I've had many conversations with clients, colleagues, and friends about working with offshore staff. With unemployment at record-lows here in the USA, finding the right fit for your onsite culture and needed skillset often (sadly) just doesn't happen!
Turning to offshore solutions is often a natural next step for the tech-savvy operations genius or accounting manager who can delegate well in a cloud-based environment. It's been my experience that what started out as an option to procure solid staff turned into a rich cultural experience that has grown me and my team in exciting ways while boosting our effectiveness in serving clients, too.
To help you hit the ground running, here are some tips and tricks I've learned from 8 years of working with an exceptional team of offshore staff.
Accounting tasks that can be easily delegated to offshore staff
Data entry: This includes entering invoices, receipts, and other financial data into the accounting system. Special projects have included support for database migration and implementation.
Reconciling accounts: This involves comparing the company's financial records to bank statements, credit card statements, and other outside sources to ensure accuracy.
Preparing reports: This includes tasks such as generating financial statements, budgets, and other reports.
Payroll support or processing: This can include the addition of new staff to the human resources information system (HRIS), compliance with required onboarding documentation and retention, tracking and importing hours, preparing pay change reports, etc.
Accounts payable: This includes tasks such as tracking and paying bills, including cost accounting for construction and manufacturing projects.
Accounts receivable: This includes tasks such as tracking and collecting payments from customers, and preparing 1st Draft AIA billings based on inputs from Project Managers.
Contractor Billing: Requesting updated COIs from insurance providers for AIA billings of stored materials and other miscellaneous tasks.
Quality Control: This involves reviewing the company's financial records to ensure accuracy and compliance with internal controls.
Limitless Others: If the task can be normalized with a process, and is repeatable remotely, we encourage you to delegate it!
These are just a few examples of accounting tasks that can be easily delegated to offshore staff through our team. The specific tasks that can be delegated will vary depending on the size and complexity of the company.
When delegating accounting tasks to offshore staff, it is important to:
Choose a reputable outsourcing company: There are many reputable outsourcing companies that specialize in accounting services. Do your research to find a company that has a good reputation and a proven track record. Our team has relationships with staff in India going back 8 years and has reliably served US-based companies in collaboration with these staff since our firm's inception.
Set clear expectations: Before you start delegating tasks, it is important to set clear expectations with the offshore staff. This includes defining the tasks that will be delegated, the required accuracy, and the deadlines that need to be met. Ideally, KPIs can be set by the delegating manager for daily review and tracking of performance.
Provide training: The offshore staff may not be familiar with your company's specific accounting procedures.
It is important to provide them with training so that they can understand how to complete the tasks that have been delegated to them. What you put into the trainings is what you’ll get out of them!
Creating a repository of video trainings (using Loom or other screen-sharing software) is key to effectively leveraging an offshore team member – both upfront and on an ongoing basis. With offshore staff often working asynchronous hours (they get work done while you sleep!), it’s important to remember that they are working off of emails and video walkthroughs you send to them, and generally won’t have ongoing coaching moment-by-moment by you. Therefore, creating trainings and task lists that are thorough and accurate are key to supporting the staff.
If you use a staff in India, there are few things more encouraging than waking up in the morning and finding your offshore staff got a TON done while you were resting, and you can start your day focusing on higher-level tasks that only YOU can do.
Provide regular feedback: It is important to provide regular and timely feedback to the offshore staff so that you can track their progress and ensure that they are meeting your expectations. Plus, it’s always more fun to watch your team member grow and advance their potential!
By following these tips, you can ensure that delegating accounting tasks to offshore staff is a smooth and successful process.
If you're interested in working with an offshore staff to scale your impact on your company within your team's Finance & Accounting Department, reach out via the contact form to schedule a conversation to learn more.