AA approach to transitions is methodical and takes into account people, processes, and technology as well as risks. Transition time will vary depending upon complexity, scope, content, and timing issues, however, AA detailed documentation and training approach enables AA to successfully transition most processes within 30 days, with more complicated processes requiring 60 to 90 days

There is an abundance of highly qualified English-speaking Chartered Accountants overseas. With ample training and structure, these accountants are able to meet or exceed the quality of tax preparation done in the “back office” of most CPA firms. AA has a rigorous, training program that begins with classroom instruction on US tax law and various tax software applications. Classroom training is followed by extensive practical training through the preparation of sample returns of varying difficulty.

Outsourcing is an excellent solution for the full spectrum of tax returns, from simple to complex. On the simplest end of the spectrum are children’s returns. These returns go through a compliance check by the India supervisor and require little review time back in the CPA firm. The more sophisticated, complex returns have multiple brokerage statements, rental properties, Schedule C information, numerous K-1 forms, etc. These returns may also include oil and gas and farm income. A typical return falls somewhere in between these two extremes.

Any firm outsourcing with AA should reference outsourcing directly or indirectly in their privacy statement to ensure compliance Many firms include a statement that they are outsourcing processes in order to improve client service, reduce turnaround time and give employees a higher quality of life during the busy season. Others indicate that there may be a need to disclose client information to third parties who provide help in servicing their accounts. In either case, as long as the end client is assured that his/her work will be reviewed by the firm in US prior to delivery, they generally respond favorably to outsourcing.

Yes. On the subject of speed, the advantages of outsourcing work to India, and in particular, to AA, are extraordinary. Our outsourcing teams add approximately 12 hours to the normal services workday. As firm in the West head home to sleep, a fresh round of work on the day shift in India is just beginning, in a time zone that is essentially a day ahead. Our speed is also enhanced by the number of designated FTE that our clients now can afford to devote to any given work, thanks to outsourcing. As a situation demands, we can provide the assistance of a single reviewer or an entire platoon of trained professionals, thus enabling our clients to “flood the zone” where such an approach is warranted. This is virtually the opposite of the practice of many large Western firms, which, by necessity, must promise their clients “lean staffing,” to address well-founded fears of compounded hourly fees climbing through the roof. Our aim in facilitating the outsourcing of work is to help obtain the desired result for our clients as quickly as possible, through the appropriate and unstinting application of concentrated accounting talent. We have found that in using this approach, we and our supervising U.S. firms often run circles around the so-called “lean staffing” of mega-firms.

Outsourcing work to India can result in savings of up to 50% or more. As The New York Times reported: “The reason for the shift [to outsourcing] echoes the reason companies are sending other work abroad: they save substantial amounts of money. Some companies say they can reduce certain costs by as much as 50 percent, and receive work that rivals what they can obtain in the United States”. The financial advantages of outsourcing to India that can accrue to our clients are seen not only in the well-known differences between salaries and costs of living among the workforces of the U.S. and India, but also in the price of office space, which is ultimately paid for by clients. Many traditional firms locate virtually all of their personnel in relatively expensive offices in the largest cities in the United States and the United Kingdom. This tradition has led to a situation in which most of each dollar or pound that these firms charge their clients pays for office rent. In India, the employees work in state-of-the-art facilities at 1/20th the cost of comparable space in major U.S. cities (and at far lower cost than Indian cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi/Gurgaon). You know exactly what your costs will be for each job processed as it is fixed. This means that the time consuming compliance element is handled for you at a far lower cost than you could do it internally leaving a higher margin for you.

Should you decide to bring outsourced functions back in-house due to a change in corporate direction or other reason, there are a number of benefits provided by AA’s methodology. The most important is our detailed workflow process documentation that is developed at virtually the key-stroke level. This documentation can be leveraged for training of in-house staff and to ensure all quality and compliance requirements are achieved during and after the transition.

Outsourcing is designed to create strategic value beyond cost savings. This may include access to information, decrease in error rates, better internal controls, elimination of staffing problems, innovation, and so on. These results can be more difficult to achieve and largely depends on the client’s relationship with the outsourcing provider and the level of strategic partnership developed. Therefore, selecting the right provider that delivers the necessary level of communication, change management, contract flexibility, process knowledge, and partnership is critical to the long-term success of outsourcing.

Benefits will vary by company depending on a number of different factors including current efficiency of processes, level of centralization, technology, internal support for outsourcing, focus on continuous improvement, degree of partnership with provider. Accountant Anywhere’s client-partners typically experience benefits such as:

• Cost savings of 40-60%
• Flexibility through a variable cost structure
• Ready-access to talented and skilled professionals
• Improved speed of access to financial information
• Transparency into processes
• Ongoing focus on process improvement
• Superior controls and risk management

Outsourcing allows you to focus on your core business, rather than managing a non-core operation such as an accounting department. Outsourcing gives your company access to a higher level of expertise, huge cost savings in employment related costs.

