Finance remains the top function that 90% of global businesses outsource to BPOs or specialized providers, according to Deloitte’s 2025 Global Business Services (GBS) Survey. And so, outsourced accounting is popular among those seeking professional financial management.
By entrusting your accounting function to external experts like Logix BPO, you can:
- Keep financial records accurate
- Comply with accounting standards and tax regulations
- Work on strategic financial planning
Let’s learn more about outsourced accounting facts that you should be aware of before diving into this service.
What Is Outsourced Accounting?
Outsourced accounting is a strategic business practice wherein you hire a third-party service provider to manage your company’s finance and accounting functions.
Here, you can delegate a broad range of tasks to them.
| Tasks You Can Outsource | Reason for Outsourcing |
| Bookkeeping and data entry | To maintain accurate records of financial transactions, income, and expenses
To reconcile accounts |
| Financial statement preparation and analysis | To compile balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements
To provide you with a clear overview of your financial health To identify trends, potential risks, and opportunities for improvement |
| Accounts payable and receivable managemen | To ensure the timely processing of invoices and tracking of payments
To reconcile accounts and manage cash flow effectively |
| Payroll processing | To calculate salaries, benefits, and deductions
To prepare and file payroll tax returns To ensure employees receive their pay on time |
| Tax planning and compliance | To optimize your tax position in minimizing liabilities and enhancing profitability
To keep up and navigate through the ever-complex tax regulations |
| Budgeting and forecasting | To plan and achieve financial goals
To assist in creating budgets and forecasting financial outcomes |
| CFO role and responsibilities | To gain strategic financial leadership
To develop financial strategies aligned with your goals |
Who Can Benefit Most from Outsourced Accounting?
Companies of all kinds and across verticals opt to outsource their accounting functions to work smarter and scale faster. Still, some companies feel its benefits more than others, including:
- Startups, because building a team from scratch is expensive, and your focus is often pulled toward growth and core operations. Outsourcing gives you instant access to experienced accountants so you can save time and put your energy where it matters most.
- Small and midsize enterprises (SMEs), because keeping up with daily accounting tasks can quickly overwhelm small teams and expose skill gaps, especially in hybrid or remote setups. Your outsourced accounting team can step in with flexible, remote support so you can get expert help without the cost of hiring full-time staff.
- Non-profit organizations, because managing donations, compliance, and detailed reports requires accuracy and specialized know-how that’s hard to find in-house. Your outsourced accounting team brings the knowledge and attention to detail needed to keep finances transparent and audit-ready.
- Companies that need temporary help, because sometimes you only need support during audits, busy seasons, or staff transitions. Outsourcing lets you bring in skilled support exactly when you need it, without long-term commitment.
Potential Benefits You’ll Receive
Outsourced accounting services deliver tangible value to your business. Here are some of them:
- It gives you a clearer view of your financial health. You’ll receive timely, comprehensive financial reports and data-driven insights that help you decide on how to allocate your finances wisely and effectively.
- It saves you money. You eliminate labor and overhead costs associated with internal hiring, saving you up to 84%. Plus, the outsourcing provider offers cost-efficient pricing models, enabling you to pay only for the services you need.
- It improves your productivity. With the outsourced accounting team doing the back work, you’ll reduce the time it takes to prepare and analyze financial reports, as well as the work required to comply with regulations.
- It enables you to access a diverse range of accounting experts. You can tap into a pool of highly qualified accountants, each one specializing in different areas (audit, payroll, tax, etc.) and bringing valuable insights to your business.
- It enables you to automate certain accounting processes. You gain access to the outsourcing provider’s advanced accounting software, allowing you to streamline the process through automation, thus ensuring accuracy, reducing the risk of errors, and preventing fraud.
- It makes scaling easier. You can expand the outsourced accounting team as needed without hiring and training new accountants. The provider also offers you tailored solutions to ensure you meet specific business requirements.
Potential Challenges You’ll Face
Outsourcing accounting functions has many challenges. Only by being aware of them can you effectively mitigate their impact and maximize the success of your outsourcing venture.
