Businesses can solve the skills gap through offshoring. How do you choose the right partnership, and what are the best conditions and technology?

It’s important to distinguish between outsourcing and offshoring. Outsourcing occurs when a company hires a third party to handle a specific process, finding a specialist in that field. In outsourcing, work is outsourced to a contractor in another country to lower costs or take advantage of more skilled workers or greater flexibility.

Offshoring as a business strategy

Offshoring can reduce operational and staff costs, and access to skills that are not available in-house can be provided by it. Keeping track of compliance issues allows the contractor to focus on strategic work, freeing the company’s team.

According to Simon Rowe, director of DGFinco, the offshoring and outsourcing finance arm of Milsted Langdon, many firms have changed their mindsets.

“In the past, the reasons for offshoring centred around cost and an immediate improvement of the bottom line – it is now a way for businesses to be more flexible,” he says. 

Many businesses (including accounting firms) take advantage of offshoring to obtain the resources they need to deliver to clients due to the tight employment market.

Ultimately, whether or not outsourcing is the right choice will depend on the specific needs and circumstances of the accounting business.

Due diligence

Before signing any contract, it is crucial to conduct proper due diligence. Communication and reporting must be clear between businesses and their outsourced compliance partner.

According to Peter Hucker, head of operations at cloud-based finance software company Xledger UK, there are many factors to consider.  “Any due diligence should not just cover the cyber security credentials of any supplier, but any third parties involved in the handling of their data,” he warns.

“When handling data across borders, look for suppliers who hold internationally recognised standards such as ISO 27001 (information and security). This can give organisations comfort that they are working with partners who understand the importance of keeping their data safe. Organisations collecting personal data should also carefully consider the handling of their data from a GDPR perspective.”

Offshoring as a business strategy

Offshoring can reduce operational and staff costs, and access to skills that are not available in-house can be provided by it. Keeping track of compliance issues allows the contractor to focus on strategic work, freeing the company’s team.

According to Simon Rowe, director of DGFinco, the offshoring and outsourcing finance arm of Milsted Langdon, many firms have changed their mindsets.

“In the past, the reasons for offshoring centred around cost and an immediate improvement of the bottom line – it is now a way for businesses to be more flexible,” he says. 

Many businesses (including accounting firms) take advantage of offshoring to obtain the resources they need to deliver to clients due to the tight employment market.

Ultimately, whether or not outsourcing is the right choice will depend on the specific needs and circumstances of the accounting business.

Due diligence

Before signing any contract, it is crucial to conduct proper due diligence. Communication and reporting must be clear between businesses and their outsourced compliance partner.

According to Peter Hucker, head of operations at cloud-based finance software company Xledger UK, there are many factors to consider.  “Any due diligence should not just cover the cyber security credentials of any supplier, but any third parties involved in the handling of their data,” he warns.

“When handling data across borders, look for suppliers who hold internationally recognised standards such as ISO 27001 (information and security). This can give organisations comfort that they are working with partners who understand the importance of keeping their data safe. Organisations collecting personal data should also carefully consider the handling of their data from a GDPR perspective.”

Here’s how to do it

1 Decide which tasks you can and should outsource

Consider why you want to offshore and why you need to offshore. Are we trying to save time and money here? To accomplish tasks that cannot be completed internally due to a lack of skills? Is there a shortage of talent?

2 Research your topic

On social media and at networking events, ask other accountants what companies they use. What kind of partner would be a good fit for you? What is the reputation of the person? You need to want to work with them – it’s not just about skills.

3 Ensure your qualifications and skills are robust

To avoid delays that could cause internal chaos and annoy clients, you need to make sure the company you’re using has qualified staff to deliver the quality you demand.

4 Try outsourcing small tasks first as a trial

Both parties can benefit from a trial period of two or three months. Once the decision has been made, start small. Then you will be able to assess the quality of work and get used to managing the relationship.

5 Maintain transparency with clients

As long as the quality of the work remains the same, clients may not need to know about offshoring. Clients will, however, be concerned about their data and who exactly oversees their accounting needs. Communicate what due diligence has been undertaken and how their data is protected.

6 Set up MyQuickCloud

Work from anywhere with a fully managed cloud desktop solution.

We enable small businesses to centralise and collaborate with in-house and offshore teams.
Improve the productivity of employees with secure access to a virtual private desktop and a familiar end-user experience. Improve on-premise and remote worker productivity with a fully functional desktop accessible from any location and at a simple flat monthly fee and the ability to add or remove users monthly whenever necessary.

