Virtual Assistant Business Outsourcing

As anyone who follows current business developments knows, a historical convergence of events and technologies has led to the outsourcing of many business tasks.  As business process outsourcing evolves, it is no longer just concentrated on call centers and customer service.  Today’s outsourcing trends focus on the area of Finance & Accounting Outsourcing (FAO).  Outsourcing is reaching higher levels and this is a particular field of growth.

Why is FAO Growing At Its Current Rate?

FAO Research, Inc. predicts in its June 2008 report on Finance & Accounting Outsourcing market activity and trends that this area will see continued growth and renewal of current contracts.  “2008 will generate the strongest growth of FAO contracts in any single year yet” according to Lisa Ross, CEO of FAO Research, Inc.  More evidence of growth comes from the Everest Research Institute’s annual study on the FAO sector.  The study finds that the FAO market grew 22% in 2007 and is expected to maintain a double-digit growth pace for the foreseeable future.  The study also noted that the FAO market is estimated to be $2.2 billion (annual contract value).

Saurabh Gupta, Research Director at the Everest Research Institute, says “Management reporting and analytics, accounts receivable and accounts payable are the three Finance & Accounting processes with maximum usage and applicability of technology”. 

In fact, transactional accounting tasks transferred to third-party sources make up the vast majority of FAO business.  These tasks typically involve general ledger processes, accounts payable and accounts receivable.  Outsourcing this type of work is popular not only because of costs, but also because it involves basic mathematical principles.  Let’s say you’re using a virtual assistant that is located offshore.  Any language barrier that exists will not be as problematic for basic accounting principles as it would for something like content writing.  It’s a numbers business instead of word play that reduces or eliminates any cultural obstacles.

Flat World Mentality

As noted author Thomas Friedman suggests in his acclaimed book “The World Is Flat”, the world in the 21^st century is becoming “flat” as advances in information technology transforms global capitalism.  And it’s no longer just India and China dominating the outsourcing labor market.  Many countries in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe are participating in business process outsourcing by offering services that are higher up the food chain.  These countries are producing more university graduates with higher skill sets every year.

Finance and Accounting Outsourcing to Virtual Assistants 

There are now outsourcing options such as virtual assistants with more complex training and degree of knowledge who can perform services in areas like payroll, travel & entertainment expense accounts, pricing administration, tax strategy, capital asset management, supply-chain accounting and financial planning & analysis.  As FAO outsourcing gets savvier, the opportunities for obtaining more advanced assignments are plentiful.