- Limited or loss of oversight over processes. When accounting tasks move outside your office, it can feel harder to see what’s happening day-to-day or track progress in real time.
How to address it - Use shared dashboards and real-time reporting tools for full visibility
- Set weekly check-ins and monthly performance reviews
- Document workflows and KPIs so expectations are crystal clear
- Communication and cultural barriers. Time zones, language nuances, and work style differences can sometimes lead to misunderstandings or slow down collaboration.
How to address it - Establish overlapping work hours for faster responses
- Provide cultural onboarding and appoint a dedicated point of contact
- Use communication tools, like Slack, MS Teams, or other project management apps, to facilitate collaboration and enhance transparency
- Compliance and data security concerns. Sharing financial data externally naturally raises worries about confidentiality, regulatory compliance, and cybersecurity risks.
How to address it - Partner only with outsourcing providers that are up-to-date with the latest finance and accounting regulations (IFRS, GAAP, etc.) and follow strict security standards (SOC 2, ISO, GDPR, etc.)
- Use NDAs, data access controls, and encrypted systems
- Conduct regular compliance and security audits and risk assessments
- Quality and accuracy of work. Without clear SOPs, errors or inconsistencies can slip through and affect not only your financial reporting but also the company’s credibility and investor confidence.
How to address it - Define SLAs with clear benchmarks for accuracy and timeliness
- Start with pilot projects and phased onboarding
- Implement QA checks with feedback with the outsourced accounting team
- Overreliance on the outsourcing provider. Depending too heavily on a single provider can create risks if they experience disruptions or if you lose internal knowledge.
How to address it - Keep key knowledge documented in-house
- Maintain backup resources or secondary providers
- Cross-train an internal liaison to oversee processes
- Internal objections. Your in-house accountants may worry that outsourcing will threaten their roles, which can lead to resistance or low morale.
How to address it - Communicate that outsourcing supports your in-house team, not replaces them
- Reassign them to higher-value, strategic work
- Involve them early and gather their feedback during the transition
When Should You Consider Outsourcing Your Accounting Function?
Outsourcing accounting tasks only makes sense when your situation meets any of these conditions:
- You’re falling behind on day-to-day tasks like invoicing, billing, reconciliations, or payroll, and mistakes or delays are becoming more frequent.
- Your financial reports are late, inaccurate, or incomplete, leaving you without a clear, real-time view of your business’s financial health.
- Tax deadlines, compliance requirements, and changing regulations feel overwhelming or risky to manage on your own.
- Your team lacks specialized expertise in complex work such as tax preparation, financial analysis, or multi-jurisdictional compliance.
- Accounting responsibilities are taking up too much of your time and distracting you from growth and core operations.
- Hiring and maintaining a full in-house accounting team, or even a CFO, feels too costly for your current budget.
- Your business is scaling quickly (or facing seasonal ups and downs), and you need flexible support that can easily ramp up or down with demand.
- Leadership needs more strategic insights and timely financial data to make smarter decisions, but you don’t have the internal capacity to provide it.
Similarly, don’t outsource if you:
- Need full control over your financial operations
- Have highly sensitive or proprietary financial information you’re not comfortable sharing externally
- Rely on real-time, face-to-face discussions for financial decision-making
- Already have a strong, capable in-house accounting team or are planning to develop a robust in-house accounting team
- Find it more cost-effective to keep accounting functions in-house
How Do You Get Started With Outsourcing Your Accounting Function?
If you’ve decided to outsource a few or all of your accounting functions, here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can get started:
1. Identify Your Reason for Outsourcing
Before anything else, you should have a concrete idea of what you want to achieve by outsourcing accounting functions.
Is it primarily to reduce costs? To have qualified accountants on your team? To streamline your entire accounting process for better financial visibility and performance?
2. Assess Your Business’s Accounting Needs
Identify which accounting tasks need to stay in-house and which ones you can outsource. To assess which is which, weigh the time and cost each task takes you or your team to complete against the time and cost you could save if it were done by someone else.
