Case study. Outsourcing of selected accounting services

Nowadays, more and more companies decide to outsource their accounting services. Also, it is quite common that entities which have no accounting departments on their own, entrust accounting to external partners. But what if a company has its own internal accounting department? In such a case, could the outsourcing cover only selected accounting elements or processes? The answer is: definitely so!

Chief accountant is a very important business partner in any company. Despite this, however, it may also happen that there is still some room for streamlining accounting processes in the company (or maybe it just happens that a staffing problem exists in one of many elements of the entire complex process). Therefore, basing on the so-called economies of scale, it is worth considering outsourcing some selected processes for optimization.

Our cooperation with one of the clients from the telecommunications industry is a proof of success of outsourcing only selected accounting services. As it happened, restructuring within the Client’s group meant that the previous use of the Shared Services Centre was no longer available. At the same time, the Client already had an in-house, trusted team of specialists responsible for the general ledger, taxes, reporting, and controlling. The only missing element was a payables department, to be responsible for processing cost documents. If the Client were to decide to build the department within its structures, the process would entail employing 15 new specialists, and of course it would consume significant time and financial resources related to the recruitment process. The Client therefore took a decision to start cooperation with MDDP Outsourcing and to outsource this very part of the accounting processes to us.

It took the MDDP Outsourcing team as little as two months to acquire the know-how and take over the responsibility for the processes related to the verification and accounting of purchase invoices. We work on the Client’s system (which is SAP R3 with the SAP RE module and additional SAP software necessary to handle the contract processes). We also have taken over the responsibility of managing e-mailed inquiries from suppliers if they are related to invoice settlements. Thus, we help solve problems by e-mail as well as by direct telephone contacts. We maintain a very close and effective cooperation with the Client’s internal departments (such as the accounting department, contract management, and the legal department). This all allows us to provide the Client with the highest level of services. Close cooperation based on mutual trust is the key to the effective functioning of partial outsourcing and ensuring coherence and smoothness of processes. If standards are jointly developed and mutually accepted, they are benchmarks for ensuring consistency and compliance on all levels. Also, it is crucial to maintain regular communication between both parties to solve any problems as they emerge. Another determinant of successful cooperation is having discussions on current issues, providing feedback, and mutual decision-making about the adopted processes. Over the time, our Client was so satisfied with our services, that it entrusted MDDP Outsourcing with more outsourced processes.

Outsourcing of only some processes leaves Clients with a fair amount of flexibility, and allows them to retain for their own handling the areas which they consider of key significance. At the same time, outsourcing of the remaining areas allows for cost optimization which in turn enables the company to focus on innovation, product development, and customer service (while being ensured that its accounting is professionally taken care of by experts). Furthermore, the flexibility which outsourcing provides, allows the company to scale accounting resources depending on its current needs, thus contributing to a better cost efficiency of the entire company.

By: Paulina Łańska – Team Leader at MDDP Outsourcing