By Alsbridge, Inc.

Finance and accounting business process outsourcing is a logical next step for chief financial officers and controllers considering the next phase of process improvement, especially in leading companies that have already elevated their internal processes to be "best in class." However, F&A outsourcing can be a complex process. Before you outsource your business processes, be sure to take into consideration several key questions that will help your organization successfully outsource your finance and accounting functions. CFOs considering BPO must ask themselves:

• What are my sourcing objectives?
• How do I decide which functions are outsourcing candidates?
• If we make the decision to evaluate the options, how do we proceed from "deciding to decide" to the decision to the actual transformation?
• Is the BPO trend sustainable and a permanent part of the business landscape?
• If true, are there alternatives to outsourcing that will also achieve my objectives and how do they compare?
• Is outsourcing the "last step" in the improvement evolution or simply another step along the journey?

What is clear is that there is no one perfect solution that meets all of a company’s goals for F&A outsourcing. A careful consideration of the strategic fit of all alternatives available within your "toolbox" is the wisest approach. In the final analysis, the "best in class" companies will likely have an optimal mix of offshoring, "near" shoring, "lights out" internal processing, shared services, and outsourced functions.

Once the decision to outsource has been made, the provider has been selected and the contract has been negotiated, managing the client/provider relationship will be instrumental to your F&A outsourcing success. Focusing on the relationship, properly shaping the solution, purposeful governance, restructuring the retained organization, operationalizing the contract, educating your organization on outsourcing and getting third-party assistance will help create a sustainable, long-term relationship with your provider.

This white paper focuses on answering these questions. The F&A BPO trend is sustainable, and many companies continue along that path. However, as with any business process trend, clear pros and cons will become obvious over the long-term that were not readily apparent for the early adopters. A well-documented list of the pros and cons of outsourcing is provided in this white paper.