most full-service providers’ staff will be trained thoroughly on the necessary tax laws but this is one of the key things you should put under the microscope to determine the level of support you are getting from your provider.
This method provides the opportunity to reduce review times, increase efficiency, and increase your menu of services. Your overseas team can even attend staff meetings via services like Skype, and are able to take on more complex work above and beyond your basic compliance needs.
A high-end full-service provider should leave you with a great deal more time so you can focus on growing your firm and face-time with clients.
The down-side is that generally speaking providers will want to use their own procedures and papers because there won’t be time to get them up to speed on your firm’s in-house procedures.
Some will have different pricing structures ranging from fixed-fee hourly rates to value-based project pricing.
In our next email we’ll take a look at the benefits of proper outsourcing and the training that top tier providers provide your overseas workers.
