Last week, I began the first of three blogs about perceived threats to the bookkeeping industry. Click here if you missed it. Continuing on that theme, this week is about the perceived threat of a “trend” for offshore processing which is going to undermine the potential in the industry in Australia. The concern is how can BAS Agents here compete with an Accountant in India when they are prepared to do bookkeeping for $5 per hour. The sky is falling!
Firstly the TPB have stipulated that under the Code of Professional Conduct there is a requirement that the Registered Tax or BAS Agent provides adequate “Supervision and Control” and they deal specifically with the legalities of outsourcing the bookkeeping offshore.
The important points are that BAS & Tax Agents:
- Must have documented evidence that supervisory arrangement is in place (and what those arrangements are)
- Must make their clients aware that each client has given permission for third parties to have access to their information
In lots of industries, there is a trend to outsource administrative work. And certainly, this is definitely something to keep an eye on in our industry. However given the sensitive nature of the financial information that we deal with on a daily basis most small business owners are not comfortable having all their financial information processed by somebody they’ve never met, in another country and not necessarily covered by Australian privacy laws and insurance requirements. The reality is that we haven’t seen any reduction in bookkeeping work in Australia and don’t anticipate that being a big threat to our industry in the short to medium term.
So what can you do about it? When you’re meeting with a prospect, first impressions count as they say. They will size you up not just on your knowledge and skills but will also decide if are you the sort of person they want to do business with. They can’t do that with an offshore bookkeeper, so let your personality shine.
Article by Debbie Roberts