Find out more about he we support accountants here.

In this excellent article from Accounting Web. iStorage CEO John Michael argues that remote and hybrid work demand a stricter focus on data security and employee health, both of which can be achieved with the right tools and policies.

Hybrid and remote work are not going anywhere. Workers love the flexibility of the modern office, and the statistics back it up: 82% of a surveyed 28,000 full-time employees stated that hybrid working has made them happier, and 78% said that working remotely improves their overall well-being. Employers enjoy their own benefits, given that remote work reduces burnout and – contrary to certain management assumptions about its effectiveness – increases employee engagement. A 2018 survey, conducted prior to the major rise in remote work, noted that 67% of workers had experienced burnout, yet in 2022 flexible working had brought this figure closer to 30%.

These figures present the positives, but they absolutely downplay the difficulty of administering a distributed workforce, particularly one, such as accountants, which is expected to work with sensitive data. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that an accidental breach could be incredibly costly, incurring a significant fine or losing a client – and breaches do happen. The Information Commissioner’s Office received reports of over 1,000 data breaches related to unauthorised access of data in 2022, and almost 600 incidents of data or paperwork being left in an insecure location. The protection of data cannot be left to chance: in the remote work era, good data hygiene is essential.

Controlling data access based on location

IT administrators would not generally allow hybrid workers a free choice of software or hardware. In the same vein, employees should also not be given full freedom to work as they want in any location they choose. Hybrid workers, given their relative freedom, may take an over-relaxed attitude to their place of work; putting in the hours in coffee shops, on public transport, or otherwise working away from the office are naturally more vulnerable to causing such breaches.

Tight security controls are vital to keep data safe, whether that be clients’ personal identifying information (PII) data or company spreadsheets. A data breach could be caused by connecting to cloud services over insecure networks, for example. Data could be leaked through a device like a laptop being left unattended or stolen. But an offline, secure approach mitigates these issues. If hybrid and remote workers are required to use encrypted storage while working away from a trusted network, virtually every potential cause of a breach is removed.

A secure drive may be able to lock itself based on a user’s proximity to their computer – should the drive’s owner step away from their machine, the drive’s contents would automatically be rendered inaccessible. If strict policies demand that remote employees work only from a pre-approved locale, secure storage can also be geofenced. This restricts the use of a device based on its GPS coordinates – the fence can cover regions as large as continents or as small as a few metres. Outside of those areas, such a device would not be able to be unlocked.

Implementing hardware policies to aid work/life balance

The health of a company’s data is of paramount importance, of course, but introducing proper data hygiene procedures can also go some way to protecting the health of its employees. Remote workers, and even in-office employees, can experience an unhealthy creep towards the work side of work/life balance. We’ve all burned the midnight oil at times, and not always because we’ve needed to. Digital connectivity can be an addiction.

Overarching legislation isn’t necessarily the answer. Even in France, where ‘Right to disconnect’ legislation passed in 2017 aimed to protect workers from out-of-hours work, the easy availability of digital tools means many employees continue to feel compelled to remain connected and available outside of their working hours. However, French companies which have established strong internal policies in line with the legislation have been able to demonstrate significantly reduced out-of-hours engagement. A culture focused on well-being and reasonable expectations is key, then – and using secure hardware to implement more direct controls can have a positive effect, too.

Set a time limit on the use of secure storage, for example, and the unlocking procedure can be prevented outside of agreed hours, reducing the chance of employees engaging in so-called ‘grey work’ – out-of-hours work beyond one’s prescribed responsibilities. If such a limit needs to change, simple back-end software allows administrators to alter it on a user-by-user basis, or apply a temporary lifting of restrictions. Each unlock also builds an audit trail of activities, which can tell administrators and managers precisely when and where a drive has been unlocked.

Employing remote management for additional security

Cryptographic security is what makes these functions work – and they really do work. The contents of a sufficiently secure drive will be obscured by uncrackable encryption until that drive is unlocked, offering a guarantee that those vital numbers are completely safe from any breach. Indeed, even if plugged into a USB port, such a drive would not appear to be connected to the computer until a secure online authentication process has been completed. Even if the encrypted storage was able to be accessed, AES 256-bit hardware encryption protects data against the possibility that the data could ever be read, copied, or shared.

Online authentication has a double use. It also means the access parameters of the device can be remotely administered at the time of unlocking. If a geofence moves, or an employee’s access restrictions change, these alterations do not require physical access to any remote hardware – any policy changes are automatically applied to a drive upon its use, no matter what machine it is connected to.

