Key Takeaways
- Some benefits of outsourcing include speeding up your local team’s career growth, refining your core processes, and delivering value where AI may fall short.
- Outsourcing supports the growth and scaling of accounting firms, boosts delivery time, and safeguards against potential risks.
- Outsourcing is also useful in protecting your firm from the global talent shortage, preventing accountant burnout, and providing specialised expertise that gives your firm a distinct competitive advantage.
Some benefits of outsourcing are already broadly understood, such as cost savings or increased efficiency, but most people may not have explored its deeper implications yet. This blog examines the long-term advantages of outsourcing to your core team, including delivery, day-to-day operations, and beyond.
In short, the outsourcing benefits that you’d wish you knew sooner!
Let’s dive into each one.
1. Outsourcing helps your local team's careers
Outsourcing taking opportunities away from local talent is one of the oldest myths that, unfortunately, many firms still fall for today. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.
In reality, accelerated career progression is one of the most understated positives of outsourcing. Data shows that career paths in some accounting firms started to shorten around the same time the offshoring trend picked up steam. While that may not be conclusive evidence yet to say that offshoring leads to quicker promotions and pay raises, the timing and potential correlation are hard to ignore.
2. Outsourcing rebuilds your core processes
Repetitive tasks like data entry and document management don’t just chew up your team’s time but also sap their enthusiasm for the jobs that they once loved, because they don’t get to apply the higher-level skills they have.
If your firm is used to pushing tasks across, then outsourcing can be the key to changing this system for the better. One of the most impactful advantages of outsourcing is that it empowers smarter and more effective delegation, optimising your processes as a result. In short, outsourcing doesn’t just reshape your daily workflow; it rebuilds it.
“Do what you do best and outsource the rest.”
– Peter Druck
It works like this: You assign low-margin tasks to the appropriate level (i.e., your outsourced team), which frees up your top talent and allows them to focus on business-critical tasks. In turn, this allows you to build your process underneath as you go.
When you have a documented and well-built process, work is completed on time and up to standard, while you focus on running your accounting practice.
3. Outsourcing does the work that AI can't
Artificial intelligence may have already transformed how firms process information, but it’s not yet at the point of replicating human judgment.
While AI efficiently handles data entry, report generation, and pattern detection, it cannot interpret context, ethics, or professional skepticism—qualities essential to accounting.
That’s where outsourcing bridges the gap.
Experienced outsourced accounting professionals apply critical thinking, business intuition, and firm-specific insight to make nuanced decisions that algorithms can’t. Even as firms adopt more automation tools, human expertise remains irreplaceable.
4. Outsourcing positions your firm for growth
Growth isn’t just about getting bigger; it’s also about scaling smarter. For many firm owners, the challenge lies in increasing revenue and capacity without overextending internal resources.
Fortunately, seeking outside expertise, like outsourcing services, can make that goal a reality.
Outsourcing equips your firm with more resources, allowing you to expand your team, broaden your service offerings, and dedicate more time to nurturing client relationships. These advantages stem from access to lower labour costs in global markets, the versatility of outsourced professionals, and the ability to delegate routine tasks to a trusted worldwide workforce.
5. Outsourcing helps your firm scale with confidence
Aside from firm growth, seeking a reliable outsourcing company can also be an effective tool for scaling.
Since the challenge of scaling your firm is making profits grow faster than expenses, outsourcing gives your firm a unique edge over your competitors: Access to a global talent pool that’s technologically adept and just as skilled and experienced as an onshore team.
Pro Tip: To scale your business, document your processes, relentlessly train your onshore teams weekly, and choose hands-on and involved leaders.
“It’s not a one-off project, but an ongoing game. If you want a team that keeps growing in value, free their time, build the playbook, and train them on it every single week.”
Nick Sinclair, Founder and Chairman, TOA Global
Most people are aware that cost savings are what truly distinguish outsourcing from other business models or structures. To scale well, the secret is tapping a highly trusted external party that saves you direct labour, production, and operational costs, as well as some hidden costs that may catch you off guard.
These cost savings can be redirected to other areas of your practice, such as restructuring your sales or marketing frameworks, enhancing your recruiting efforts, or strengthening your overall business development strategies.
6. Outsourcing enables faster delivery
Another positive of outsourcing is that it provides a faster and smoother way to manage requests.
As your outsourced team expands, work is divided more efficiently, allowing more to be done in less time. They also bring modern technology to the table, replacing outdated systems with faster, smarter, and more advanced tools and methods.
Time zones can also accelerate delivery: While you wrap up your day, your outsourced team is working through the night. By the next morning, you can review completed tasks, achieved targets, and KPIs checked off with ease.
