Should British Accountants Outsource Their Tax and Accounting Work to India?

Is the shortage of staff impacting your firm’s growth aspirations?

Are some of your staff members leaving due to an increase in ‘Repetitive Task Injury’ driven by involvement in unnecessary manual activities?

Or are you increasingly finding it difficult to find suitable accounting and finance staff as reported by APSCo?

In this article, we explore how the shortage of skilled accounting staff is driving the need for tax return outsourcing and why your firm should perhaps consider outsourcing some of its work.

Outsourcing is Hardly New!

Outsourcing work overseas is hardly new. For years, manufacturers and businesses in production-type industries have exploited outsourcing to curb expenditure. Now, accountancy practices and other professional services companies are picking up on the trend.

According to a recent study, 48% of UK companies outsource work in 2023, with an increase of 41% since the pandemic. Among the most widely outsourced services, accounting, payroll, and tax outsourcing form a large share.

Why Outsource Tax Return Preparation to India?

Cost savings is the biggest advantage of tax return outsourcing, however it is not the sole reason accountancy practitioners in the UK are opting to outsource. Businesses today are part of a global economy and should be getting their work done in a country where it is most suitable to do so – whether that be a low-cost UK destination or overseas.

Many of QXAS’s clients were forced to outsource because they couldn’t find suitable staff members in the UK, while some came to us because they were looking for support to strengthen their practice and meet their growth goals.

We think outsourcing is a lot like leasing employees but on a smaller level. By outsourcing tax return preparation, our clients have not only contained the cost of hiring and training new staff members but also found time to develop and grow their practices.

Hear it firsthand from one of our clients as they delve into their firm’s challenges and how outsourcing helped overcome them.

Tax Return Outsourcing: Myths Versus Facts

Although the benefits of tax outsourcing are known to the world, some accountants are still skeptical about the decision. The main reason for this can be attributed to a number of myths surrounding outsourcing. Here are some of the specific problems that have been raised:

1. The Impact of Outsourcing on Local Economy

Myth:

This is number one on the critics list. We think it is as misunderstood as it is interesting. Many accountants believe that outsourcing tax and accounting work to India will take away local accountants’ jobs, hurting the local economy.

Fact:

A few years ago, the McKinsey Global Institute undertook a study entitled ‘Who wins in Offshoring’ and concluded that for every dollar spent on a process outsourced to India, a dollar and a half is saved. It went as far as to say that outsourcing even returns to the economy as earnings. Far from being a losing game, outsourcing creates a mutual economic benefit.

Take this for example – many offshoring firms which specialise in UK tax outsourcing are owned in whole or in part by British businesspeople, just like QX Limited is, and repatriate a part of the profit back to the UK economy.

2. Quality of Outsourced Accountants

Myth:

The quality of work is a legitimate concern when outsourcing tax returns, but it applies whether you are hiring someone in the UK or India. Accountants may at time refrain from offshoring due to a variety of reasons, the #1 being quality and trust issues.

Fact:

When outsourcing tax return services, supervision is key. It is important to work with a partner who invests in training and supervision to get long-term benefits. QX is an ISO 9001:2008 (indicating commitment to quality), ACCA approved employer and also runs an Accountant Training Academy to ensure a regular supply of talented accountants.

With regards to work quality, most outsourcing companies offer to do a certain number of jobs entirely free of charge to demonstrate the quality of their services. They all operate using the latest UK commercial and professional software; for example, QX runs IRIS, Sage Accounts Production, CCH, VT, Digita, Viztopia and MYOB and will bring others in-house if required by clients. The bottom line is that you need to try it. Anything that allows your staff to work strategically is worth considering.

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3. Outsourcing and Client Retention

Myth:

It is often believed that tax return outsourcing will lead to in-house employees quitting jobs as all the critical work will be taken over by the outsourced team.

Fact:

Outsourcing tax returns doesn’t mean firing extra members of staff. The idea is to transfer low-value work to offshore tax preparers and free up resources for more value-added work at home. If your skilled staff continues to perform low-margin commodity jobs, you should consider the opportunity cost when they could be doing profitable advisory work.

4. Language Barrier and Cultural Differences

Myth:

It’s often believed that outsourcing tax return preparation to India wouldn’t work out because of language barriers and cultural differences. Accountants may sometimes worry that Indian accountants may not be able to handle their work as good as a local accountant.

Fact:

India’s knowledge pool is deep, and it boasts of an English-speaking workforce which is second to none. QX was first set up in India way back in 2004 because due to a culture of inquiry in India – perfectly suited for accounting tasks.  Our then chairman, Chris Robinson, met many smart, incredibly affordable people in India when he first came here on a recce and decided to set up an outsourcing company. Of course, they won’t all speak Oxford English but that shouldn’t stop you from understanding what they are saying, and QX particularly employs good English speakers.

5. Loss of Control

Myth:

This is a major point of resistance to the adoption of outsourcing. It is often believed that personal tax returns outsourcing will lead a practice to lose control over its jobs.

Fact:

The above is a common misconception as services should never be entirely handed over. The entire process should be carefully managed to ensure that expectations are met. Disappointments do occur but only when the management of the outsourced process is inefficient or incorrect. When you decide to outsource you must bear in mind that you can’t simply forget about the outsourced process, hand the work over, and expect everything to happen smoothly.

The best way to deal with this is to build a partnership and work together as a synergistic team. Pre-defined KPIs, SLAs, daily interactions, regular meetings and stakeholder management as well as control over expectations from both ends are crucial for the success of any outsourcing initiatives. Only then will the outsourcing team help to gain experience, skills and expertise rather than causing you to lose control.

6. Security Issues

Myth:

Outsourcing personal tax returns to an offshore destination creates security risks.

Fact:

Security should be a top concern with both you and the outsourcing provider. Find a company that doesn’t ship any documents overseas. Work should be done on a paperless, secured environment. Basically, all the input should be done by a qualified Indian accountant on either a secure server or by remotely accessing your system. It’s advisable to never send originals.

Another alternative is to invest in a high-speed scanner which never sends anything but an electronic image. This will not only ensure that you don’t lose anything but also have several copies of the original documents. As it might take considerable time to scan a working paper file and a year’s accounting records, you can also send documents to the outsourcer’s UK office, if they have one (QX is based in London, so this is possible).

Respond to the Change

Faced with a shortage of staff and an increasingly competitive market, when an accountancy firm decides to hire a tax outsourcing partner to deal with their compliance jobs, it’s sometimes seen as indefensible but look at it from the angle of time and resources in your accountancy practice: Would you rather have your senior staff spend time playing King / Queen of the calculator or delivering profitable advisory work?

It’s straightforward arithmetic, though somehow skewed depending on the value you place on compliance work (i.e. how much you think it contributes to the growth of your practice) and whether you have the right skills to do the jobs.

To borrow a line from the American television series, The A-Team, “If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire…an outsourcing company.”