An Accountant’s Guide to Onshore Accounting Support in the UK

It is no secret that many accountancy firms in the UK rely on outsourcing to save costs and maximise profits. As the industry gets increasingly competitive, outsourcing mundane, time-intensive tasks is the only way forward for accountants. Consequently, the Finance and Accounting Outsourcing market has emerged as one of the fastest-growing business areas in the UK.

But when thinking of outsourcing, many accountants only consider the practice of offshoring. In fact, the two words have often been used interchangeably in the accounting world. But the changing industry landscape has given birth to a new engagement model – onshore support.

Although not as common as offshore outsourcing, onshore support is slowly gaining prominence in the accounting world. As more and more practices discover the benefits of onshore support, the model has a bright future for growing accountancy firms.

This blog will explain the onshore support solution in detail and explore its relevance and benefits to accountancy firms.

What is Onshore Support?

Onshore support refers to the practice of delegating your firm’s accounting services to a third-party firm but having the resources work from your location. For example, suppose a UK accountancy practice partners with QXAS. In that case, it can hire highly experienced and trained resources from an offshore destination like India and get them to work onshore in the UK.

In simple words, onshore support implies typical accounting outsourcing, except that the outsourced resource or team works from the accountancy firm’s onshore workplace.

Post the end of the lockdown restrictions, numerous accountancy practices adopted the hybrid model of working. As the accounting industry became more competitive, the need to provide personalised support and in-person meetings with clients became important. Since then, the demand for onshore accounting has been soaring and the trend has a bright future in 2023.

Why is Onshore Support Critical in 2023?

The UK is currently under the warp of a recession. Several analysts and researchers have predicted the slump to worsen in the coming months, which will significantly impact the country’s economy.

The effect of the recession is already visible in terms of corporations laying off employees and switching to pre-pandemic working arrangements. Consequently, ‘return to office’ has emerged as the latest trend in the market, with companies wanting their employees to work from the office to ensure maximum productivity and efficiency.

2023 will thus be the year of the Great Return. As accountancy practices strive to grow amid the rising competition, the ‘work from office’ arrangement is taking prominence. Many accountants had, in fact, adopted this change even before the recession came into effect and want their teams to follow suit. Moreover, with clients returning to work, it has become the need of the hour for practices to hire onshore accountants.

But the staffing crunch in the UK is no secret. The accounting industry has already battled capacity challenges for years. With the Great Resignation in effect over the last two years, accountancy practices are severely understaffed. Therefore, onshore staffing for accounting plays a key role for growing practices in 2023.

Key Benefits of Onshore Support

There are a range of onshore accounting benefits for businesses in the accounting world. Onshore support is an emerging trend in 2023 and will be crucial for firms looking to scale their services and attract new clients. Let’s look at some of the key benefits of the solution in detail.

Access to skilled onshore professionals

One of the greatest concerns for growing accountancy practices is the ongoing skills gap. From recruiting and training new employees and making them job-ready – accountancy practices endure substantial time and effort behind each in-house resource. This puts immense pressure on practices and leads to a capacity crunch within firms.

Onshore support, on the other hand, gives accountants access to a vast talent pool in offshore countries. These professionals are highly experienced and rigorously trained in UK accounting standards. Practices can hire these resources and bring them onshore to work from their official workplace.

Since the resources are hired through an outsourcing firm, the responsibility of managing them lies with the latter, so you can rest assured that you get the best talent.

Better coordination and control

Many accountants fear losing control over their processes upon outsourcing to offshore destinations. Additionally, communication may also become a constraint due to varying time zones. Onshore accounting services can be the ideal solution for such accountants.

Having your extended team working from your office facilitates better communication, coordination, and control over day-to-day activities. Accountants and practice owners can interact with their extended team in person, manage tasks, and get any issues resolved instantly. This prevents the risk of misinterpretation of data and helps accountants strike a balance between their in-house and outsourced teams.

Risk-free data management

When outsourced offshore, accounting firms are at a greater risk of data leaks and misuse since information is transferred overseas. In a world where phishing is rampant and cyber offences against financial and accounting companies are on the rise, this is a point of huge concern.

But this risk is eliminated when you hire onshore accountants for your firm. With an onshore team, there is no need to transfer data to third-party systems or servers. Moreover, the outsourcing company has all its employees sign an NDA, which means your data is absolutely safe and secure with your outsourced staff.

Dedicated Onshore Support with QXAS

Are you looking for dedicated accountants to join your team onshore? If you answered yes, QXAS is the right destination for you!

QXAS is a pioneer accounting outsourcing company specialising in a range of services, such as accounting and bookkeeping, tax, payroll, and professional audit support. In over 12 years of functioning in the industry, we have helped several accountancy practices scale their services with our innovative outsourcing solutions.

We understand that onshore staffing for accounting is the need of the hour for growing practices. Accordingly, we have devised the Onshore Support solution that lets you hire highly skilled accountants from India and get them to work from the UK. This ensures you get dedicated onshore resources for your team, which ultimately translates to higher profits.

Curious to learn more? Connect with us at +44 208-146-0808 or drop an email at [email protected] and our experts will be happy to help. Let’s craft a brighter future for your practice together this year!