Busy, overworked and under pressure- if this sounds like your accounting practice you’re not alone!
Increasing work pressure is the usual trigger for accountants to look into outsourcing, add to that fee erosion and increasing costs and suddenly outsourcing sounds like a good idea.
However we understand that outsourcing (from the outside) can look daunting!
Recently we conducted a survey with 20 of our Australian clients on what their top 5 fears were about outsourcing before working with Connect.
The top 5 fears about outsourcing…
1. Quality of work
2. Security
3. How hard it is to get started
4. Ongoing staff training
5. Continuity of a remote team
But not all outsourcing solutions are the same…
How Connect does outsourcing differently:
We employ our own fully trained team of 700 accountants and we offer compliance services on a per-job basis. So there is no increase in your overheads as you are not hiring us full time. In fact we cost around 25% of your usual compliance fees!
What is even better is we don’t need any time to learn what to do – our team are experienced in NZ tax law and it only takes a couple of hours to set up the systems we need to get started.
There are also no contracts or “seat” fees.
In the words of our clients here is how Connect tackles the top five fears around outsourcing…
1. Quality:
The number one fear is what will the quality of the work be?
Understandably, accountants want to be confident that an outsourced team are competent and capable of doing their job, there is little point in passing on a job that would require rework or too much hand holding as that defeats the purpose of getting the help!
“The previous outsourced options we’d struggled with because they were good with the “basic’s” but more complex work would always get pushed back to our team to do technical tax planning or multiple entities. Straight away the Connect team was at a level of competence that previously took me two years to train and nurture.”
“We gave them a 3 month trial – we were very impressed- quality of the work. it seemed like we had chartered accountants working on the file.”
2. Security:
Working in the cloud it is critical that all of the practice and it’s client data is secure and information is safe. Connect have the highest level of security measures in place to manage work papers and data sharing…
“I was initially concerned about where data is stored and which software products Connect use. But I did some independent research and after that I was confident in their systems.”
“I felt completely comfortable with the security systems because of the integrity of the New Zealand team.”
3. Too hard to begin:
If your too busy to get through your current workload how can you take the time out to implement a new system? Every accounting practice is looking for that “quick fix” solution to being overworked. But when you’re under pressure you often don’t have time to even research your options. That’s why we made it so easy to get started with Connect in only a few hours…
“Getting started with the Connect team was easy and we were able to get up and running within 24 hours. I sent them 31 jobs to do, at the beginning of July and within the month 21 of them were already completed.”
“Connect had a very detailed process and system in place, right from the start. The process was step-by-step and Connect made it easy. They also set up sharepoint, doc zone system, and workflow spreadsheets.”
4. Ongoing Staff training.
If you were to use the model where you outsource to a remote team that is recruited for you- you will have to continually upskill or retrain new team members just like your own staff, in fact you have all of the usual HR issues that you face with your in house staff. That doesn’t happen with Connect because we employ our own team and provide them with all of the training!
“The Connect team were all competent. They knew the correct processes and were able to meld the systems with our business.”
“I don’t have to worry about any HR stuff; we can shrink or grow as we need. Connect just makes it happen. When I was outsourcing to the Philippines we had inefficiencies on the job, so if a team member took 2 hours longer I had to wear it. With the Connect model I don’t pay for any inefficiencies, so it is not a cost for my business.”
“I could see that Connect had already trained their team to the New Zealand standard. They already had New Zealand tax knowledge. We didn’t have to do any remedial training.”
5. Continuity of a remote team.
Unlike other BPO’s we employ our own fully trained team of 700 accountants and we have employed many of our team leaders for over 9 years! We set up our office in Mohali in India and our office is considered the top place for an accounting graduate to work in. The office has day-care facilities and attractive salaries. Most of our staff are local and are planning to spend their entire career working for us. We pride ourselves on making our team feel valued and having the best workplace culture to retain and invest in our team.
“It’s like having our own team in India. Gaurav is our team leader that we have dealt with from day one and he is awesome.”
“Connect has the flexibility to move staff from one team to another, giving us the security of resource always being available. Connect also focuses on continually upskilling their staff, so you know you are getting the best.”
Outsourcing with Connect is not a model where we just set you up and forget you. We can also support your practice to make the transition to digitise your practise and can help to improve your workpapers and processes so you can truly transform your firm’s productivity.
In one quick meeting we can walk you through how the process works and how we can get you going.
Book in a 10 minute discovery session to see how easy it is to get started with Connect.
Want to read more from our clients? Check out an article written by Marion Garlick Director from Gilligan Sheppard on her 9 year journey with Connect…
Tim Davidson | Connect Outsourcing
Tim's experience was recognised by his appointment as Chairman of Polaris International - Oceania in 2010. This role sees Tim leading & representing accounting and business services firms from across the Oceania region.
- 5 Tips to resource a profitable accounting team in 2021 - 22 March 2021
- How to take your staff on the outsourcing Journey… - 13 May 2019
- 10 Productivity Apps to Help Your Clients - 28 April 2018
