Anyone who has heard of outsourcing probably thinks the primary motive is to save costs, and while this might have been the initial focus for a lot of Australian accounting firms, there are a lot of other reasons why Australian accounting firms have been tinkering with outsourcing models over the past two decades.
For regional firms, there has always been a shortage of resources, and not much in the local area in terms of new accountants. Poaching from another firm just ends up in a price war. At poor economic times there have been more qualified accountants coming home waiting for the economy to pickup again, and times are good, but these times often don’t last.
These days we’re all being told that we should be focused on something else, be it business consulting, and that compliance is dead, though with the continued changes to our ATO legislation that’s hardly likely to be the case. More complexity means more work for everyone, from the schools universities and tafes, to the software houses, to the workers hunched over the keyboard.
We’re also being told we should be taking on cloud and new systems, and innovating in new areas – new business streams. We’re told to be “in our client’s face” even though it’s termed more about calling more often and being more interested using up to date information.
There’s lots of reasons.
Certainly there are plenty of outsourcing offerings out there to assist, whether you are ready or not.
But whatever your reason for outsourcing, the playing field has changed significantly over the past 20 years. From a handful of new pioneers 15 plus years ago (including the Odyssey!), there are now some 300 to 500 offshore and onshore firms all vying for your outsourced work.
And as our last few blogs have noted, these firms all have a different quality rating.
And at the end of the day it comes down to 3 main factors: Quality, Timeliness and Price.
And if you chase cost/price, it’s usually to the detriment of Quality or Time…
The secret cost of the $9 labour hour
Sometimes the freelance model doesn’t cut it…
The Future of the “Per Seat” Resource Model
10 key reasons why Bookkeeping outsourcing is critical for Australian accounting firms
The Top 9 reasons why your Accounting firm probably isn’t Outsourcing
What Australian accounting directors fear most about Outsourcing…
