| Topic Name: |
Outsourcing |
| Message Name: |
Re: Routine tasks can be easily outsourced |
| Date Posted: |
02/14/2004 |
| In Reply To: |
Common tax forms - single states, forms 5471, individual returns can be outsourced relatively easily, and you'll see a lot more of it in the coming years.
Many other things can be very automated - recurring journal entries (tax or otherwise), payroll, etc.
Many jobs exist today working out the loose ends, cleaning and reconciling data, etc. - that won't exist in the future as processes get cleaned up.
The bottom line in accounting as it was in manufacturing is that if it's repetitive and the procedures and rules can be documented, it can be automated, and/or outsourced.
Does this mean doom and gloom for accounting? Absoloutely not! What it does mean is that the dumb jobs that everyone hates anyway are going to fade away.
Before you start thinking of jobs in which you wear a paper hat, consider that there are now and will continue to be jobs in which knowledge is key. For every batch of 5471s that go overseas, there is still a Foreign Tax Credit to be computed. This takes knowledge of the organization, development of strategy, and a good amount of analytical work - stuff that cannot and should not be outsourced.
Over the next few years, esepcially with Sarbanes getting in everyone's face, I think you'll continue to see more emphasis on process and control documentation and as the Indian workforce becomes better trained, you will see more work go there.
What that means to you is that you have to focus on knowledge- and strategy-driven functions and stay away from anything that can be reduced to a routine. The quill-pen days are gone forever, and you shouldn't waste your time worrying about them - good riddance.
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| Message: |
Thanks for the insightful reply. Care to share your thoughts about if auditing will fall prey to outsourcing too?
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