For smaller accounting firms, competing with bigger competitors in the industry can feel like an uphill struggle. To do so they must find ways to boost productivity, find new clients, and shift the focus to higher-value services, all of which can seem like an insurmountable challenge.
But for many smaller accounting firms, being able to outsource tax preparation services has thrown them a lifeline; giving them the chance to remain competitive, without having to make a crippling investment.
Here’s how outsourced tax preparation and bookkeeping can help your small accounting firm keep up with the competition:
1. Fast and flexible scaling
When you engage with outsourced service providers, you gain access to a team of skilled professionals, who in essence, become like extended members of your own team. The added advantage being that you can increase your services and level of workload, without the financial burden of traditional hires, not to mention all the time spent training and inducting etc. Just as you can also downsize, as and when you need to.
Basically, outsourcing enables swift and flexible scaling for the ultimate in profitability and client satisfaction.
2. Affordability and competitive pricing
Outsourcing means you pay out significantly less on such things as salaries, operational costs, infrastructure investments and much more, helping you maintain margins that are profitable, while also enabling you to offer clients services that are priced competitively.
When searching for bigger clients requiring regular, large-scale work, outsourcing can be extremely beneficial, since it allows you to efficiently handle increased workloads.
3. A strategic initiative
While outsourcing can indeed help accounting firms reduce their costs, viewing it more as a strategic initiative that can help them grow and become industry leaders, might be a more advantageous approach.
Using outsourcing strategically, gives small firms the chance to boost their operational capacity and position themselves for growth that’s truly sustainable.
Why outsourcing is such an effective strategy for sustainable growth
As touched upon in the point above, seeing outsourcing as more than a way to make immediate cuts to costs, can help accounting firms strengthen their capacity and push for growth that’s sustainable.
With its real value lying in its ability to position firms for long-term success through enhanced scalability and optimization of resources, outsourcing on a permanent basis can bring far greater benefits.
With a team of dedicated outsourced professionals taking care of such tasks as bookkeeping and compliance, smaller accounting firms can start to strengthen relationships with their clients through the offering of higher value advisory services. Although it won’t happen immediately, over time, clients will begin to see your firm as trusted advisors whom they can turn to for guidance with all manner of financial and business issues.
Outsourcing of course helps accounting firms address staff shortages and operational overhead constraints, too; in short, it’s a simple solution for myriad problems commonly experienced by struggling, smaller firms in the accounting industry.
Many firms are also turning to offshore bookkeeping as a means of remaining competitive; integrating it into their long-term strategy for the business, so that they can work more efficiently, and reap more rewards.
If your small accounting firm wants to think big, but is facing too many constraints, outsourcing and offshoring could provide you with a smart solution for expansion, without a major, crippling investment.