However, if you really want them to follow your firm’s work hours (e.g. traditional eight-hour workday), then that shouldn’t be a problem: Most outsourcing services adjust their shifts to align with yours, which is a clear reflection of their commitment and dedication to your firm’s success.
7. Outsourcing strengthens defenses against security threats
When your firm is entrusted with highly sensitive data, it demands the highest level of security.
Naturally, sharing this information outside the firm can spark concerns about unauthorised access, data breaches, or misuse. In addition to this, firm owners may also worry about compliance with data protection regulations, such as ATO standards, the GDPR, or state privacy laws.
This is another positive of outsourcing: It’s common practice among trusted outsourcing services to follow IT audit and cybersecurity protocols and best practices not just to protect client data but also to ensure business continuity, maintain regulatory compliance, and safeguard your firm’s reputation.
Pro Tip: It’s ideal to implement best practices on technical and operational control, such as the following:
- Multi-Factor Authentication – for systems that access sensitive client data
- Data Encryption – both in transit and at rest
- Strong Access Controls and Identity Management – least privilege, role-based access, account review, logging of who accessed what and when
- Risk Assessment Programs – regular assessment of vulnerabilities, threats, and the firm’s security posture
- Incident Response Planning – clear policies/procedures for how to respond to breaches, including notification of clients/regulators
- Vendor/Service Provider Management – ensuring that third parties you work with also meet security expectations and have contracts enforcing security/privacy
Your cybersecurity measures can make or break your firm, so investing in the strongest protections is non-negotiable. Ensure that your firewalls and process-related guardrails are built to meet today’s evolving threats. Bolster your efforts by aligning with providers who treat data security as seriously as you do.
8. Outsourcing solves your staffing woes
You’ve probably poured most, if not all, of your resources into hiring locally, only to find that your efforts have fallen short.
It’s no fault of your own, though. It’s an industry-wide problem that has reached crisis levels over the years. If you’re one of the many firm owners who’ve exhausted your recruitment efforts in your local workforce, then perhaps it’s time to explore larger talent pools.
Offshore outsourcing addresses your staffing concerns by providing flexible, scalable teams that eliminate the overhead of traditional hiring, allowing you to fill roles faster and more cost-effectively than through local recruitment, while complementing your in-house team.
9. Outsourcing reduces accountant burnout
According to a study by FloQast, burnout is one of the primary drivers behind the mass resignation of local accounting talent.
While each accountant has different stress tolerance levels and daily work habits, many continue to collectively experience and exhibit symptoms of burnout, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and cognitive impairments.
“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.”
Lou Holtz
The good news is that outsourcing can effectively address the implications of this widespread burnout that your firm is at risk of facing.
In fact, it won’t just reduce burnout risks, but also overhaul chaotic systems within accounting firms. As outsourced teams take on the routine, low-level tasks, your internal team’s once-hectic workload gets lighter and healthier as they transition into a more sustainable work rhythm.
10. Outsourcing maintains quality through tapping industry experts
There are outsourcing service providers operating in various industries, while others specialise in specific service offerings, such as accounting. Talent solutions providers like TOA Global are well-known for their elite accounting talent teams, supplying practices worldwide with Australian-trained accountants, auditors, bookkeepers, executive assistants, and more.
When your global partner specialises in their services, they act as true extensions of your team, delivering consistency and excellence that generalist providers can’t match. Partnering with the right accounting outsourcing solutions provider can boost efficiency, deliver higher-quality results, and provide the expertise that elevates your firm’s performance and competitive edge.
Is Outsourcing the Growth Hack Your Firm Needs?
The short answer is yes.
While no single solution can resolve every challenge that your firm faces, outsourcing can give you the leverage to move beyond your current limits. The key is due diligence: studying the systems and conducting proper research, so you know how to distinguish between different outsourcing models, choose one that best fits your practice, and fully leverage external expertise.
Going through lists like ours is an excellent start, from unpacking the expected benefits of outsourcing beyond time and cost savings, to overcoming potential drawbacks, such as company culture and communication challenges, to understanding the legal risks of choosing independent contractors over outsourcing service providers.
Max Out the Benefits of Outsourcing with TOA Global
With the right staffing partner, outsourcing becomes more than a tool for saving costs. It becomes a growth engine that doesn’t just patch gaps but builds lasting stability and scalability into your firm. That’s exactly what TOA Global delivers: elite talent teams, superior results, and industry-leading security that give your firm the competitive edge none of your clients can ignore.
Are you ready to transform your firm from the inside out with outsourcing? Book a chat with us to get started.
