Here, they discuss a multitude of topics but primarily focus on finding the right offshore staff.
CPA: Hey Ron. How’s it going? Got time for a chat?
Ron Smith: Hey. It’s going great. Thanks for asking, and sure. How can I help you?
CPA: I found it a bit difficult to find the right guy for my firm as most candidate resumes provided by Entigrity had an experience of only 3-5 years. Why is it difficult for me to find highly experienced candidates for my offshore team?
Ron Smith: Unfortunately or fortunately, depends on how you see it, the Indian ecosystem for accounting is still quite young. This makes it a bit difficult to hire highly experienced professionals for offshoring.
CPA: But I’ve recently heard from a reliable source that there is a booming education industry pertaining exclusively to accounting qualifications in India. That must mean there is a great number of people interested in pursuing the profession. So why exactly is finding experienced individuals still a problem?
Ron Smith: You’re right. But you see, the experience level we are considering when hiring for an offshore position is specifically regarding skills and knowledge in US or UK accounting and tax. The three experience levels that we offer, specifically 1-3 years, 3-5 years and 5+ years are in reference to professionals that have that experience in the accounting field of the client’s country.
CPA: So, the experience they might have had in Indian accounting is not counted?
Ron Smith: No. It’s not.
CPA: Wow. Ok. I get it now.
Ron Smith: Like you, we’ve had clients previously that wished to hire an offshore staff with more than five years of experience only. But to be honest, the attrition rate with such individuals is quite high.
CPA: Because they know they have options.
Ron Smith: Exactly. A senior professional knows that, with the current state of the ecosystem, there won’t be a dearth of opportunities for them. This in turn often leads to higher and unrealistic demands in exchange for their services.
CPA: What would you recommend we do?
Ron Smith: Well, we always recommend to our clients that while hiring, stick to an experience bracket of 1-5 years. Professionals that belong in this group have a strong command on the basics of your country’s accounting know-how and are eager to adapt and learn quickly to gel well with your firm’s onshore team.
CPA: Sounds good to me. Do you guys cater to any roles other than accounting?
Ron Smith: We definitely do! For ease of understanding, we divide it into five parts. As this is one of the most important decisions you can make, I’ll be happy to explain it to you in detail but I can summarise it if you’re short on time.
CPA: Oh no. Don’t worry about it. I would love to know more in detail. Take your time.
Ron Smith: Haha. Ok then. As you can see, number one is accounting. It’s a broad term that encompasses various profiles such as bookkeeping, senior level profiles such as virtual CFOs, writing up quarterly and monthly financial reports, AR/AP assistant, billing executive, etc. Here, we would urge you to articulate well what your expectations are out of your offshore staff. This makes it easier to find the right candidate for you that will do well under your required job profile.
CPA: I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.
Ron Smith: Second, we come to tax. Taxation includes individual and corporate tax. If you intend for your offshore staff to work on taxation, please do mention in your JDs what kind of tax work you are expecting out of them. What would their daily responsibilities entail, what kind of tax returns would they be prepared, who would they be reporting to, etc. Basically, we expect a detailed description of the JD when pertaining to the field of taxation.
CPA: Understood. Personally, I’m interested in hiring for auditing roles. What do you offer in those?
Ron Smith: See, any individual who is competent in accounting roles will find it relatively simple to master auditing roles as well. Drafting reports, testing financial statements, general ledgers and account balances, etc., are auditing jobs that your offshore team can be adept in no time. At Entigrity, you’ll find our staff possess the motivation and determination to learn and explore new avenues.
CPA: I agree. I have personally observed those qualities in my offshore staff. It’s great to know that I have the option of setting up auditing as an offshore task as well.
Ron Smith: Yes, you definitely can. That brings us to the last role. Non-accounting functions. A lot of firms deal with a bunch of administrative work that they find eats into their onshore resources. That is why virtual assistants are one of the most popular positions we offer at Entigrity. Now you no longer need to worry about calendar management, follow-up emails, etc.
CPA: With regards to non-accounting roles, does the interview process differ?
Ron Smith: Not really. We have kept the interview process pretty uniform across all profiles. As always, we recommend our clients to conduct two interviews, along with a functional test about the technical know-how of the candidate. Lastly, we urge that you check the oral and written communication of the candidate. This will ensure that you find the perfect candidate irrespective of the role you are interviewing for.
CPA: Cool. Thanks so much, Ron, for clearing my doubts in such a patient and detailed manner.
Ron Smith: Haha. It’s my pleasure. As always, hit me up if you have any further doubts.
CPA: I will. Bye.
Ron Smith: Bye!
