Working from India: The new trend in CPA firms?
According to a report published in the Wall Street Journal[1] “More than 300,000 U.S. accountants and auditors have left their jobs in the past two years, a 17% decline, and the dwindling number of college students coming into the field can’t fill the gap.” There is a similar trend in most developed economies including the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
Access to qualified talent to expand your capacity.
A key solution to solving this supply side problem is to look beyond traditional sources for your talent pool. Most offices have a generous work from home policy, so why should that be restricted to your country? Restrictions based on geography is a fast-fading trend and today’s cloud-based technologies have solved most problems with people working from remote locations.
The Indian STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) pool generously supplied to the US requirement in the dot com era and continues to do so. Similarly, there is a large pool of resources in India that is gearing up to serve CPA firms. Culturally, being a certified accountant is a matter of pride for young graduates in India and there is prestige and a high aspirational value associated with such jobs.
Tried and tested and yes, it works!
The Big 4 accounting firms identified this opportunity of working with the Indian talent pool in the early 2000’s and employ tens of thousands of people in various centres of excellence and are aggressively hiring even today.
Outsourcing presents a significant opportunity for small and medium-sized firms: There is a cost arbitrage to be taken advantage of and the capacity it adds to your existing trained workforce is phenomenal. You may take advantage of your MSI Global Alliance Membership and reach out to member firms providing outsourcing services. Dealing with an MSI member firm saves you from the requirements of additional background verification.
The benefits that outsourcing can offer to businesses are tangible, but we recognise that businesses may have their apprehensions. Below are some commonly raised questions and our responses based on experience.
- Would the outsourcing partner firm be able to deliver the quality?
If you choose the right partner, you can in fact expect a higher quality experience for your clients. Your staff is freed up to add more value to your clients. - Is my data / client data safe with my outsourcing partner?
You can choose to get your outsourced service provider to work on your server through a remote desktop or provide specific logins to your cloud-based tools. You will have a detailed audit trail of their activity. Work with an accredited service provider. Most service providers would have a SOC-2 certification or ISO 27001. You could also choose to work with one of the MSI Global Alliance member firms. - What are the technological tools I need to get started?
You would only need to extend your internal tools to your outsourcing partner. If you use Microsoft Teams for communication, and Caseware for your audit. Add them to your network to get started. - If I outsource my work, how would my staff get trained?
Provide your entry level staff shadowing opportunities to learn the basics. Then, they just start from higher ground. Your staff interacts with the outsourced team and learns whilst being part of the projects. In fact, the outsourcing of mundane tasks ensures lesser attrition, and your on-site staff is better utilised in front-end tasks. - What happens if the people I trained at my outsourcing partner’s location leave?
You are in a better place, compared to your staff leaving. The outsourced partner will take care of the transition and ensure knowledge transfer. The cost of hiring, onboarding, and training are all borne by the outsourced partner. - Would I be charged for the training hours?
Not if you are a good negotiator! - How would they work in the US time zone?
Imagine if getting things done yesterday was real? You can take advantage of the time difference, assign something before you go to sleep and have it ready when you wake up. If you however choose to have them work in the US time zone, you can set-up a shift per your time with your outsourced partner. - What should I look for when choosing an outsourcing partner?
Look for a partner that is of a similar size to your firm, preferably an accounting firm that thinks and delivers in their local market like you do for your clients. Having an accounting firm as your outsourced partner instead of a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centre helps, because what you do is not just a process. Understand the structure and see who you would be dealing with, make sure you have a strong account manager, a dedicated team with the right communication and technical skills.
Do you have additional questions on Working from India (WFI), please contact the authors for a chat.
