How UK Accounting Firms Can Evaluate a Right Outsourcing Partner?
When searching for an outsourcing partner for your UK accounting firm, several factors need to be considered. An incompetent outsourcing partner can lead to faulty reporting, statutory compliance issues, and more. Therefore, due diligence must be exercised when finding an accounting outsourcing partner.
Here’s how UK Accounting firms can find the right outsourcing partner:
Expertise and Experience in GAAP and IFRS
Your chosen accounting outsourcing partner should be experienced and have expertise in GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) and IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). Also, the outsourcing partner must keep abreast of the latest amendments and compliance regulations.
Offer in various services
As an accounting firm, your clients may need several services. Some may need basic bookkeeping and finalization of year-end accounts, while others may need management accounting, corporation tax, audit support, payroll services, and more. It would be best to look for an accounting outsourcing partner that offers all the services required by you.
Flexible and Scalable services
Business needs are bound to change. So, your ideal accounting outsourcing partner should offer flexible services. Also, their services should be scalable at the shortest possible notice.
Tech Savvy
Your chosen outsourcing partner should be techno-savvy. It means the outsourced partner should be comfortable using various digital platforms for communication and quick reporting. Also, the reports should be delivered in easy to understand style and be uniform and as mandated by the accounting firm.
Also, it would help if the outsourcing partner has adopted cloud-based services for quick, easy access to reports at all times.
A keen eye for details
Book-keeping and accounting are more than just recording entries. The outsourcing partner should have a keen eye for details to identify errors and ensure accurate recording and reporting. It necessitates a deep understanding of accounting practices, legal compliances, tax provisions, and more.
Quick Communication
Communication is the key to long-term business relations. Any issues that may crop need to be quickly communicated and effectively resolved by the outsourced accounting partner. Also, they should be available for video meetings and calls as and when required.
Data Security
It is impertinent that your outsourcing accounting partner has a zero-tolerance policy towards data breaches. Data privacy is an important aspect for you and your clients. Any compromise to data privacy may likely entail a penalty, and therefore, you need to ensure the steps that your outsourced partner takes for maintaining data security and is GDPR compliant.
Affordable Services
The whole idea behind outsourcing is to find an affordable service partner so that you can optimize your existing resources. Your outsourced accounting partner should be able to save you at least 60% as compared to an in-house team.
Outsourcing your accounting services to a reliable and experienced partner like Effective Accountancy can help you optimize resources, save cost and expand your business without adding overheads.