Business Outsourcing and Accountability
@pgiblett (6524)
Canada
July 29, 2016 8:26am CST
Since the dawn of the computer industry there has been a couple of different business philosophies: firstly to retain internal specialists to build computer systems and support them; secondly businesses outsource these services on the basis that even though systems were used by most people they were not a core part of the function of the company.
I was recently reading an article about the outsourcing of accounting services on the basis that accounting was not a core part of the reason for the business's existence and that these services could be most effectively managed by a specialist company.
It seems to me that the move to outsourcing ignores the need for accountability. Someone, somewhere in the company has to be accountable.
The payment clerk in some foreign land has little interest in whether the bill gets paid because the only one that impacts their job is their company's invoice which will always be paid promptly. Paying other bills late however will impact that business's ability to perform the work that is a core part of their business.
What is your experience of outsourcing?
5 people like this
6 responses
@shivamani10 (11035)
• Hyderabad, India
29 Jul 16
Outsourcing has become a synonym for unaccountability.
2 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (47062)
• India
29 Dec 16
Well, I am technically on that side of outsourcing that reportedly benefitted from it. But I have a different take. We took to the Information Tech line when opportunities became more for us. We were informed that we will have more opportunities to go to Onsite and work there. So, many of us were not wrong, since for an Indian, going to US or UK or European countries or Australia means more earnings due to currency exchange rates and standard of living differences.
But the way the companies implemented many of the Outsourcing deals where the outgoing person gave knowledge transfer to an incoming or "replacement" person was something even we would not have liked.
May be, the companies could have added more people for some new work, rather than retrenching staff due to higher cost.
So, the rate of new people from "offshore" might have been lesser, but even we guys would have earned more respect and not looked with hatred and suspicion, since we were not responsible for such transition.
But now, many of the Indian IT companies too are hiring people in Europe and Australia (the natives, apart from Indians and NRIs).
So the crux is what is more important is how the companies themselves implement outsourcing.
@dwstory (1276)
• Roseburg, Oregon
5 Mar 17
When we ran a business at the flea market we paid everything on time. We had a double space building with heat and electricity.
@crystalvisions (440)
• United Kingdom
10 Aug 16
The only reason I can see outsourcing exists is a way to save money.
1 person likes this
@puddleglum (1380)
• United States
29 Jul 16
There should be a number of checks and balances in place in accounting. This is often not the case when it's handled internally, I wonder if it is in the typical outsourcing setup. On one hand, there shouldn't be as much incentive for dishonesty for gain, since it might be hard for another firm to take the company's profit with dubious accounting, but, as you pointed out, that accounting firm might not be as invested in the greater success of the company either.
2 people like this
