Traditionally, outsourcing was considered as a good business strategy that improved efficiency, cut costs, fast-tracked service delivery, and allowed companies to focus on their core competencies. Outsourcing gave client companies access to expertise and productivity not available in-house.
Outsourcing makes even more sense post-pandemic. According to a research by Clutch, a leading B2B research firm, as many as 80% of small businesses plan to outsource services, citing the prospect of saving time and money, and working with experts. Whether to seamlessly access qualified and experienced staff capacity, handle large-scale workloads, or facilitate growth, accounting and tax firms increasingly see outsourcing as a solution to their most compelling of problems.
There are several trends emerging, the rapid growth of outsourcing among the most notable of them. Client’s expectations of accounting and tax practitioners are evolving, towards strategic business advice in addition to number crunching. The trends also indicate that the global economy is moving further into an interconnected knowledge economy in which the quantity, quality and accessibility of knowledge would be key factors for economic growth. Accounting professionals will be sought out to provide deep insights based on interconnected knowledge.
Accounting firms and businesses weigh in on the following benefits of outsourcing in a post pandemic world:
- Expertise: The accounting profession is undergoing major transformation thanks to increasing use of technology. In addition to the traditional compliance functions, accountants are positioned to take on more complex and customized accounting challenges. Interconnected knowledge gives them access to a diversified talent pool of accounting and tax professionals, equipping them with the flexibility to take on a variety of client services, and businesses the benefit of a bespoke team of resources.
- Turnover: It is believed that the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to increased burnout and that employees now feel more comfortable leaving. Outsourcing is an obvious solution available for accounting and tax firms, and businesses for their talent shortage. They find replacements to lost resources immediately and as long as required by partnering with an outsourcing firm that meets their requirement.
- Expanding menu of services: Top line outsourcing firms are well equipped to handle critical and complex projects for accounting firms and companies that are short of time and resources. The expanded menu of services range in areas such as consolidation of group financial statements; preparation of performance dash boards; budgeting and forecasting; tax and transaction advisory etc.
- Response to disruption: Outsourcing firms are helping the response to disruptive events such as a turbulent economy or the pandemic. They ensure that their clients quickly adapt to sudden, unexpected and drastic changes.
- Migration to the cloud: There is an increasing trend for working out of the cloud, especially during and after the pandemic. Most of the bookkeeping and tax compliance software applications are cloud based. Outsourcing firms make the migration to the cloud easy and reliable by handling the technical and operational considerations.
Outsourcing can be extremely beneficial for accounting and tax practices, and businesses alike. It can free up decision makers to focus on their business rather than in their business. What are the compelling pain points that you expect to address by outsourcing?
