Offshore Staffing or Outsourcing: Which Should Your Firm Choose?

The three models, in plain terms

The labels vary by provider, so focus on who directs the work and how you pay.

• Offshore staffing (a dedicated accountant): one or more people assigned only to your firm. You assign tasks, set priorities and review their work. Usually billed per month for a full-time person, or by the hour.
• Team as a service: a dedicated person or team, but the provider handles hiring, equipment, payroll and replacement if someone leaves. You direct the work day to day.
• Outsourcing, or white-label work: the provider takes a defined job, for example monthly bookkeeping for 20 of your clients, and delivers it finished under your firm's name. You review the output, not the process.

How to choose

Three questions settle most decisions.

• Is the work steady? A dedicated person pays off when there is a full week of work every week. Seasonal or lumpy work fits hourly or per-job outsourcing better.
• Do you have someone to manage them? Staffing needs a person in your firm who assigns work and answers questions. Outsourcing needs a reviewer, not a manager.
• How much control do you need over the method? If you want work done your way in your templates, staffing gives you that. If you care about the finished result, outsourcing is simpler.

How to hire a full-time offshore bookkeeper

If staffing is the right model, hire the way you would hire locally, with a few extra checks.

• Write down the work: which clients, which software, which tasks, and what done looks like.
• Interview the actual person who will do the work, not only the provider's sales team.
• Give a short paid test on real but low-risk work, such as one month of one client's books.
• Set up access: each person gets their own login to QuickBooks Online, Xero or your tax software, never a shared password.
• For tax work, collect Section 7216 consent before sending any return information offshore, and confirm the preparer has a PTIN.
• Review everything for the first two or three months, then move to sampling.

Your responsibility does not move

Whichever model you choose, the AICPA's guidance is that the firm remains ultimately responsible for work delivered to its clients, and must direct, supervise and review outsourced work as if a firm member did it. You also need either the client's consent to share confidential information with the provider, or a contract that keeps the information confidential.

What SF Business Solutions offers under each model

SF Business Solutions works with CPA firms both ways: white-label bookkeeping and tax-season help billed at $12–$15 an hour, and a dedicated or full-time accountant from $1,500 a month. The team includes one licensed CPA and works in QuickBooks Online and Xero.