Remote data erasure provides peace of mind

A lost drive is obviously not a good thing. But that’s the point of cryptographic security and pivoting one’s data policies to ensure it is used. If a hardware encrypted drive is lost or stolen, it does not mean company data is being breached, it simply means a loss of easily replaceable hardware. If a double layer of security is required, a remotely administered secure drive can be set to erase itself if too many unsuccessful attempts are made.

If a remote employee reaches the end of their tenure, proper data hygiene procedures might also require that they return their hardware. But a secure drive could, if required, be set to be wiped at the moment an unlock attempt is made. This, along with geofencing, goes some way to preventing disgruntled employees from taking company data to places it shouldn’t be.

Obviously, much of the burden of remote worker data hygiene must be shouldered by company policy. But whatever level of control a company wishes to have over its remote employees, whatever policies exist to support efficient work and well-being, or even if you’re running a freelance accounting operation, investing in secure hardware makes such policies far easier to follow and implement. Select hardware which is also backed by clear and straightforward administration software, and the prospect of safer data is easier to achieve.

Outsourcing and offshoring may be used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. MyQuickCloud explain everything in detail.

Finance professionals have benefited from outsourcing long before it was even a term. In practice, accountants provide payroll services as a bureau service, and among the first to use IT to do so.

Outsourcing has evolved as a result of IT. The concept gained popularity in the late 1980s when many technology companies outsourced their customer service functions to IT. Various non-core business functions, such as accounting, customer support, facilities management, finance, human resources, and IT, are now handled by external specialists with its support.

People often use the terms outsourcing and offshoring interchangeably, but they mean different things. The transfer of organizational functions to a third party is known as outsourcing, but it is also called offshoring when that third party is located abroad. As an additional complicating factor, offshoring can also refer to the transfer of work to another country, but with the work remaining within the organization rather than being outsourced. In order to clarify, offshore outsourcing refers to outsourcing work to a third party located in another country.

While these various terms of reference may be confusing, they are unified by common underlying motives: the need to reduce operational costs and complexity. Offshoring of secretarial support and data analysis services is becoming increasingly popular because of the business advantages of doing work overnight.

Offshoring and outsourcing can affect finance professionals emotionally. A company needs fewer highly skilled accountants when it outsources its entire finance function or replaces multiple national finance departments with an international shared services center. Finance professionals in China or India seem to benefit most from offshored accounting functions or jobs from Europe or the US.

These trends are no exception to the rule that change rarely benefits everyone. The changes may force some experienced accountants out of their comfort zones, but they also offer opportunity for part- and newly-qualified ACCAs around the globe – so take advantage of them. 

Using cloud computing, accountants are managing the way they manage outsourcing, financial data and remote working more efficiently.

A number of technologies and innovations have made the lives of accounting professionals easier, such as cloud computing. Cloud-based accounting dramatically reduces the time accountants need to perform basic tasks, unlike traditional accounting, which involves a lot of manual data entry. Aside from reducing accounting processes and increasing accuracy, cloud computing automates some of their functions to ensure streamlined operations. Financial data is managed and operated in a different way thanks to cloud computing. Accountants can benefit from cloud computing in the following ways.  

1. A more secure data environment

The data of customers can easily be compromised when filing taxes or handling other highly valuable company information. Accounting professionals should be aware of the threats associated with software, hardware, and communication channels. Because accountants handle sensitive client and company data, cyber security is a concern for them.

With cloud computing, confidential information can be stored in a secure and private cloud where security and privacy can be assured by scheduled upgrades. Financial data stored in the cloud is also protected from natural disasters since it is automatically backed up for easy retrieval after a disaster. All accounting data can be protected from prying eyes with multi-factor authentication, firewalls, and data encryption.  

2. Easy data access

Accountants who use desktop-based accounting systems are tied to their offices, since their data, software, and accounts are stored locally.

Data can be accessed from anywhere using cloud computing. In the cloud, accountants can access accounting data and other applications if they have an internet-connected device. Accounting software that is cloud-based allows accountants to access records, reports, ad receipts anywhere and at any time. Accountants can work remotely as a result of this technology.  

3. Increases accuracy

By automating most accounting functions, cloud computing reduces human error. By using journal templates, repetitive invoices, and an auto-reserved accrual journal, financial records can be made more accurate, efficient, and accessible.

