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Can an offshore team really work for a UK accounting practice? Yes. MYCPE ONE client stories show that firms of every size, from a sole practitioner in Guernsey to a 22-partner firm with 130 people in tax season, have used dedicated offshore teams to fix capacity gaps, hand off compliance work, and free up partners for advisory.
The common thread is simple. Good processes, daily communication, and a secure setup make the distance almost disappear.
We work with accounting firms across the US, UK, and Canada every day. The challenges we hear from UK practices sound very familiar: recruitment is slow, good staff are expensive, year-end and self assessment peaks stretch everyone thin, and partners are stuck doing work that should sit two levels below them.
The stories below come from real firms that faced the same pressures and found a way through.
UK practices are dealing with a talent squeeze that does not ease after busy season. Fewer people are entering the profession, experienced staff move on quickly, and salaries keep climbing. At the same time, clients expect faster turnaround, better reporting, and real advice.
This is not just anecdotal. In ICAEW research with managing partners of mid-tier firms, lack of access to qualified staff ranked among the two macro trends having the greatest impact on the sector.
The pressure usually shows up in a few familiar places:
| Pain point | What it looks like day to day |
|---|---|
| Hiring gaps | Roles stay open for months, or the right candidate never applies |
| Compliance overload | Bookkeeping, VAT returns, statutory accounts, and self assessment crowd out everything else |
| Seasonal peaks | January and year-end deadlines stretch the team, then work dries up |
| Partner bottlenecks | Senior people still prepare work instead of reviewing it |
| Growth stalls | Advisory services stay on the wish list because nobody has time to build them |
None of this is unique to the UK. The US firms in the stories below said almost the same things, in almost the same words. That is exactly why their experience is useful for a UK practice weighing its options.
Here are five firms, five starting points, and one shared outcome. Each story follows the same path: the problem, what changed, and what a UK practice can take from it.
Alasdair Milroy, Founder
The challenge: Alasdair qualified in Australia in 1992 and is also an FCA. After two decades in Guernsey's trust and fiduciary world, he launched his own cloud-based practice in 2020. Guernsey is five miles by nine, with around 65,000 people. Talent is scarce and operating costs are high. As the firm grew, he was juggling bookkeeping, client accounts, and statutory accounts while trying to build new services. Every phone call broke his focus.
The solution: A dedicated offshore team member now handles bookkeeping, client accounts, and statutory compliance. They meet on Google Meet most mornings and keep a Google Chat channel open all day. Alasdair records process walkthroughs on Loom, such as running payroll or onboarding seafarer employment, so the team can replay them at their own pace. That library will also train future joiners. The team works UK hours, so there is no handover gap.
The result: Alasdair now spends his time on higher-value work: virtual CFO services and his niche in superyacht and maritime clients, where transaction volumes are high and clean books are essential. He is targeting turnover of half a million pounds plus within the next couple of years.
Michael Castro, Partner
The challenge: The firm resisted outsourcing for years. They wanted to keep jobs local. But finding new staff kept getting harder. Their worries were the ones most UK partners raise: communication gaps, language barriers, data security, and whether they could keep a new hire busy.
The solution: They started with a flexible, ad hoc arrangement for tax support and bookkeeping support, then moved to a dedicated 20-hour team member. Staff work inside the firm's own virtual environment, so the firm controls permissions client by client. Day-to-day contact runs through Microsoft Teams, and short screen-recorded videos show exactly where to find the tricky checkbox on a return.
The result: Quality has been excellent. When early work missed the mark, they traced it to their own gaps in process and training, and fixed those. A light-touch check-in with a MYCPE ONE advisor every four to six weeks gives them a safety net if a peak hits.
Heather Risch, Client Accounting Services
The challenge: Trout CPA could not find talent locally. In just two weeks of interviews for client accounting roles, they saw ten candidates and found maybe one who fit.
The solution: They started with one offshore staff member to build trust. It worked, so they added two more, then kept going. The client accounting services (CAS) team now has around seven offshore members, and the tax team has a similar number. Transactional work like categorising and reconciling moves offshore, while senior offshore members handle more complex work. One offshore lead now acts as the single point of contact for the wider team.
The result: Onshore associates were promoted to senior and reviewer roles. The time difference turned into an advantage. Work is often done by the time the US team starts reviewing.
Tim Wijtenburg, Founder
The challenge: Tim serves dental practices across the US. As a sole operator with Big Four and Fortune 500 experience, he was always at capacity and stuck deep in tax prep.
The solution: He started with a junior team member to build processes and get quick wins, then added a senior. Data security sealed the decision. Beyond screen monitoring, he valued the physical security of MYCPE ONE's delivery centres: controlled offices, no personal phones at desks, and clear documented protocols. UK firms can use our Offshoring and GDPR security checklist to run the same checks.
The result: In August he launched a bookkeeping service and quickly signed close to ten clients, while still handling catch-up compliance and resolution work. He now spends his time on sales, technology, and client experience. He tells clients upfront, in the engagement letter, how his team works.
Carrie Christensen, Tax Partner
The challenge: With three offices in rural South Dakota and 22 partners, the firm found it hard to attract local staff. At industry conferences, they were often the only firm in the room not offshoring yet.
