Once an accounting or bookkeeping firm decides it needs offshore capacity, usually after another busy season spent turning away work or burning out the team, the next decision is how. Broadly, firms choose between two models: build a captive offshore team of your own, or partner with an established outsourcing provider such as RV Advisory Group that already has the people, infrastructure and processes in place. Both work. They just suit very different firms.
Option 1: Building Your Own Offshore Team
This means setting up (or contracting a third party to set up) your own dedicated staff overseas, working exclusively for your firm under your direct management. Some larger practices go further and establish their own local entity.
What’s involved?
- Recruiting, interviewing and hiring in a market you may not have local expertise in
- Either registering a local entity or engaging an employer of record to handle local payroll and compliance
- Setting up IT infrastructure, security, and remote-access systems from scratch
- Building training materials and Australian tax/compliance knowledge in-house
- Managing local HR matters leave, public holidays, performance, attrition across a time zone and jurisdiction you may not be familiar with
- Carrying the full cost even during quiet periods, since the team is dedicated to you alone
Option 2: Partnering with an Outsourcing Provider
This means setting up, or contracting a third party to set up, your own dedicated staff overseas, working exclusively for your firm under your direct management. Some larger practices go further and establish their own local entity.
What’s involved?
- No local entity, payroll registration, or Employer of Record needed
- Staff are already trained in Australian accounting standards, software, and compliance basics
- Provider handles local HR, leave cover, and staff replacement if someone leaves
- Faster ramp-up, typically weeks rather than months
- Capacity can usually flex up or down with your workload
- You retain oversight of the work and client relationship; the provider manages the delivery teamProviders like RV Shared also plug directly into the practice management tools firms already run. See our outsourced practice support for Karbon users page for how that integration typically works.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Factor | Build Your Own Team | Outsourcing Partner |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first productive staff | Typically 3-6 months | Typically 2-4 weeks |
| Upfront cost | Higher – entity setup, recruitment, infrastructure | Low -no entity or infrastructure cost |
| Ongoing management burden | Sits with your firm | Shared with the provider |
| Flexibility to scale down | Difficult – fixed local employment obligations | Easier – typically contract-based |
| Local compliance risk | Carried entirely by your firm | Carried largely by the provider |
| Control over staff selection | Full control | Partial – provider assigns/replaces staff |
| Best suited to | Larger firms with a long-term offshore strategy | Firms wanting capacity without building infrastructure |
Which Model Fits Your Firm?
Solo practitioners and small-to-mid-sized firms almost always start with an outsourcing partner. The speed to capacity and absence of setup risk make it the lower-risk first move, and many firms never need to go further than this. Larger firms with sustained, high volume and a multi-year growth plan sometimes graduate to a hybrid model: an outsourcing partner for surge capacity and specific functions, alongside a smaller captive team for core, ongoing work. Very few firms should start by building their own offshore entity. It’s a significant commitment to make before you have real data on your own offshore workload.
For a closer look at how this plays out in practice, see our piece on how Australian accounting firms are scaling faster with outsourced bookkeeping support.
Questions to Ask Before Deciding
- Do we have enough consistent, ongoing offshore workload to justify a dedicated team, or does it fluctuate seasonally?
- Do we have the management bandwidth to run an offshore team directly, on top of everything else?
- How quickly do we actually need capacity this quarter or over the next two years?
- Would a hybrid approach (outsourcing partner now, captive team later) reduce our risk while we learn what we actually need?
Related to rvag.com.au
Why Firms Partner with RV Shared / RV Advisory Group
RV Shared Global Services is a dedicated shared services entity based in Delhi, India, co-directed alongside RV Advisory Group, giving Australian accounting and bookkeeping firms an established, already-operating offshore partner rather than a blank slate. Firms get trained accounting staff, local management, and infrastructure already in place. See our outsourced accounting services for firms overview, or our guide to why accounting firms outsource bookkeeping, without registering an overseas entity or building HR functions from scratch.
