CapitalQ’s Stand Against Outsourcing Overseas

While many Accountants are putting their own short term profits ahead of the interests of Australia’s Small Businesses, our stand against overseas outsourcing is now official, and GUARANTEED!

That’s a controversial headline I know.  It is deliberately so because in my view, that is precisely what a large number, potentially the majority, of Australian small business Accountants and Advisers are doing.   Their actions are holding back the Country and your business, the very business they purport to be trying to help.

The Concerning Accounting Trend of Outsourcing

You see there is a concerning trend occurring in the accounting profession, one which the very vast majority of Australian small business owners (and therefore Clients of Australian accounting firms) are unlikely aware of.  And even where they are, they likely don’t fully appreciate the consequences, and true cost, of their Accountant’s actions.

Outsourcing, the act of sending ever increasing amounts of accounting, tax and business advisory work and services overseas, is the new supposed magic pill Australian Accountants are popping in order to increase their own (short term) bottom line.

And their actions are costing Australia, and most importantly its small business owners, dearly.

Hopefully the impact they are causing is inadvertent, though I am sure you will all agree, these Accountants should know better if they are truly qualified to be giving advice to Australia’s small business communities.

Everyday we at CapitalQ hear of another accounting firm, from big to small, who are choosing to send more and more of the work their small business clients entrust them to perform overseas.

To achieve this many accounting firms are at best choosing to not hire local staff, or worse, they are actually proactively making local staff redundant in order to cut costs allowing them to send the work off shore.

The Moral Dilemma

Now there is of course a moral and ethical question to this practice.  I wonder just how many Accountants are telling their clients that their work, and their highly sensitive and highly valuable personal and business data, is being sent overseas to be accessed by complete strangers in locations where the owner of the data has no understanding nor certainty regarding its protection against misuse.

But to be honest, for me, that is just a side concern, it is not the most disturbing aspect (though it absolutely should not be ignored nor discounted).

The True Cost

The most concerning thing is that these Accountants are purporting to be attempting to help their local Australian small business clients, yet their actions say the opposite.  Their actions see work, jobs and money leaving the local economy, reducing the pool of financial activity available to support those very businesses.

Because the reduction in local employment means less Australians able to afford to buy local Australian products and services.

It also means less Australians able to afford to rent or buy local property, resulting in reductions in property prices and therefore the nations collective wealth.

And all that is not to mention the very real drain on vital skills and experience in the industry, the true cost of which those same Accountants are unsurprisingly already experiencing without understanding why.

All in all, what these Accountants who outsource their work overseas are saying loud and clear through their actions is that they don’t believe in Australia’s upcoming Accountants and Advisers, and they aren’t truly committed to help Australians and in particular Australian small businesses, to prosper, grow and succeed.

How are CapitalQ Different?

So, of course you are now thinking to yourself, how are CapitalQ any different?

The answer is we have always had a strong aversion to this type of outsourcing, and we have always steered clear of it.

I am personally approached on an almost weekly basis by outsourcing companies trying to get a foot in the door here at CapitalQ.  There was a point when I would entertain their advances, so I could learn more about how it all worked.  But I never came close to feeling like it was the right thing to do.

And now, every time it happens, I put an end to the conversation before it even starts.

So today we are officially going all in, and we are announcing to all of WA’s small business owners that –

CapitalQ will NEVER outsource any of the work our WA small business clients entrust to us!

plus…

As of today, we have upgraded our “Industry First” 6-point Taxation and Advice Peace of Mind 100% Satisfaction Guarantee to now include our commitment to never outsource overseas as the 7^th promise point!

So if you are not presently a Member of the CapitalQ Community, we encourage you to ask your Accountant have they, are they now, or are they considering, outsourcing any of your accounting work overseas.

If the answer is yes, I encourage you to consider does this practice fit with your own values and beliefs and wishes for the country and the prospective prosperity of all Australians and Australian small businesses.  And if the answer is no, then we encourage you to get in touch and learn how we can help you advance your business and that of all Australian small business, for the collective good.

P.S. Read about the positions we are currently recruiting for and please help us spread the word if anyone you know would make a great addition to our East Perth based Team –

• Marketing Assistant
• SME Tax Accountant & Adviser – Intermediate/Senior Level

P.P.S What about the global economy, and the trend towards distributed workforces I hear you ask?  I will provide some comments in this regard in a follow up post very soon.