Finance and Accounting Outsourcing Slowly Becoming a Necessity

Finance and accounting processes may be one of the processes that get delegated to an outsourcing solutions provider. Accounting outsourcing has been moving forward this 2011, both in terms of developments in solutions being offered in the finance and accounting outsourcing industry, as well as in the destinations being tapped by finance and accounting solutions providers.

However, the developments in outsourcing is not limited to a specific time period as the industry continues to be innovative in order for them to be able to keep up with the evolution of the market. The market today may be unpredictable as it can go in any of the paths available to them, which is why outsourcing companies, particularly finance and accounting service providers, are trying its best to provide solutions that can be integrated into the processes of companies.

In line with this objective of outsourcing companies, to continue meeting market demands, acquisitions or service offering expansions are among the measures that they take to further strengthen their presence in the industry. Last month, it has been pointed out that the finance and accounting and HR outsourcing services in Russia has both matured and slowed in 2010. One of the reasons for the slowing down of outsourced finance and accounting processes in Eastern Europe is being directed at the economic conditions after the global crisis. However, Expert RA, a research rating agency, pointed out that the Russian market for outsourced finance and accounting and human resources services are actually picking up today in terms of becoming pro-active in establishing their best practices and furnishing their processes.

As the month of August began, it was announced that Accenture (NYSE:ACN), whose headquarters is based in Dublin, Ireland, and Intertek (LON:ITRK), a provider of quality and safety solutions, entered into an agreement where the former will be assisting Intertek with global IT and finance and accounting services. Under the two-year agreement, both the finance and accounting and global IT solutions that Accenture will be providing will be hosted by its facility in Delhi, India.

An addition to the finance and accounting developments for the month of August stems from the announcement that High Street Partners, a provider of international business services, has acquired Rockwood Accounting Services Group, a back office solutions provider. The acquisition is seen to “provide Rockwood with an excellent opportunity to leverage its core expertise and significantly contribute to High Street Partners’ high-growth strategy,” according to Brian LeClair, CPA, who is the president of Rockwood Accounting Services. Acquisitions are indeed one of the measures that a company can take to further strengthen their company’s service offerings and processes.

With finance and accounting outsourcing picking up and becoming stable with recent developments, it seems that the current state of, not only the finance and accounting outsourcing but the whole outsourcing industry, is shifting from just simply being a strategic opportunity to becoming a necessity for companies. It looks like that outsourcing solutions are slowly becoming an integral part of a company’s processes today.

Author: Jamee C.