Hiring Offshore CPAs: Benefits, Costs, and How to Start

If you’ve not hired a CPA within the last five years, you might be in for an unpleasant awakening when you try to do so in 2025.

The results of the growing loss of interest in the accounting profession are beginning to show. Finding suitable local accounting talent is becoming increasingly difficult.

 

With this crunch in local accounting talent, firm owners must make every hiring decision count, and offshore hiring has provided that opportunity.

 

In this article, we discuss the benefits, costs, and best practices for adding offshore CPAs that will complement your in-house team and set your firm up for long-term success.

Why More CPA Firms Are Hiring Offshore CPAs

The Rise of CPA Outsourcing

• The Accounting Talent Shortage Is Getting Worse

With Fewer CPAs joining the field (according to this AICPA report), the industry is struggling with an aging workforce, which makes getting sufficient CPAs to handle growing client demands difficult.

 

Meanwhile, there is a large pool of CPAs proficient in relevant accounting and reporting standards for hire abroad.

 

• Hiring & Retention Costs Are Soaring

Apart from salaries and employee benefits, other indirect expenses (job posting, sourcing, screening, interviews, offer negotiation, background checks, notice period, and onboarding) increase the cost of hiring CPAs.

 

Offshore CPA’s salaries are lower than those of full-time CPAs in the U.S., and you wouldn’t have to provide employee benefits and compensation. Moreover, offshore CPAs are trained and ready to deploy, which shortens the hiring cycle.

 

• Offshore Talent Has Become More Sophisticated

Finance and accounting outsourcing companies have come to represent the advancement of offshoring. They screen, pre-qualify, and hire top accounting professionals to provide necessary support to CPA firms in the U.S., UK, Australia, etc.

 

These professionals are trained in accounting concepts and international reporting frameworks. They are also trained in advanced accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, Drake, etc., helping firms in Western markets maintain their service quality.

 

• Firms Want to Focus on Higher-Value Work

Compliance-heavy work (such as bookkeeping and payroll) can keep you from strategic work like CFO, tax planning, and client advisory.

 

More firms are shifting to offshore hiring as they realize the effectiveness of delegating compliance-heavy work to third-party firms in freeing up their in-house team to focus on what is most important to the firm.

Key Benefits

• Significant Cost Savings Without Compromising Quality

From lower salaries to non-existent overhead costs and employee benefits, offshoring your CPA tasks provides several opportunities to reduce operational costs.

• Access to Specialized Expertise

Indian CPAs, for example, go through a rigorous academic accounting program. Plus, the Indian workforce is wildly competitive, so most of its accounting talents strive to attain global certifications (like CPA, ACCA, etc.), resulting in up to 31,946 chartered accountants (the Indian equivalent of a CPA) joining the CPA workforce yearly.

 

In the same vein, Indian and other offshore CPAs are trained in accounting technology. You wouldn’t have to train them on QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, or other accounting software solutions.

Mariko, who has used Financial Cents for quite some time, can confirm this:

“The Finsmart team can work with any software you have. QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, Xero, Bill.com, you name it!”

Mariko Hayashi-Hall, Founder and CEO of Chicago-based Brilliant Solutions Group

 

• Access to Global Talent

Hiring offshore CPAs frees you from the limitations of local hiring and positions you to get accounting talent from anywhere in the world to do your work.

 

Thanks to offshore companies, you wouldn’t have to worry about compliance with local labor laws. These companies take care of that, including the employment and payroll taxes.

 

• Overnight Client Service

Business hours in places like India are around nine (9) hours ahead of U.S. business hours. This offers you the opportunity to complete client projects overnight.

 

You can assign tasks to your offshore team and wake up to completed work.

The Step-by-Step Guide to Hiring Offshore CPAs

• Define your CPA needs and scope of work

Offshoring thrives when you are clear on your capacity needs, not just because other firms are benefiting from it.