If the task is taking too much time and money that could’ve been spent on core activities, then it should be outsourced.
3. Research and Select a Suitable Outsourcing Provider
Your chosen outsourcing provider will become your strategic partner and trusted advisor. So, it’s important that you assess their qualifications carefully to ensure they’re a good fit for your business.
Consider these factors in your evaluation:
Questions to Ask the Potential Partner
Talent Qualifications
- Does the outsourced accountant hold professional certifications and licenses?
- Do they have solid accounting knowledge and expertise in your key need area?
- Are they familiar with the accounting software, tools, and technology you’re using in-house?
- How meticulous are they in ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the data they handle?
- Do they show strong problem-solving and communication skills?
Industry Experience
- How long have they been providing outsourced accounting services?
- Have they provided services to clients within your industry and/or who had similar needs as yours?
- How do they ensure financial accuracy and compliance and, most importantly, data security?
- How can they help you scale through the various growth stages of your business?
Cultural Compatibility
- What are their core company values?
- What’s their communication style and how often?
- How do they handle or process client feedback?
Questions to Ask Their Past or Current Clients
Track Record
- What’s your business, and why did you outsource your accounting function?
- What outsourced accounting service solutions did they provide for you?
- Did they meet your expectations?
- Did the solution transform your overall business? How?
- Would you recommend this outsourcing provider to others?
4. Define the Scope of Work
Once you have a provider, you need to map out the processes, roles, and responsibilities that each of you will perform. Doing so ensures you know exactly what to expect from each other and that the partnership runs smoothly.
Other key things you’ll agree on include:
- The tasks the outsourced accounting team will handle
- The assessment reviews and metrics the team will need to meet
- The tools and frequency of communication
- The itemized cost included in the service
5. Manage the Transition and Integration
The outsourced accounting team is an extension of your own, so it’s important that you set them up for success.
Here are some of the things you’ll do:
- Introduce the outsourced team to your in-house team and encourage both to keep in contact and help each other out regularly so they can form a stronger relationship
- Talk about your goals in-depth and the support you hope to get from them to achieve those goals
- Provide them with clear SOPs and train them on your accounting processes and systems
- Define the KPIs that not only measure their performance but also ensure goal alignment
- Schedule regular reviews and feedback sessions to spot issues early and recommend areas for improvement
6. Monitor and Evaluate the Partnership
Your outsourcing needs change as your business evolves. That’s why you need to monitor and evaluate whether this partnership is still valuable and the right fit for your business.
If it isn’t, discuss it with your outsourcing provider so you can adjust the scope of service. You might even consider revising your service-level agreement or entering a completely new one with them to ensure you’re getting the most out of your partnership.
Remember, a good outsourcing provider will make accommodations to your changing requirements so you can successfully scale your business.
Is It Time to Outsource Your Accounting Function?
You might be restricting your growth, stretching your team out, and/or limiting your financial visibility when you spend too much time and resources on accounting. In such a case, now’s the time to consider outsourcing. It’s a strategic next step that will enable you to:
- Keep the accuracy of your books and financial reports
- Comply with accounting regulations on time
- Get a comprehensive view of your financial health
With the right outsourcing provider like Logix BPO, you’ll get a complete suite of financial management solutions that not only reduce costs and increase productivity but also enable you to scale your business with confidence.
Contact us today to find out how we can help you with your accounting and finance tasks.
FAQs
Are outsourced accounting services only available for specific industries?
No, it’s suitable for companies in all industries, most especially those that need help in streamlining their accounting functions.
Can you still maintain control over your financial process with outsourced accounting?
Absolutely, because you have full decision-making authority over the entire workflow. The outsourcing provider is there to support your outsourcing venture, such as managing the team and providing performance insights.
How do BPO partners stay compliant with current accounting standards and regulations?
BPO partners maintain compliance by implementing strong internal controls, standardized procedures, and policies aligned with GAAP, IFRS, and local regulations.
They provide regular staff training, conduct routine audits and risk assessments, use secure, compliant systems, and stay up to date through ongoing engagement with regulatory bodies and industry guidance.
