By Bharat Kanojia
In early March last year, a managing partner at a mid-sized CPA firm found himself reviewing tax returns at 2:30 a.m.
Not because his team was underperforming.
Not because they lacked clients.
But because they had too many.
His Slack notifications had stopped buzzing an hour earlier. The office was quiet. But his review queue still had 17 returns sitting in “Ready for Partner Review.” A manager had left a note on one of them: “Client called twice today asking for status.”
By 7:30 a.m., he would be back on Zoom with clients, expected to talk strategy, not chase missing work papers.
This is not an isolated story.
According to the AICPA’s Trends Report, the number of accounting graduates entering the profession has been declining, while demand for accounting services continues to rise. At the same time, firms across the country report capacity constraints as their single biggest barrier to growth.
So let’s call it what it is.
Most accounting firms today are not struggling to grow. They are struggling to handle growth.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth. Hiring alone is no longer going to solve this.
You Cannot Out-Hire a Structural Problem
The talent shortage in accounting is not a temporary dip. It is a long-term shift.
Firms that rely only on local hiring are essentially trying to scale with one engine. It works for a while. Then it doesn’t.
What high-growth firms are doing differently is simple. They are adding a second engine.
That second engine, when built right, is an Offshore Delivery Centre.
Not outsourcing in the traditional sense. Not task delegation. A fully integrated delivery model that quietly powers everything behind the scenes.
Think of it like the engine room of a ship. Clients don’t see it. But without it, nothing moves.
Outsourcing Fails When It Feels Like a Black Box
Many firms have tried outsourcing and walked away frustrated.
Work comes back inconsistent. Communication feels fragmented. There is always a lingering question of “what is actually happening there”
That is not a location problem. It is a design problem.
If your offshore setup feels like a black box, it will fail.
A true Offshore Delivery Centre operates with the same visibility and control as your in-house team.
You should know:
- Who is working on your clients
- What their daily workload looks like
- How many returns or reconciliations are sitting in queue
- How quality is being reviewed before it reaches you
- Where each job stands at any point in time
If you cannot answer these questions in real time, you do not have a delivery centre. You have a dependency.
If You Would Not Walk the Floor, Do Not Sign the Contract
Here is a strong recommendation that many firms ignore.
Visit the offshore centre before you start.
Not after on boarding. Not after issues arise. Before.
Because this is where assumptions get tested.
Walk the floor. Sit with the team. Ask them to show you how a return actually moves from start to finish. Look at how documents are accessed. Notice whether screens are monitored, whether USB ports are disabled, whether supervisors are actively reviewing work or just checking status reports. Is the infrastructure shared or dedicated.
The idea is simple. You cannot outsource trust. You have to build it. And that starts with seeing things first-hand.
Security Is Not a Checklist. It Is a Culture
Every firm asks about security. Few go deep enough.
It is easy to say “we are compliant.” It is much harder to prove how compliance shows up in daily operations.
Ask better questions:
- Are team members working on secured virtual environments or local machines
- Is data downloadable or strictly controlled
- Are there audit trails for every login, file access, and change
- How frequently are internal audits conducted
- What happens in the event of a breach or anomaly
The right Offshore Delivery Centre will not hesitate here. They will show you systems, controls, and real workflows.
Because in accounting, security is not a feature. It is the foundation.
Structure Is What Turns Capacity In to Scale
Here is where most firms underestimate the model.
They focus on talent. They should be focusing on structure.
A high-functioning Offshore Delivery Centre is layered by design:
- Dedicated staff aligned to specific clients or processes
- Team leads responsible for daily output, first-level reviews, and workload balancing
- Managers overseeing timelines, training, and quality benchmarks
- A delivery head ensuring alignment with firm-level KPIs and expectations
- Direct alignment with onshore managers or partners
Without this structure, you end up managing people. With it, you manage outcomes.
Technology Should Feel Boring. That Is a Good Thing
If your offshore team is using different systems, different workflows, or different versions of the truth, friction is inevitable.
The best setups feel almost boring.
Same tools. Same workflows. Same dashboards.
Whether it is QuickBooks, Xero, your document system, or your practice management tool, the offshore team should live inside your ecosystem. Access should be controlled, monitored, and standardized.
What Actually Changes Inside the Firm
That managing partner who was reviewing returns at 2:30 a.m. eventually made a different decision.
Instead of trying to hire faster, they chose to build a structured Offshore Delivery Centre.
Within a year:
- Their review queue dropped by nearly 40% during peak season
- Weekend work reduced significantly for onshore teams
- Client turnaround times improved, leading to higher retention
- Partners shifted nearly 30 percent of their time toward advisory
Nothing magical happened.
They did not suddenly become more efficient. They did not find a hidden pool of local talent.
They built capacity the right way.
And that changed everything.
This Is Not About Cost. It Is About Control
Reducing cost is a by-product. It is not the strategy.
The real advantage of an Offshore Delivery Centre is control over capacity.
The ability:
To say yes to new clients without hesitation.
To deliver consistent quality without overloading your team.
To grow without constantly rebuilding your workforce.
Firms that understand this are not treating offshore as support.
They are treating it as infrastructure.
And in a profession where growth is increasingly constrained by people, not demand, that distinction matters.
A lot.
Author BIO
Bharat Kanojia is a strategic advisor and operator specializing in building and scaling offshore delivery centres for accounting firms. With deep experience working alongside U.S. CPA firms, he helps leaders design transparent, secure, and high-performing global teams that go beyond cost savings to drive long-term growth. Bharat is passionate about bridging operational gaps between onshore and offshore teams through strong governance, compliance-first thinking, and practical execution frameworks.
