While the rest of the corporate world might be pushing for a return to work presence in the office, the accounting world is doing just fine with outsourcing. Yes, you read that correctly. Accounting firms hired to work for clients outsource their projects and tasks. Why? Because they find better efficiencies in producing the work for clients than handling the base work themselves. Instead, the in-house accounting staff works on far more complex issues, from audits to accounting system design, while standard bookkeeping workloads like payroll processing are handled overnight and around the clock with outsourcing. That makes these accounting firms far more productive, dollar for dollar, in the business they deliver.
The Results Speak for Themselves
How did the experiment and outsourcing shift turn out? Pretty darn well, even by the most conservative estimates:
- Well over half the firms increased their income by two-digit percentages.
- Average net income expansion was almost 15 percent for the big firms using outsourcing.
- Professional staff leaving firms stay low at 14.5 percent versus the higher numbers critics often predicted. Why? Part of the reason may have been less burnout with a more excellent and smarter distribution of the work involved.
Will the Change Continue?
The permanency of accounting outsourcing depends, of course, on being profitable. Otherwise, the business strategy will be abandoned. At the same time, outsourcing still needs to meet all the other accounting work criteria regarding error-free, timely, accurate, and dependable. This is where past criticism has been the strongest; outsource providers have been assumed to be of lower quality than in-house accounting work. However, as the shift in 2020 proved, the work was acceptable and dependable.
When one combines the above with the fact that outsourcing can work around the clock, solve the shortage of skilled talent, and scale up as needed for small firms or big ones, then it starts to become common sense how to figure out integration of outsourced bookkeeping into the existing accounting workflow. Accounting firms are not unique in this regard; companies in most industries can also take advantage of the same outsourcing opportunities for their bookkeeping.
Take a Lesson From Success, Then Repeat It
Companies thinking about outsourcing and with a heavy amount of bookkeeping can take lessons from the pros. Look at how accounting firms have managed their own outsourcing and replicate the model. More often than not, it will be the more successful path, especially given that accounting is that industry’s bread and butter to begin with.
