Imagine a bloke by the name of Brian. Brian is an ex- ‘muso’, who decides to start an accounting firm – let's call it ACDC Accountants – and is immediately overwhelmed with work.
Good problem to have…
Brian gets busy onboarding new clients and delivering work. But he's short-staffed. So, he’s soon burning the midnight oil, and can’t find qualified professionals to meet the growing demands.
Brian knows that offshoring and outsourcing are options. But which one should he choose?
First let's go through the key differences between offshoring and outsourcing. Then we can explore how ACDC Accountants can use these strategies to grow its team and business.
The Chef vs. The Takeaway
Think of your accounting firm as a busy restaurant. You have two options to manage the high volume of customer orders:
1. Outsourcing is like hiring a takeaway service. You send your cooking needs to an outside vendor; they prepare the food and deliver it back to you. You have little control over the cooking. You hope the food arrives. It's a plug-and-play service. The vendor may serve many customers, not only you. The chefs cooking your food today may not be the ones working on your order tomorrow.
2. Offshoring is like hiring your own personal chefs to work in your kitchen. They follow your recipes, use your ingredients, and serve your customers. You’re still in charge, ensuring that every dish meets your quality standards, but your chefs are located somewhere else.
The key difference? You’re in control.
Convenience or Control? Which should Brian choose?
Both solutions give Brian fast access to talent. And to some extent, it may depend on how much pressure Brian is feeling.
For an instant ‘pressure release valve,' Brian engages an outsourcing company in India. The staff are qualified and skilled… it works great! He has been assigned Riya, and she is awesome.
But after a while, Riya is moved to another client and Brian gets a new accountant to work with – Arjun. Arjun is much slower and makes more mistakes.
Brian now starts to worry about quality and turnaround times on his jobs. He realizes that it might be better to build a team of his own – an offshore team for ACDC Accountants!
After some research, he finds a trusted provider in the Philippines. He works with their recruiters to onboard two accounting staff, Cherry and Chris.
He arranges training for them, both upfront and ongoing. After a few months of support, they now know his basic workflows.
Offshoring gives Brian control over his team's work. He can vet its quality like any other staff member.
The Bottom Line
Outsourcing may help for short-term tasks where you just need the job done. But it can lead to inconsistent quality and slow turnarounds if it doesn't go well. If you’re looking for long-term growth and the ability to scale your own team, offshoring is the way to go.
It gives you the best of both worlds. You can access global talent without sacrificing control.
So, like ACDC Accountants, you can choose to take the reins and steer your firm to success by offshoring the right way.
Let’s connect and Schedule a Discover Call to find out how offshoring could work for your practice!
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