4. Speeds up operations

Automating routine tasks in the cloud computing system allows accountants to concentrate on other functions, resulting in increased productivity. Automating key processes also eliminates human error and prevents data duplication, which reduces time and effort. Cloud accounting automatically saves and backs up data as you work, so accounting professionals don’t have to waste time saving data or backing it up. A cloud platform eliminates the need for software updates and backups, so accountants are always using the latest software.  

5. Collaborating with others

Collaboration is enhanced by accessibility. With desktops, you have limited access to your statements and records, making it difficult to collaborate with colleagues and advisers. Several stakeholders, including team members, management, and advisors, can access books online, allowing the workload to be delegated. A bookkeeper and small business owner can handle simple tasks like paying bills and reconciling their accounts since accountants handle complex functions like long-term forecasting, detailed reporting, and planning. As a result of cloud computing software, accountants are able to offer more services to their clients while doing less work.  

6. Paperwork is reduced

Traditional accounting systems require accountants to deal with paperwork and manual data entry, which slows down processes and makes them inefficient. Due to cloud accounting, accountants can significantly reduce their reliance on paperwork by emailing invoices to clients, eliminating printing and postage costs, thereby speeding up payments. It is possible to scan and save receipts and bills in accounting software with their associated transactions. By storing financial statements, reports, and other financial data in the cloud, accountants don’t need to keep original paperwork, saving storage and filing space costs.  

7. Customer relationships are improved

It is imperative for accountants to maintain positive relationships with their clients. They can collaborate virtually with clients using cloud computing. Those working with vendors, distributors, and other colleagues can easily find bills, invoices, or identify missed payments. This helps accountants to ensure that all records are up-to-date, easing the tax filing process.  

8. Flexible and scalable operations

Cloud computing makes it possible for accountants to scale up or down their resources whenever they need them, so they only pay for the resources they need. Accountants can meet the demands of a growing business using cloud computing. Due to the scalability of cloud computing, they can switch to a more comprehensive accounting solution as their business grows. Additionally, you can integrate add-ons and software options to customize your accounting system.  

9. All in one place

In cloud computing, all financial data is stored in one database, allowing everyone to access the same information. There is no need for accountants from different departments to waste time figuring out which spreadsheet to use. This ensures consistency across all financial processes and reports.  

Managing QuickBooks company files simultaneously with employees and clients is a challenge that companies around the world face. The process can be challenging, especially if the users work in different countries with outsourcing or offshoring services.

In this article, we look at 3 different ways you can access your company files with MyQuickCloud. Let’s look at how we can solve these problems using accountants and bookkeepers as an example.

The Business Challenge

There is a company file that needs to be accessed by someone else. Whether it is one person in the office or 10 across the globe, it does not matter.

The sending of a company file over email (or via a USB stick) can lead to two people working on different versions of the same file if you are just sharing it with your bookkeeper. You can waste a great deal of time and money setting up a complex, difficult-to-maintain remote access solution if you are trying to set up remote, simultaneous, multi-user access.

The Solution

For your users to be able to share QuickBooks simultaneously, you will need to follow our online setup instructions from the computer on which QuickBooks is installed. As a result, your users will be able to access your version of QuickBooks and your company file from anywhere.

We have provided three examples below of QuickBooks setups that our customers use on a daily basis. If you aren’t sure if your setup fits any of these, just open a live chat with our sales team. They’ll be happy to talk about what you are trying to achieve.

Bookkeeper or Accountant

Your bookkeeper or accountant wants remote access to your QuickBooks company file stored on your desktop computer.

Install MyQuickCloud on the desktop computer where the QuickBooks software resides, publish a MyApplication or MyWorkspace app and instantly access the QuickBooks software and company file remotely from any internet-connected computer or mobile device.

Accounting or bookkeeping firm

You work in an accounting firm and have a main office location with a server. However, you also have remote offices or users that need access to that same system.

Install MyQuickCloud on the office server where the QuickBooks software resides, create MyQuickCloud users, and publish a MyWorkspace app for those users. Now, your users can access the QuickBooks application and data from any remote office or other location. All they need is an internet connection and MyQuickCloud.

Accounting or bookkeeping firm (managed cloud server)

You run an accounting firm and are rapidly expanding. You need to move your QuickBooks application and data to a managed, secured cloud server that can grow as your business grows.

Subscribe to a small or standard MyQuickCloud Cloud Server and send your QuickBooks license info to MyQuickCloud for installation. We’ll publish a link to the server in your MyQuickCloud dashboard when it’s ready. You can then copy and paste your company file to the server and your users can start working.

We’ll backup your server every day and take care of all updates and maintenance on your behalf.