The solution: They did their homework. They spoke to other firms already working with MYCPE ONE, ran internal meetings to address partner concerns, and interviewed shortlisted candidates with technical questions. They started with three tax staff at different levels, set up on the same software they use (UltraTax and SurePrep). Offshore staff draft client emails, but onshore staff send them. Weekly calls in tax season became monthly check-ins afterwards.
The result: All three team members were retained for the next season, and an audit hire is joining. Offshore staff now help with IRS correspondence and health insurance forms too, and they join the firm's all-hands "Q days" in busy season.
Different firms, different countries, same lessons. When we line the stories up side by side, the pattern is clear.
| Firm | Starting point | Where they are now | Biggest win |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breaking the Mould (Guernsey) | 1 dedicated team member | Compliance fully handed off | Founder focused on CFO and maritime niche |
| Castro, Thresher & Oliveira | Ad hoc, part-time support | 20-hour dedicated staff | Low-risk, flexible capacity |
| Trout CPA | 1 team member | Around 7 in CAS, similar in tax | Onshore staff promoted to reviewers |
| Tim Wijtenburg LLC | 1 junior | Junior plus senior | New bookkeeping service, near 10 clients |
| Ketel Thorstenson | 3 tax staff | All retained, audit hire joining | Access to talent a small town could not supply |
The noise around offshoring tends to focus on cost. The signal in these stories is different. Every firm talked about capacity, partner time, and growth first.
The other lesson came up again and again. When work came back wrong, the fix was almost always on the firm's side. Clear instructions, recorded walkthroughs, and documented processes. It is a bit like Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire, pleading "help me help you." An offshore team can only be as good as the brief it receives. As Michael Castro put it, great process and great communication at the start lead to a great result.
Processes that only work because someone can lean across a desk will break with a remote team. Fixing them helps your whole firm, not just the offshore side.
Based on what worked for these firms, here is a simple path:
Want to go deeper? See how MYCPE ONE helps UK practices hire offshore accountants, or read The Ultimate Guide to Outsourcing Accounting Services for UK Accounting Firms, Cost of Offshore Accounting Staff for UK Firms, and India vs Philippines vs South Africa: Best Offshore Accounting Location for UK Firms.
The firms in these stories did not change everything overnight. They started small, fixed their processes, and treated offshore staff as part of the team. Growth followed with patience, not pressure. For UK practices, the path is the same, and the first step is smaller than it looks.
Finding the right talent is becoming more challenging than ever, especially when firms need professionals who are not just technically strong, but also AI-savvy and comfortable with modern workflows. At MYCPE ONE, we help UK accounting practices, CPA firms, businesses, and enterprises build high-quality offshore teams across accounting, tax, audit, advisory, back-office, digital marketing, sales, IT, and several other functions. If you would like to explore what this could look like for your firm, schedule a call with us.
Yes. MYCPE ONE supports accounting practices across the UK, US, and Canada with dedicated offshore teams based in India and the Philippines. Alasdair Milroy of Breaking the Mould Accounting in Guernsey is one example. His offshore team member works UK hours and handles bookkeeping, client accounts, and statutory accounts. The same model that helped US firms like Trout CPA and Ketel Thorstenson applies to UK practices dealing with recruitment gaps, compliance overload, and seasonal peaks around self assessment and year-end.
The software and tax rules differ, but the core problems are the same. UK and US firms both struggle to hire, both have partners stuck in preparation work, and both want time for advisory. The solutions that worked, starting small, documenting processes, daily communication, and strong data security, are not country-specific. MYCPE ONE trains team members on the systems and workflows your firm already uses, so a UK practice gets the same benefits with UK-specific work like VAT returns and statutory accounts.
Security works on two levels. First, offshore staff work inside your own virtual environment, so you control access client by client, as Castro, Thresher & Oliveira does. Second, MYCPE ONE's delivery centres have physical controls, including secure offices, no personal phones at workstations, and restricted internet access. Ketel Thorstenson's IT team worked directly with MYCPE ONE's IT team to set this up. For UK firms, this supports your obligations around client confidentiality and data protection, including the ICO's rules on international transfers under UK GDPR.
Usually not, and it can help. Alasdair Milroy's team in India works UK business hours, so there is no handover gap at all. For US firms with bigger time differences, like Trout CPA, the offshore team finishes work before the onshore team starts reviewing it. You can choose a schedule that suits your firm, whether that is full overlap with UK hours or an early shift that gets work ready for review each morning.
Most firms in our client stories started with one to three people. Castro, Thresher & Oliveira began with part-time, ad hoc support before committing to a dedicated 20-hour team member. Trout CPA began with one person and grew to around seven in client accounting services alone. Starting small keeps risk low, lets you refine your processes, and builds trust on both sides. Once the model is working, scaling up is straightforward. Our UK pricing guide for offshore accounting staff can help you budget for that first hire.
Christopher is the Director of Client Relations and Business Development at MYCPE ONE, a leader known for his energy and people-first approach. Chris leads from the front mentoring teams, driving growth, and building lasting client relationships. With over a decade of experience in sales, coaching, and business strategy, he has helped 5,000 CPAs nationwide overcome challenges and discover new opportunities. Chris is a familiar presence at major accounting conferences, representing MYCPE ONE and shaping meaningful industry partnerships. Passionate about leadership and professional growth, he continues to inspire teams and professionals to reach their highest potential.
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