What is shared services and outsourcing?
Many organisations have moved away from the traditional model of a core offering supported by distinct finance, human resources and IT functions. This helps to achieve economies of scale and drive business process improvements. It has also created some exceptional opportunities for accountancy-qualified professionals:
- Shared services: In a shared services model, the finance, human resources and IT teams are united into a single department. Sometimes called ‘global business services’, this lets accountancy professionals broaden the scope of their role and even move into other fields.
- Outsourcing: Some organisations downsize or remove their own in-house support functions to engage with external service providers in the financial services sector. And because these providers tend to outsource for several organisations, working for one gives you access to a huge amount of variety. It’s also an excellent model on which many accountancy professionals build their own business.
Consider a role in shared services and outsourcing if you're looking to quickly expand your skillset 'on-the-job' and/or future-proof your career. The vast range of different organisations, teams, processes, challenges and technologies you'll be exposed to will indefinitely expand your knowledge keeping you ahead of the curve - and your peers.
Roles in this sector
Explore some of the roles you could undertake in the shared service and outsourcing sector, alongside more general information about the wider skills needed for accounting and finance:
