Your Guide to Finding the Best Outsourcing Finance Department in a Post-COVID World

The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe problems for countless accounting firms in the UK. Most accountants in the country are still functioning remotely and depending on virtual tools to storm through the financial crises that this pandemic has triggered. The post-COVID world doesn’t promise to be less challenging for accountants. Most accounting firms are having to handle diverse workloads full of new challenges. Standard procedures like the preparation of year-end accounts, payroll management, or day-to day-bookkeeping were considered ‘difficult’ or ‘challenging’ in the past by most accountants. Well, the new challenges of the “new normal” are guaranteed to overwhelm accountants in the UK.

The Risk of Burnout

The UK’s accounting industry is facing an hour of crisis. To deal with the economical aftermaths of the global pandemic, the UK Government has announced countless different measures. Although these measures are designed to help local businesses re-stabilise, they don’t bring the best news for accountants. 

Accounting firms in the UK are now essentially the sole sources of information regarding these changes for small businesses. They’re expected to navigate their clients through these significant economic changes. Naturally, maximising efficiency levels while working remotely is proving to be extremely challenging for several accounting firms. 

Here are some significant legislative changes and government programs that accountants in the UK need to master in 2021 – 

• The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was launched by the UK Government on 1st March 2020. Since this scheme’s launch, many small businesses are utterly confused about how they should pay their employees.  

• The new Brexit regulations are causing serious confusions for many small-scale business owners, especially in industries like import/export, fishing, and travelling. 

• The ‘Making Tax Digital’ initiative by the UK Government is compelling many accounting firms to upgrade their technological capabilities. Taking such transformative steps while working remotely and with under-resourced staffs is very challenging. 

• Accounting firms are also required to navigate through the latest VAT and SA deferrals. Businesses are set to receive extra time to repay deferred VAT returns. The workloads for several accounting firms in the UK that deal with tax preparation have increased significantly. 

Working from home, dealing with these mammoth legislative changes, and managing remote accounting workforces – all of these challenges are draining several accounting firms. Several small-scale accounting firms don’t have the resources or the staffing to take on these resource-intensive responsibilities. Sharing the workload with offshore accounting experts is the best option. The best outsourcing finance department can help accounting firms of all scale safeguard their commercial objectives, despite all the challenges.

Finding Offshore Partners During the Pandemic 

The best offshore accounting teams use the latest technological tools and devices. These firms have their private cloud-based networks, which make it easier for them to communicate and collaborate with foreign clients. They also use accounting software tools like XERO or QuickBooks, to eliminate the risk of errors. More importantly, accounting firms in the UK can get to choose between several different providers from different countries. Here’s how accounting firms in the UK should choose their outsourcing partners – 

Can the Offshore Team Handle the Tasks?

Outsourcing certain accounting responsibilities has two key benefits for accountancy firms in the UK – cost reduction and the ability to take on more tasks. Forget the first advantage, and let’s focus on the second. For accounting firms in the UK, the whole point of outsourcing in 2021 is preventing in-house staff members from experiencing burnout.

So, ensuring that the offshore accounting team is fit to handle responsibilities that their UK partners cannot manage effectively is very important. The last thing accounting firms in the UK need in 2021 is the combination of two inefficient teams – an inefficient in-house accounting team and an inefficient offshore accounting team. 

Check for details like –

• Are the offshore accountants trained in the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles of the UK?

• What certifications do the offshore accountants have? For instance, top accounting professionals in the UK receive their certifications from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Do the offshore accountants have similar certifications? 

• Can the offshore accounting team provide proof of past work?

• Does the firm use private servers or VPNs to access their clients’ files and documents? Data safety is vital when you’re dealing with commercial papers and documents. 

Selecting the Right Engagement Model

Offshore accounting teams usually offer three engagement models to their clients – 

• The ad-hoc model where clients only pay for the number of hours their outsourcing partners work for. 

• The full-time equivalent model where outsourced accounting service providers work as virtual extensions of the in-house team in the UK. These experts regularly report their progress to their clients. 

• The block of hours model where accounting firms in the UK can pre-purchase blocks of hours. 

Take closer looks at the experience levels and the expertise of the offshore teams you speak with. Their skills should match the tasks you plan to outsource. For instance, if an accounting firm in the UK wants to outsource payroll-related responsibilities, they should partner with offshore teams with prior experience in the payroll domain. Outsourcing strategies in the post-pandemic world shouldn’t be too complex if accounting firms in the UK follow these guidelines!