5 Common Offshoring Mistakes To Avoid In Accounting

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Offshoring has increasingly become one of the key strategic directions that many Australian accounting firms take to overcome the talent shortage, to save operational cost while aiming for business growth. Outsourcing global talents helps businesses to tap into a wide range of talent pools allowing them to focus on core business functions while remaining competitive in the industry. 

Although offshoring provides numerous benefits, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. For businesses to get the optimum results they have to be aware of the common mistakes that can happen in offshore accounting. In this blog, we will dive into the 5 common offshoring mistakes most accounting firms make and how you can avoid them with actionable strategies to ensure your accounting practice thrives in the global market. 

Key Takeaway

Poor Communication

Establish regular check-ins, use collaborative tools, and provide clear documentation to streamline communication between teams.

Isolating the Offshore Team

Treat your offshore team as an integral part of the business by celebrating milestones, setting shared goals, and fostering collaboration.

Overlooking Cultural Differences

Enhance teamwork by embracing diversity, hosting cultural orientation sessions, and respecting local holidays and customs.

Skipping Training and Development

Invest in continuous learning for your offshore team through certifications, workshops, and knowledge-sharing sessions for better productivity.

Choosing the Wrong Provider

Select a reliable offshoring partner with proven expertise, comprehensive support, and transparent processes to ensure offshoring success.

5 Key Offshoring Mistakes To Avoid 

1. Poor Communication 

A common challenge that most offshoring setup faces is ineffective communication. Having lack of communication leads to misaligned expectations, delayed outputs and an overall decrease in efficiency. This mistake can significantly impact the team productivity. 

Poor communication usually leads to misunderstanding project deliverables and deadlines, unclear instructions, frustration and conflicts among team members caused by the gaps in feedback etc. 

How to improve communication

  • Schedule regular check-ins: Have at least one meeting in a week or bi-weekly to review the progress and challenges in the workflow. 
  • Apply collaborative tools: Using collaborative and communication tools such as instant messaging, Slack, Zoom or Microsoft Teams enable real-time communication and file sharing. 
  • Provide detailed documentation: Ensure all the management practices and expectations are well-documented to reduce confusion.

By developing a clear and stable communication system, your business can improve the collaboration between the onshore and offshore teams. 

2. Isolating the Offshore Team

Offshore teams are often viewed as independent entities by many firms and, as a result, there are no clear synergies and workflow. Offshoring should be perceived as an extension of your existing team and not as an outsourced function. 

It is widely known that offshore employees who feel excluded are less likely to be motivated towards work which can cause workflow inefficiencies with misalignment between teams. Therefore, collaboration is key to deliver consistent client services. 

How can you foster inclusion

  • Celebrate milestones together: Try to recognize the achievements across both onshore and offshore teams and reward them to foster unity. 
  • Establish shared goals: Align your teams with common goals and objectives so that everyone is aware that they all are striving for the same end results.
  • Encourage cultural exchanges: Organizing team building moments and virtual presentation of cultural events can foster good relations within team members. 

By treating your offshore team as an integral part of your business, you can enhance productivity and create a cohesive working environment.

offshore accounting

3. Overlooking Cultural Differences 

While working with offshore teams, especially with diverse cultures, the cultural difference can actually enhance the teamwork or strain the teamwork if not well managed.

For example, some cultures value respect and hierarchy which may influence their communication style. Additionally, holidays and local customs are very different from one country to another so it requires adjustments in work schedules. 

How to embrace cultural diversity

  • Organize cultural orientation sessions: Support both onshore and offshore teams to learn more about each other’s cultural values. 
  • Be open to different working styles: Understand that you can benefit from cultural differences because these differences introduce new ideas about your processes.
  • Celebrate diversity: Celebrate those local cultural events and holidays with your offshore team to prove you care about their culture.

Cross cultural competencies enable people to respect each other’s cultures, work together effectively as a team and foster successful interpersonal business relations.

4. Skipping Training And Development 

Invest in your offshore team and support them for their development. Neglecting to invest in your team can make your team stagnant, unmotivated, and eventually leave. Just like the onshore team, your offshore employees seek opportunities to learn and grow in their career. 

When employees have been well trained, they are more confident and well productive. Development opportunities lead to higher levels of employee satisfaction and employee retention. Ensure your team stays updated with the industry trends through continuous learning.  

Recommended training initiatives

  • Technical skills: Provide certifications and learning access to the accounting software such as Xero and MYOB.
  • Professional development: Encourage employees to join seminars or workshops, conferences, or learning courses. 
  • Knowledge-sharing sessions: Always encourage your teams to share expertise with each other whether offshore or onshore. 

Training is one of the most effective ways to produce a better and more capable offshore team that will contribute to the long-term success of your accounting practice. 

5. Partnering With Wrong Provider 

However, choosing the right partner is very important to achieve offshore success because the wrong service provider can lead you to inefficiencies, poor support, and wasted resources. 

You should pay attention to the accounting industry expertise of your provider whether they have enough support in onboarding and ongoing management or any other hidden costs or unclear contractual terms between you and your potential service provider. 

What to look for in an offshoring partner

  • Proven expertise: Make sure that the provider has a solid background in accounting services.
  • Comprehensive support: Find a partner who will be able to help you with the recruiting process, training and team management. 
  • Transparent communication: A reliable provider should provide clear procedures and consistent updates.

Actionable Strategies For Offshoring Success 

To maximize the benefits of offshoring, consider implementing the following strategies:

Develop a detailed onboarding process

Develop a comprehensive orientation programme to ensure that offshore employees learn all they need to know about your systems, procedures, and policies..

Set clear expectations and KPIs

Be specific about your expectations, what you want your offshore team to accomplish and make accountable goals accurate and clear.

Utilize technology effectively

Use cloud-based accounting software, project management tools, collaboration platforms to streamline workflow and enhance efficiency. 

Establish performance metrics

Keep track of the performance of your offshoring setup through key indicators such as cost savings, turnaround times and team satisfaction. 

Foster long-term relationships

Build relationships of trust by being consistent in the communication and giving opportunities to learn and grow.

Conclusion

Offshoring has been considered a powerful solution for Australian accounting firms to overcome skill shortages, scale operations and reduce costs. However, its success relies on proper planning and execution. By avoiding common offshoring mistakes such as poor communication, team isolation and neglecting cultural differences, you can create a thriving offshore setup that delivers long-term success. 

Therefore, engaging with the right partner is equally vital. At FastLaneRecruit, we focus on delivering effective offshoring solutions for accounting firms. Our offshore team staffing services cover overall recruitment and training concepts of your targeted offshore team for better future performance.
Ready your accounting practice to the next level through offshoring? Contact FastLaneRecruit today and see how we can support you.