If accounting firms really want to get the best results from outsourcing they need only follow these two important rules to ensure true success.
COVID-19 had a profound impact on the business climate. Many accounting firm executives, who’ve been known to be reluctant to let staff work remotely, increasingly appreciate the advantages of a virtual team, particularly when it comes to attracting and keeping talent. Working remotely, however, can present difficulties, such as interacting with and overseeing staff, installing essential equipment, keeping staff trained on all of the constant Australian taxation changes and developing and enforcing virtual work processes and rules.
To be successful when it comes to outsourcing bookkeeping or accounting work, firms must adapt to working online. This means putting trust in a handful of basic tech tools that enable firms to communicate with clients, colleagues and staff online in order to access bookkeeping and accounting services remotely.
After 20 years in the business it does appear that outsourcing is not going away. Thus, the two following points are really important in order to reap the benefits of outsourcing by allowing firms to get the most out of it.
Keeping the communication lines open with your outsourcing firm is imperative if you want everything to flow properly, to ensure work is done in a timely manner, to clear up any issues that need addressing and to make sure you are getting the most out of your outsourced staff.
BOSS outsourced accounting firm’s Sales and Marketing Manager, Lee Court says, “In the 20 years we’ve been in outsourcing we’ve noticed that firms who spend time communicating with their outsourced accountants or their BOSS accounting manager, just like they would communicate with their in-house staff, have found any issues with jobs have quickly dissolved. Working with remote workers is the same as in-house staff, if there’s a problem, it needs to be communicated.“
The second but no less important factor for ensuring outsourcing success, is being organised. To enable jobs to run smoothly, firms should make sure all the data is provided before a job starts, follow up with client queries as soon as possible and make sure they get all the answers to their questions.
“The firms that are better organised and have thrived with outsourcing have used the BOSS checklists provided, been proactive at getting data from clients in the form of answering queries and getting back to us in a timely manner, checking the jobs and giving us any necessary feedback. Add to that regular meetings with BOSS (especially in the beginning). It may not feel like much of a secret but these two points on communication and organisation can be the make or break when it comes to really thriving with outsourcing.”
About BOSS, BACK OFFICE SHARED SERVICES PTY LTD
BOSS (Back Office Shared Services Pty Ltd) was founded in 2004 to provide skilled accountants and bookkeepers on a full-time, part-time and casual basis to commercial enterprises, accounting and financial services firms in Australia.
BOSS India is a subsidiary of BOSS Australia and runs just like an ultra-modern paperless Australian public practice because the Director and Accountancy Practice Principal, Peter Vickers, has been operating his own successful Australian public practice for over twenty years.