CPA firms experience peak demand at the beginning of every tax season. However, with the continued shortage of qualified professionals , internal teams are often stretched thin and many firms experience higher error rates, staff burnout, and limited capacity to take on new clients during this critical period.
Unfortunately, traditional hiring alone cannot close this gap in time for tax season. In fact, 93% of finance leaders find it difficult to secure the talent needed for these roles. Which is why more firms are turning to outsourced fractional accounting teams like Scrubbed to expand capacity and protect their in-house staff from overload while meeting client needs efficiently.
Scrubbed’s flexible delivery model is designed to support CPA firms during these high-volume periods, helping maintain quality and turnaround times. In today’s article, we’ll explore offshoring in detail and explain how you can efficiently scale your team this tax season.
Discover the benefits of outsourced accounting for CPA firms.
External Support or Offshoring in Accounting Firms
External support or offshoring in accounting firms refers to the integration of skilled professionals from third-party service providers into your existing workflows. These new members then work alongside your team and handle surplus work, from the volume-heavy and routine to the more complex tasks.
Unlike seasonal temp hires who require training from scratch and may not be knowledgeable on tax season specifics, offshore teams are already trained, align with U.S. tax standards, and can be added into your workflow rapidly without compromising quality.
How CPA Firms Manage Busy Season Overflow
With the right strategies, firms can handle overflow effectively while maintaining quality and client satisfaction.
Here are several ways your firm can manage busy season overflow:
- Streamline workflows. Start by evaluating your current processes to eliminate bottlenecks and unnecessary manual steps. Then, you can create clear checklists and clarify review procedures so tasks can move efficiently through your team.
- Redistribute workloads. Once you know what causes bottlenecks, you’ll be able to redistribute your team’s workload more efficiently.
- Automate repetitive tasks. Next, consider integrating automation tools into your workflows to handle repetitive tasks during the busy season.
- Consider offshoring. Offshore teams can take on routine tasks that you can’t automate, so your in-house staff can focus on client-facing work. Plus, time zone differences can work to your advantage by enabling progress on documentation overnight so files are ready for your team to review in the morning.
This approach not only improves file turnaround times but also reduces internal staff burnout, keeps clients happy, and positions firms to take on more work during the busiest part of the year.
Common Tasks to Offload to Offshore or External Teams
Many accounting and finance tasks are rule-based and process-driven, making them suited for offshore or external teams trained in U.S. accounting standards.
Here are common tasks finance teams often delegate:
- Tax preparation support: Offshore teams can handle data entry, initial preparation, and document organization for high volumes of individual and business tax returns.
- Bookkeeping and accounting: Routine transaction processing, bank reconciliations, accounts payable and receivable management, and expense categorization can be managed externally to maintain up-to-date books.
- Data cleanup and standardization: Offshore teams can assist in organizing and cleaning up general ledger data, vendor lists, and other accounting records to improve reporting accuracy.
- Data and analytics: External teams can assist in preparing dashboards, KPI tracking, and variance analysis to support better management decisions, forecasting, and performance monitoring.
- Year-end close assistance: External teams can help complete reconciliations, clear open items, and prepare schedules required for year-end close.
- Technical accounting services: For companies dealing with complex transactions, offshore teams can assist with research and initial memos on U.S. GAAP or IFRS topics, revenue recognition assessments, and preparation of supporting documentation for audits.
How Fast Can Offshore Teams Be Onboarded?
Since offshore teams are already trained and knowledgeable experts, they can typically be onboarded within a few days to weeks, provided credential access and scope alignment are handled promptly.
Security Protocols Used for Offshore Access
Data security is a non-negotiable for CPA firms, so there are certain security protocols in place to ensure that client data remains secure and protected, including:
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Encrypted file transfers
- VPN-secured connections
- Role-based access controls
Can Offshore Accountants Access Our Tax Software Securely?
Yes. Our offshore accountants use remote desktop connection to securely access client-approved tax software. Alternatively, you can also send your own laptops or devices to our staff to ensure security.
How Firms Budget for Offshore Seasonal Support
Budgeting for offshore seasonal support is straightforward and often far more cost-effective than hiring full-time staff or local temps, as it enables firms to align their resources properly while controlling overhead costs.
Here are the budgeting models we offer:
- Project-based: Our project-based model is available in both fixed and hours pricing. With hourly billing, you only pay for the actual hours worked on specific tasks, so you can scale up or down as needed. Meanwhile, fixed pricing is best for recurring seasonal needs like during tax or audit season. The model you choose will depend on the budget hours per project.
- Retainer models: Firms with sustained seasonal demand can opt for monthly retainers, allowing them to secure a dedicated offshore team for the duration of busy season.
What Happens to Offshore Teams after Tax Season?
Typically, collaboration with offshore teams are paused after tax season ends. However, this means that clients would have to retrain and onboard new members every time they need additional support.
Rather than spending additional time and resources with this approach, Scrubbed offers an FTE staffing model. This not only ensures continuity of work but also maintains the scalability you need while coordinating support with demand throughout the year.
How Offshore Teams Support Audit Prep
Many CPA firms transition their offshore teams into early-stage audit preparation once tax season ends. This repurposing supports calendar-year audits, leverages workflow familiarity, and minimizes the learning curve, ensuring your team remains efficient year-round.
What ROI Can CPA Firms Expect from Offshore Support?
CPA firms using offshore support can expect measurable returns across several key areas, including:
- Significant cost savings
- Increase in client capacity
- Faster turnaround times
- Better scalability.
- Reduced burnout for senior teams
For more tangible results, here’s the total number of returns that Scrubbed’s offshore support helped process during the recent busy season for our firm clients:
- Form 1120 (C-Corporations): 5
- Form 1120S (S-Corporations): 5
- Form 1065 (Partnerships): 12
- Form 990 (Exempt Organizations): 149
- Form 1040 (Individual Returns): 142
- Form 1041 (Estates and Trusts): 9
By integrating offshore talent into their team, our clients were able to process a total of 322 returns promptly, without taking time away from high-value and complex tasks.
Why More CPA Firms Are Offshoring for Q1
CPA firms are discovering that offshoring isn’t about cutting corners—it’s about scaling smartly. In fact, in AICPA’s National Management of an Accounting Practice survey, around 25% of firms surveyed reported that they are already outsourcing to offshore teams, and another 12% have plans to do so in the near future. And this trend will continue to increase as firms look for sustainable ways to meet rising client demands without burning out their teams.
At Scrubbed, we’ve seen firms using offshore support scale sustainably and remain profitable even during the most demanding months. Instead of scrambling to hire temporary staff or risking delays due to capacity constraints, these firms maintain top-tier quality, preserve their team’s well-being, and meet client deadlines with confidence.
