In this time of “fake news”, we’re seeing it blatantly obvious that there are a lot of mis truths in the world today, and the world of Australian tax and accounting compliance outsourcing isn’t any different.
We’ve seen some of the accounting industry self appointed “leaders” tinkering in social media giving their opinion on outsourcing, and we’ve seen some self appointed Outsourcing gurus, who after a couple of years are now calling themselves Outsourcing Gurus.
I don’t know about you, but if you are going to trust some critical part of your business with an outsider, you’d need to make sure that the person who is calling themselves a guru actually has street cred.
The reality is that Outsourcing and Offshoring is a bit of “dog eat dog” wild west at the moment, and there isn’t a lot of regulation once you get overseas. And I’m sure your clients will appreciate you doing a decent due diligence.
So how do you get to find out the experts in the field of Outsourcing.
Well, avoiding the “Snake Oil Salesman” who hit the social media with a vengeance, have flashy videos, and work the conference circuit. These guys are just salesman, and probably not in any way involved with putting together a decent outsourcing business. If they are late to the party, then they’re likely to have taken the easier approach of setting up an “offshoring” business, which is pretty much just an offshore labour hire firm. And everyone can setup an offshore labour hire firm!
The best experts are more likely to be those people that have become experts through being in the industry a long time, who have developed strong businesses with reputations for excellent quality outsourcing.
When looking for a guru, look for someone with a strong technical background, who will more likely have been invited to participate in accounting standards or professional body publications, as opposed to being rung up by the local papers/social media sites for their “opinion” on things. Opinions sell clicks, professional standards sell quality.
If you do happen to talk to an expert, they’ll be the ones not pushing their service down your throat, but more likely to be happy to make sure that you have a good grasp of the outsourcing market, the business models, who the good providers are in the industry, and who to talk to. If the expert can hold their firm up against other firms, then you’d have to believe they’re confident in their quality.
Spend the time to ask around to find the quality providers, and talk to their owners. After all, finding an expert is critical to the success of your business.
Capacity planning… We don’t need no capacity planning
Tax Agents still upset at outsourcing work overseas
Increasing your firms capacity: Outsourcing versus Employee Leasing
Are we irrevocably losing Compliance skills in Australia?…
TPB rattles Outsourcing and Offshoring Users. Draft practice note released
Offshoring versus Outsourcing? Why the confusion remains