 

First, you’d want to identify where your firm is struggling. Prioritize the roles that are hardest and most expensive to fill locally.

 

Then, define the skill level and ideal personality of the ideal offshore CPA, including the specific certifications needed to be efficient.

 

You should also determine the level of work they’ll do (and the complexity of the tasks they’ll handle) to meet your needs.

 

Lastly, define your communication and collaboration needs, channels, and frequency. This will also inform the choice of the offshoring country due to differences in language and time zone.

 

The time zone will determine how easily or often you can communicate and collaborate with your offshore team in real time. While significant overlap allows for more real-time communication and collaboration, a time difference of 9-12 hours enables your firm to deliver client service overnight.

• Find and evaluate offshore CPA firms

Offshore candidates already come pre-qualified by the offshoring company. The chunk of your work will revolve around data security certifications and cultural alignment with your team.

Beyond asking about data security certifications, evaluate their incident response protocol to understand how quickly they detect, report, and contain breaches.

Assign a test project

Despite their qualification, be sure to conduct your own technical assessments, and one good way to do that is to assign a pilot task. Their application instructions and handling of a real-world accounting task will give you more insights into their hard and soft skill than oral questions.

For more insights into offshore hiring procedures, here’s our guide on how to Hire Offshore Employees for Accounting Firms.

• Best Practices for Onboarding and Training

• Embed Your Offshore Team into Your Firm

Offshoring in finance and accounting works best when the offshore team is embedded into your firm and works in your workflow systems as your in-house staff, says Maanoj Shah, Co-founder of Finsmart Accounting.

 

When you treat your offshore partner like a black box, you may not be able to enforce your operating procedures as much or as effectively as you’d like to.

• Assign an In-House Point of Contact or Team Lead

Unless you have the time to personally onboard your offshore CPAs (which is unlikely if you want to focus on strategic work), you need to give an in-house team member the responsibility of setting up your offshore team in your workflow systems.

 

This will prevent any lag in communication and understanding of your firm, which is necessary for an effective onboarding process.

 

• Train Your Offshore Team Using Workflow Templates

Your offshore CPA already knows what to do (and how) with financial information as far as accounting standards are concerned. However, they need to learn how to do the work to your specific standard, to keep their work consistent with yours.

That is where your workflow checklists and standard operating procedures come in handy.

When your standard operating procedures are laid out in a document or video, your offshore CPA will have a frame of reference for their tasks.

• Set Expectations for the Offshoring Relationship

The best offshoring in the world may not benefit you so much if they don’t have an accountability system. You have to set the ground rules for the relationship.

 

What tools should your offshore CPAs use for work? How quickly do you expect turnaround on tasks, and what is the reporting structure?

 

Elizabeth Bergen, for example, meets with her offshore team regularly to discuss projects and align expectations, and that has worked well for her firm.

Understanding the Cost of Offshore CPA Services

Cost Savings Vs. In-House Hiring

• In-house CPA: The average salary of a CPA in the U.S. is around $92,000 a year.
• Offshore CPA: offshore CPAs cost around $31,200 a year.

Common Pricing Models

You can pay your offshore CPAs in one of many ways, including:

• Hourly Rate: You pay for services according to the number of hours worked. Best for small and seasonal services that you receive once in a while.
• Fixed Rate: You pay a fixed monthly fee for a dedicated full-time staff member. This is best for firms needing month-long support.
• Project-Based or Retainer: You pay a fixed monthly fee on an ongoing basis. Best for recurring services requiring long-term integration (such as monthly bookkeeping).

Budgeting for an Offshore CPA team

Your budget for an offshore team should cover:

• Subscription Cost: The amount you pay hourly or monthly, depending on the chosen pricing model.
• Technology Cost: When you’re hiring your CPA directly, you will have to set them up with the necessary software solutions (antivirus, workflow software, VPNs). Offshoring companies usually have these systems in place. In that case, you may not need to incur additional expenses.
• Recruitment Cost: This applies when hiring your CPAs directly. It includes the cost of posting job ads, using external recruiters, and conducting interviews.

