A recent survey of financial executives revealed that companies today are largely adopting finance and accounting outsourcing not for cost savings, as many had done in the past, but to transform the F&A function from a resource and cost intensive support process to an integrated flexible function able to quickly respond to changing business needs.

This major evolution, as well as the drivers for this change and the impact it is having on outsourcing and the F&A function are addressed in the IDC released and Outsource Partners International sponsored whitepaper entitled, “Finance and Accounting Outsourcing: A Proven Road to Achieve Business Results.”

The report found that CFOs and Finance Directors are reassessing their operating models given arduous demands on resources. At the same time, early-stage outsourcing has proven itself and providers’ offerings have matured in expertise, quality and multi-language support. Given this situation, companies have increasingly begun adopting multi and full-service finance and accounting outsourcing strategies with the intent of drastically improving the way in which the finance and accounting function performs.

As a follow-up to the survey, IDC interviewed a number of companies that had adopted F&A outsourcing in order to better understand what benefits they had realized to date. The results supported the survey findings and a sampling of the results disclosed include:

- Reduction in costs from 25-40%
- Faster time-to-process (cash application, invoices, payroll and month-end close)
- Achievement of top-quartile benchmarked process performance around quality and speed
- Ability to react and easily redistribute resources based on transaction volume fluctuations
- Access to network of knowledgeable experts and specialists
- Focus on continuous improvement of all processes
- Allows for consistency of processes across global operations

Clarence T. Schmitz, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Outsource Partners International commented, “While it’s true that the current state of the Finance & Accounting function requires a change in approach, drastic change can be disruptive. Outsourcing not only brings about the necessary change, but companies can choose the degree of impact desired and either transition all at once or gradually over time. By beginning with just several processes and progressively increasing the scope of outsourced services, companies can initiate the necessary changes without serious business disruption.”

The whitepaper, “Finance and Accounting Outsourcing: A Proven Road to Achieve Business Results,” was based upon findings from an IDC produced survey. The survey yielded 715 responses from executives at mid-to-large size businesses across seven European countries. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with eleven companies across the United States and Europe.