Finance and accounting outsourcing refers to outsourcing of accounting processes like accounts payables processing, invoicing, accounts receivables processing, bank reconciliations, general ledger maintenance, fixed asset accounting, payroll processing, finalization of accounts, financial reporting and filing of tax returns

Scanned documents (the taxpayer’s organizer and source documents) and tax data files from the tax software are transmitted via FTP software using 128-bit encryption to a secure server at the AA hosting facility.

We don’t believe in expensive change orders or exorbitant hourly rates for out of scope work that marginalizes or negates the benefits of outsourcing and more often than not results in a contentious relationship. All industries are in constant change and special projects frequently arise. As partners, AA and its clients collaborate as unexpected challenges arise to determine the best course of action and most appropriate use of resources. The usual outcome of these efforts is a re-prioritization of tasks and re-deployment of personnel, thereby avoiding change orders and associated incremental costs. By allowing the Statement of Work to be a guide in the relationship and not its definition, our clients are able to make better business decisions without worrying about contract price escalation and expensive change orders.

Our contracts are flexible in nature and can be drafted to meet your needs. However, there is a certain amount of time and investment that must be made and change can take time.

WORKFLOW FOR AN ACCOUNTING SYSTEM:

An accounting system is eventually about various business documents being listed, processed to certain business rules and updated into books of accounts. Outsourcing of accounting services works as below:

• With the help of a high speed scanner and get all business documents (purchase orders, supplier invoices, goods arrival reports, sales orders, delivery reports, sales invoices, collections, payments, expense reports, payroll inputs) scanned and stored into a computer at your premises (preferably in an off-the-shelf inexpensive document management system if you have too many documents)
• Your accounting system is stored on a computer (oftentimes the same computer) at your premises
• You get the computers connected to internet by using your local ISP
• We access your computer remotely from our BPO center, read the scanned images, process/archive the document images, and update the accounting systems
• Your accounting system is ready to provide the information you need. The reports you need are prepared and stored in a safe folder.You get to use the same accounting system and same processes you follow now. Your data and your documents stay all the time within your premises. We do not store your accounting system or data at our premises, unless it is a client requirement.
• Our accountants work on a “dedicated” basis. You will have a dedicated resource.

• Trial Period: We have a trial period that will minimize your outsourcing risks. With this, you can evaluate our performance and decide whether you want to outsource your entire project to us.
• Project Transition : We implement a ‘Process Knowledge Transfer Methodology’ that assures a seamless transition of your project. This will greatly reduce your outsourcing risks.
• Project Management: You will have a single point of contact who will be responsible for communication and management of every step of the project.
• Customer Relationship: We take and implement regular feedback of the progress of your project.

AA follows in stringent HR policy which spells out below measures:

• Reference checks at the time of recruitment, from past employers.
• Educational qualifications verified directly with educational institutions and a criminal background check from local police stations.
• Entry is restricted and monitored through swipe cards
• Non-disclosure Agreements signed with all employees during time of employment.

The flexibility provided by the Internet is at the heart of our success as providers of superior quality accounting and bookkeeping services. Most of our projects are web based and so we can communicate and transfer files through the internet. At the initial stage of communicating your project requirement, you can send us a brief description or a document about your project requirements. If you have an application on which you need us to work on or analyze, we will need to get:

• Web server details
• Database details
• FTP details

If you would like to work on your server, you provide us a remote login access

AA follows a regular Semi-annual Audit Program, wherein the following are evaluated:

• Policies and processes both for IS and the organization as a whole
• Local security
• Network security
• Vulnerability assessment

NETWORK AND DATA SECURITY

AA follows well defined multiple physical and software security system to ensure consistent quality results through processes designed as per standards of ISO 9001:2008. Dual monitor system is used wherein our processors process the data on one monitor in the relevant software and view the source documents on another monitor. The source documents are scanned by you in US into a computer server which is physically located in US. Our production team can see data on screen but they can never download or print any data.

AA HAS INVESTED IN A STATE OF THE ART INFRASTRUCTURE WHICH FEATURES:

• Firewalls and IDS monitored around the clock.
• Antivirus installed on all desktops and servers. These are updated and upgraded at regular intervals.
• Restricted access to Servers and shared areas on the servers. This ensures that only authorized personnel are allowed to access the relevant data.
• Access to the internet only for work related sites.
• Backup and Disaster Recovery. This takes care of Data Security in the event of a disaster
• Workstations with disabled Media such a floppy drives, CD/DVD drives, USB drives, handheld devices, mobile phones & printers.

We believe there are two primary reasons. First, the uncertainty of sending privileged information halfway around the world to be stored on servers in India is unnerving to most CPAs and their taxpaying clients. Secondly, with a domestic host, AA can control all programs, tax software and servers-both here and in India-from that hosting facility.

AA has detailed business continuity planning procedures that contribute to our overall disaster recovery plan. All devices, services, locations, and personnel within the AA network are taken into consideration. We also work to integrate our disaster recovery plans with those of our clients and develop a mutual plan to account for any and all outages.

Our commitment to preserving the confidentiality, integrity and availability of client information is attested to by our ISO 9001-2008 certification. Furthermore, all client data remains on client servers, which allows our clients to maintain control of sensitive and confidential information. Our offshore personnel operate in a paperless work environment and from “dumb terminals” where web access has been severely limited and often completely disabled.