Hiring in-house for your finance function might seem like the obvious choice, but the reality is when accounting firms need to scale 24% of businesses switch from in-house to outsourced accounting within 5 years. Why? Limited flexibility and skillset, as well as employment costs, top the list of reasons why they start to look externally.
But outsourcing comes with its own set of challenges that accounting firms and small to medium businesses should be aware of.
In this post we’ll look at the pitfalls of traditional outsource accounting services in Australia, and how our talent-as-a-service model is the next evolution to helping your business.
New Vs. Traditional: What’s the Difference?
Before we delve deeper, let’s get on the same page about what the difference is:
Traditional Outsourcing
This is usually a freelancer, contractor, or an agency that charges by the job and serves multiple clients at once.
Our Talent-as-a-service Model
Our unique approach means we recruit, manage, and support high-quality, degree-educated accountants who are dedicated to your business and operate as an extension to your team.
The Downside to Outsourcing for Accountants
While many accountants and small business owners have traditionally used outsourcing in the past, there can often be a disconnect between the outsourced service and the business. In part it’s because they don’t get to see the whole picture of your business, so you don’t get the support you need as you scale. You are also more likely to encounter the following challenges:
Inconsistencies
You don’t have to train or supervise outsourced accounting services, but quality and response times can vary, particularly during busy periods or agency teams.
Limited Process Control
Outsourced teams or individuals work under their own determined processes and procedures. This might not be what is best for your business in terms of account data security and may lead to delays or poor quality. It can also lead to longer lead times when you request reports or information.
Increased Costs
Outsourcing can reduce costs initially but when you grow and there is enough work for a full-time team member or more, it starts to become more expensive. On top of this, as your needs change you must renegotiate individual agreements or risk getting charged extra for work outside the scope.
Poor-Quality Talent
We know exactly how hard it is to find experienced, high-quality talent, particularly in the current skills shortage and it can be costly, in both time and money, to hire the wrong person.
As your business ebbs and flows, you need confidence in your accounting talent to support your business. Here’s why our talent-as-a-service model has evolved past these challenges of outsourcing, to give you exactly what you need:
The Formula for Success
We have honed our six-stage recruitment process to attract only the top 2% of talent and ensure we find the highest caliber, engaged people, that are committed to your operation. This is what it looks like:
- Stage 1: Client Discovery – Identify your needs and opportunities
- Stage 2: Initial Screening – Our leadership compares candidates against your needs
- Stage 3: Technical Screening – We evaluate their technical capabilities
- Stage 4: Psychometric Evaluation – Test and benchmark against high-performing profiles
- Stage 5: Executive Interview – One-to-one interview with our MD evaluating candidate’s personality fit.
- Stage 6: Client Interview: Present shortlisted candidates for review and acceptance
This process has led to an 87% engagement score and 90% retention rates for clients, but that’s not where our model ends. We stay constantly engaged with you to ensure talent is highly productive, trained, and in a continuous program of development. This leads to:
Full Flexibility
Whether you’re scaling up or down, our talent can swiftly and easily adapt to your changing needs without compromising on consistency or quality.
Improved Quality Outcomes
When you start with engaged, highly educated talent they’re constantly improving and developing, leading to much higher quality outcomes.
High Retention
High turnover increases costs and decreases confidence in accounting and finance. We ensure we have some of the highest retention rates and only hire experienced and qualified talent.
Limited Management Burden
We hire and manage talent while also remaining engaged with you so you can focus on your own clients, rather than your accounting and finance function.
Control Over Processes
We act as an extension of your team, adapting specifically to your business, processes, and needs. So you have full control of data handling, tools, and procedures in the highly regulated financial industry.
Overcome Local Talent Sourcing Issues
Our offshore talent in Hyderabad, India has a high availability across a variety of finance roles. Combining a strong natural work ethic and a university education as the minimum benchmark for recruitment it leads to an impeccable talent pool for Australian businesses.
The reality is using our talent-as-a-service model over the outsourced accountant means you can attract and retain the right people, dedicated to helping your business. If you do this right, you get all the benefits of outsourcing, plus so much more.
If you want to solve the problem of finding the right staff in a cost-effective manner. Get in touch with us at [email protected] to see how we can help.
