5 Questions that Accounting Firms and CPAs Ask Us Before Outsourcing

Being a leading accounting outsourcing firm in the USA and India, Finsmart Accounting answers hundreds of questions about outsourced bookkeeping, accounting, accounting technologies, and finance on a regular basis.

Though we are always pleased to answer queries, there are some questions that pop up in every other engagement with potential clients. That’s why we thought answering the most common accounting firm questions makes perfect sense.

In this post, Finsmart Accounting will answer 5 questions that we frequently come across as an offshore accounting firm. These are also worthy questions to ask your to-be accounting firm to confirm their expertise and professionalism.

Without further ado, let’s look at the most common accounting firm queries that we answer for our potential clients:

#1 Why Offshore accounting makes sense?

Although a lot of CPAs and accounting firms in the US hire in-house staff for supporting more bookkeeping, AP, and AR clients, it can be overly expensive and often culminates in too much management direction. Offshore accounting services by Finsmart provide the same quality at almost 40% less cost and feels almost like working with the in-house team.

Accounting outsourcing in India helps save time that would have been otherwise wasted on recruitment and training cycles. And that’s not it! Here are some more reasons:

It resolves the problem of the accounting talent crunch in the USA
It helps you scale your accounting practice with ease
It reduces your business costs by almost 50% for some functions
You get accounting professionals who are software agnostic.

The benefits of outsourcing accounting are indeed massive.

#2 What to Offshore in Accounting and Bookkeeping?

We get this question a lot during initial meetings with accounting firms, CPAs, and businesses. When it comes to offshore accounting and bookkeeping services, accounting and CPA firms can outsource tasks that are repetitive in nature and where complex decision-making is not expected from hired resources. Every accounting function where processes are (or can be) well-defined can be outsourced with ease.

Here are accounting processes that are widely outsourced:

Bookkeeping
Accounts receivable and payable
Reporting
Tax Preparation

Outsourcing the accounting functions to Finsmart will not only guarantee impeccable accuracy, scalability, and consistent results but also scale your business to a faster rate.

By combining AI with human expertise and time-tested processes, we bring efficiency and control thereby reducing costs and helping clients improve their business cash flow.

Learn more about the best accounts payable and receivable services in India

#3 What are the Key Elements of Accounting Offshoring?

When you partner with Finsmart Accounting, you benefit from lightning-fast deployment of accounting resources. As soon as we get a clear understanding of your accounting goals, timelines, and business requirements, we will be ready to dedicate accounting, bookkeeping, AR/AP, or consulting resources in terms of dedicated or hourly support from seasoned accountants and bookkeepers.

A lot of CPAs and accounting firms in the United States want to know what key tasks we carry out to effectively and efficiently manage the accounting process on behalf of our clients while guaranteeing confidentiality, integrity, professionalism, precision, and promptness.

Here are the key elements of accounting offshoring services rendered by Finsmart, trusted for outsourced bookkeeping services in India:

Document gathering: Our team of experienced accountants gathers and vets clients’ documents to understand financial transactions taking place within the company.
Transaction processing: After gathering critical insights, we begin processing day-to-day transactions such as purchases, expenses, sales, and receipts for creating meaningful routine reports including profits & loss a/c and balance sheet.
Month close: With the help of collected financial information, we review and reconcile our client’s records at end of every month. It not only helps in maintaining accurate records but also supports figuring out any discrepancies before the fiscal period.
Query resolution: Our accounting and bookkeeping experts handle, track, and resolve financial as well as invoice queries to make the accounting cycle smooth and error-free for clients.
Reporting: Finsmart examines a company’s financial strength and underlying value and provides detailed reports analyzing performance over the period.

#4 How Does Offshoring Model Work?

Indeed a great question to ask accounting firms to get a crystal clear idea of their work process. Leading accounting firms like Finsmart Accounting nowadays use a scientific offshoring framework named DPPT in order to make the process of outsourcing smooth and efficient.

Here are the framework stages that are critical to our process:

Definition: We dedicate time to understanding the requirements of our clients by creating a task list of what needs to be done. This allows us to offer a more personalized solution that satisfies all the accounting needs of clients.
Process: Once we get a clear picture of our client’s offshore accounting needs, we start to process how exactly we can meet them consistently in the short as well as long run. This is where onboarding and training happen. The process is collaborative and ensures that hired resources are working towards a common goal without hiccups.
Precision: By helping hired resources clearly understand the dos and don’ts for every client, Finsmart makes sure that the work starts on a smooth note and proceeds in the same way.
TAT: For those who don’t know, turnaround time (TAT) is the total time given or needed to finish a set of tasks. Finsmart engages with clients to understand the timelines for different deliverables. Be it reporting or invoicing, a timeline is finalized and clearly stated for everything.

#5 What are your Engagement Models?

Almost every CPA or accounting firm that wants to leverage our bookkeeping and AP/AR services to boost the profitability of their accounting practice rightly inquires about engagement models on offer.

Finsmart Accounting offers 3 types of engagement models to accommodate client requirements:

Dedicated accounting seat: This engagement model will allow you to outsource work to our dedicated team for a fixed monthly fee. Besides saving time and money spent on recruiting and retaining in-house staff, the dedicated accounting seat offers you immediate access to resources with highly coveted accounting skills.
Hourly seat: Our hourly engagement model is most popular among US-based CPAs and accounting firms. As the name itself suggests, our bookkeepers will manage your financial data and streamline accounting operations on an hourly basis. Finsmart’s hourly pack starts from 10 hours/month.
USA tax seat: By opting in for the USA Tax Seat, you will get qualified and trained resources dedicated to you and your client’s tax work. Our team of skilled tax preparers are helping CPAs and accounting firms with the cumbersome task of filing and preparation of tax returns and tax payments for more than a decade now.

Pro tip: We highly recommend figuring out your business needs first. Undertake thorough research on different engagement models. Pick the model that best fits your requirements.

Questions to Ask Accounting Firms; Endnote

Above are some questions that frequently come our way when assisting new accounting firms and CPAs interested in offshoring. In case we missed the question you had in mind, please drop the same at info@finsmartaccounting.com and our team will answer it.

Finsmart Accounting can help efficiently manage accounting, bookkeeping, and compliance, giving your business an advantage over competitors. We also support offshore clients with India entry services to help them with business expansion.