Outsourcing of accounting has several issues and if not addressed properly, it can turn sour as it has been the case for several companies. Most accounting outsourcing vendors do not discuss about them as it will hamper their chance of getting new clients and winning businesses.
We in Integra are different. We want to be transparent about the issues, bring all potential pitfalls to the attention of our clients and work a way to address them.
From our experience, the major issues of accounting outsourcing
- Scanning of accounting documents
- Communication issues
- Understanding of UK accounting standards and regulations
- Privacy of information and data protection measures
Scanning is difficult – Many small businesses do not have a proper way to store the bills, receipts, invoices and they don’t generally keep them in order. Scanning of them is a tedious/time consuming task. The scanners are not adequately suited to address these issues. It is rather easy for me to do the work here than to send it to you.
Communication - Outsourcing is difficult because of communication. Most vendors are difficult to communicate with, don’t have a direct phone number, not respond to the emails properly and it is frustrating to find status of any work. Even when the emails are replied, they don’t answer my questions properly and it is annoying to work with some team 5000 miles away.
Lack of knowledge – There seems to be a distinct lack of understanding of how accounting works in this country and there is a massive gulf and is difficult to bridge.
Data protection & privacy- I am very concerned about the protection of my data and we don’t want to expose ourselves and our clients against this vulnerability. It is too much of a risk. Being an accounting firm, we have built this business for several years and don’t want to expose our clients and their details to you.
These are the major issues while planning accounting outsourcing and all these concerns are very valid and extremely important. We in Integra, believe by careful planning from both parties, most issues can be overcome.
How do we address these issues ? Let us discuss about them tomorrow..>>
For more information visit www.IntegraOutsourcing.co.uk
Change it to the following three points
Hire trained virtual staff at affordable price, part or full-time
Experts in product listing, customer care, admin, accounting & marketing
Experience in internet retails tools Turbo lister, Terapeak, auctiva & more
“Quickly expand your online business with absolutely no risk” – This is not a bullet, but use it below the bullets and show some difference to it.
August 10, 2009
Outsourcing of jobs is happening in this world for millions of years in one form or another. But it is known as a business term for the past 40 years or so.Outsourcing can be broadly classified into
- Manufacturing outsourcing
- Services outsourcing
The first major form of outsourcing was in the manufacturing sector and it happened in the 60’s and 70’s when the production of textiles, furnitures, toys, machines and machine part which involved heavy industries and labour was outsourced from industrialised countries to low cost countries like china, India, Indonesia etc., The outsourced countries perfected the art and it drove the prices down everywhere. Outsourcing was initially started by large corporates and gradually adapted by small and medium companies. Now start-ups or even individuals can outsource their manufacturing requirements with suppliers in China & India.
The second form of outsourcing is in the service sector and it started in the early 90’s instigated by the developments in Information technology and computer industry. The outsourced services include software & web development, Helpdesk support, call centres, accounting, financial services and data processing. This again was started by large corporates and they are enjoying the benefits of outsourcing for the past decade or so.
Now is the time for SME’s to catchup and avail the same benefits. Service outsourcing is much easier for SME’s as they can take it slow and will have have much more closer control.
We are a specialist accounting outsourcing service provider for SME’s. We work with several SME’s in UK, USA and Europe and help them overcome the problems of high costs in accounting. Our services are totally customised based on the situation and business of the customer. But one thing which is common is cost savings of at least 60% .
For more details please visit www.IntegraOutsourcing.co.uk
August 7, 2009
I am a fan of Manchester United football club and have followed them for the past 10 years or so. What made me support United is NOT their star players like Beckham, Giggs, Ronaldo or Rooney.
It is Mr. Alex Fergusson, the proud scot, the manager and his addiction to winning. What is so fascinating is, he is deeply rooted in tradition while always thinking ahead of times. Players come and go, but he keeps winning with the players at his disposal and invariably make them stars. How does he manage that ? What makes him so special? What can we learn from him?
Bryan Robson, Beckham, VanNistel Rooy, Keane were special players for many years at United. But when he thought their time is up or their heart is no longer there, he replaced all of them. Though it was ridiculed at that time, all those decisions proved right because, club did improve after they had left – Every one in this world is replacable even if they are very special.
Sold established stars and replaced them with youth team players and went on to win many trophies for years, bought a talented high-maintenance failure called Eric Cantona and turned him into an all time United great. All this decisions were made fun of at that time – Sometimes, trust your gut instinct and it can prove to be an inspired move.
He badly wanted to buy Alan Shearer an english star and when it dot materialise, he moved on and bought a little known norwegian player ole gunnar solskjaer who scored the winning goal in european final to win the trophy after 30 years- Move on when you don’t get what you want
It took him almost 5 years before he started seeing sucess. In those years, he had to identify the problem areas, rectify them and then improve it. But everyone could see him build in those lean years. After achieving the first success, he doubly made it up for all those lost years. - Everyone need TIME to achieve success even if they are very talented
When he sold Jaap Staam the solid defender it took him many years to find the right replacement. He then thought that Jaap had lost his pace and would not be good anymore, but later it was proved wrong. Fergusson admitted it as his biggest mistake to date - Admit your mistakes even if it was made in good faith
Identifed the talent of golden generation footballers Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Butt, Neville when they were in their teens. He let them play early and they went on to win several trophies- Spot the talent early in your organisation and let them play important role
Made ordinary players like John O shea and Fletcher feel important, though they did not have talent like Beckham, Ronaldo or Rooney. They all played major roles in several title winning campaigns and helped United come through tough times when bigger players were injured. You need both special talents and ordinary hard-working people to make a winning combination.
Sir Alex became even better manager in later years after getting to confront new age manager Jose Mourinho, the self styled “special one”. Facing this the new raw talent in the form of Mourinho, made him realise that he needed to improve further. You need tough competetion to measure against and make yourself better.
These are some of the things that can be easily adopted by senior management in Integra.
August 7, 2009