Benefits of Offshore CPA Services for Growing Firms

Access to highly skilled professionals

The average offshore CPA is formally trained in global financial reporting standards. This includes the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and tax regulations (like the IRS).

 

Combined with their knowledge of the industry-specific requirements in Western markets, these professionals can walk into your client’s businesses and keep their finances accurate and compliant with applicable laws.

 

The offshore companies also provide continuous training in advanced finance and accounting software, making their workforce a source of plug-and-play CPAs.

• Scalability without increasing overhead

By reducing salaries and eliminating employee compensation, payroll taxes, and overhead costs, offshoring enables you to hire more CPAs without worrying about a corresponding increase in hiring and retention costs.

 

Moreover, payment is based on subscription. This flexibility allows you to manage seasonal demands more conveniently.

• Compliance & risk management advantages

Reputable offshoring companies protect you from the prying eyes of fraudsters using data protection systems like:

• Data security frameworks (ISO 27001, SOC 2, and other certifications) are used to establish the firm’s adherence to data privacy regulations.
• Non-disclosure agreements that protect your client’s information from being shared with third parties.

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Data security & compliance concerns

Sending your client’s information across the border can make you feel powerless over that information.

Like most firm owners in the U.S., Patricia Hendrix, Woodard’s head of coaching and communities, never wanted to consider offshoring because of data security concerns.

However, a few years into her offshoring relationship with Finsmart Accounting, her opinion on the security of her client’s data in offshore accounting has changed.

“Five years ago, I was one of those people who said,

‘I would never offshore.’ I was like, ‘Why would I hand over my clients’ financial information to you on the other side of the world? Why not hire somebody locally that I can groom and teach?

I didn’t understand the outsourcing process.

Then I got to know the Finsmart Accounting team over the last three years. Seeing how the Finsmart team is run has eased many of my fears. Now I feel very secure getting them my client data to work on.”

Patricia Hendrix, Head of Coaching and Communities at Woodard

 

Bear in mind that Patricia’s confidence in offshore accounting has only grown because of the commitment and professionalism of the outsourcing company she partners with.

 

Before partnering with a company, ask about their data security measures. Top outsourcing companies will have:

• Data Security and compliance (such as GDPR, ISO 27001, SOC 2, SOX, etc.).
• Encryption technology, VPNs, and controlled switches.
• Access Control by using software that has user permission features.
• NDAs to provide legal protection for client information.

Communication & Time Zone Management

Working across continents can create a communication challenge. Language differences can prevent comprehension, while differences in time zones can affect the timeliness of collaboration.

 

You can address these by:

• Setting communication expectations, including the frequency and channels of communication.

 

At Finsmart Accounting, we send our clients daily email updates about “work done today.” We also hold weekly review calls and monthly review management calls to keep our clients up-to-date with the status of their work.

 

• Partnering with offshore CPA partners who can work during your official hours. Or, you can leverage the time difference to offer overnight turnaround for clients.

 

Finsmart Accounting provides both options; we can structure our team’s working hours to align with American and European business hours, or we can work during our traditional working hours, which enables 24-hour service turnaround.

 

• Quality control & maintaining standards

Offshore CPAs are experts in global finance and accounting functions, so you won’t have to worry about their technical skills. The only thing you need to do is teach them to work to your firm’s standards to keep their work on-brand.

 

Document and share your standard operating procedures (SOPs) with them. It helps them know what to do at each stage of their work.

 

Where possible, assign an in-house reviewer to oversee your offshore CPA’s work in the first few months of the engagement. It’ll help them get to grips with your processes much sooner.

Essential Offshore CPA Services for Accounting Firms

• Tax Preparation Outsourcing: Offshore CPAs can support your team with individual and business tax preparation, e-filing support, tax projections, etc.

 

This helps you to complete more tax work more quickly and frees up senior staff for review, advisory, and any other strategic tax work during tax season.

 

• Accounts Payable Outsourcing: offshore CPAs can use NetSuite, Bill, or other relevant software to ensure timely vendor payments from vendor invoice processing, to purchase order matching, approvals, payment scheduling, reconciliation, and reporting.

 

• Accounts Receivable (A/R) Outsourcing: Offshore CPAs can also help your clients improve cash flow through payment tracking, collections management, and generation of A/R aging reports.

 

• Outsourced Bookkeeping Services: This ensures your client’s books are complete and up-to-date. The average offshore CPA in India is QuickBooks and Xero-certified, enabling them to handle bank and credit card reconciliations, journal entries, and maintenance of the general ledger.

 

• Financial Reporting & Compliance: Using their knowledge of global financial reporting standards (GAAP and IFRS), offshore CPAs prepare financial statements, generate management reports, and support audit engagements, helping to keep your clients compliant with evolving regulations.

Finding the Right Offshore CPA Partner

What to Look for In an Offshore CPA Firm

• Relevant Accounting Expertise: offshore CPAs are plug-and-play resources. The knowledge of your client’s financial reporting requirements is mandatory for any provider to be taken seriously.

 

In the United States, this means understanding GAAP, IRS codes, SOX compliance, etc. They must also be proficient in the software solutions you use.

• Commitment to Data Security: Nothing else matters if your offshoring partnership exposes your clients to a data breach.

 

A commitment to data security will be reflected in the offshore provider’s compliance with ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, and other security and data handling measures (such as using access control, NDAs, and VPNs) in operations.

 

• Client References and Reviews: Reputable offshoring firms happily provide a list of the CPA firms they’ve worked with in the past. They’ll also promote their stories to show you (instead of just telling) how they can help you meet your capacity goals.

 

Your potential partner should be able to refer you to past customers you can hear directly from before making your final decision.

Red Flags to Avoid

• Lack of Domain or Industry-Specific Experience

If an offshoring provider does not have experience working with businesses in your client’s country or industry, they may not understand the financial requirements. This may result in many inaccuracies and rework.

 

At Finsmart, we have specialists in different domains (U.S., UK, Australia) and industries (real estate, B2B SAAS, manufacturing, hospitality, etc.).

 

• No Security Certifications or Weak Data Policies

When an offshoring firm has security certifications and a good data handling system, it’ll look for every opportunity to showcase it. Be careful of firms that can’t explain how they protect clients’ data.

 

Knowing the sensitivity of your client’s information, we prioritize the security and confidentiality of your client’s data through:

Limited Access to the Internet

• Restricted Access to Data
• Disabled USB port
• Secured Network
• Continuous Monitoring
• Strong Password-Protected Systems

 

Moreover, we don’t move data from our clients’ servers. We only access them, allowing you to have complete custody of your client’s data.

 

• Unclear Pricing or Vague Contracts

Lack of transparency in pricing can indicate the possibility of hidden fees, which inflate costs and defeat one of the primary purposes of offshoring – cost efficiency.

 

When you can’t tell what service is included in a provider’s fee, you may pay just as much as you are saving down the road.

 

That is why we, at Finsmart Accounting, make our prices clear on our website. We believe it’ll save you time and help you make informed decisions.

 

• High Turnover or Inconsistent Staff

If a provider changes its employees frequently, you’ll have to constantly onboard and retrain new CPAs on your best practices, which will impact your productivity negatively.

 

“We used an offshore bookkeeping provider in the past. They had massive turnovers on a regular basis. I was having to explain my SOPs on a regular basis. It hasn’t been the same experience with Finsmart. Since working with Finsmart, we have had one main person who has been with us the whole time, and she has continued to learn and develop with us.

Elizabeth Bergen, Owner of Foray Business

If you’re ready to see how we’ll help with your specific CPA needs, Book a Free Consultation with our Offshore CPA Expert Now.