More than a third of businesses (37 percent) that outsource certain accounting and finance functions have seen productivity gains of more than 10 percent, according to a survey of about 200 firms by Accounting Principals, a firm specializing in the recruitment and placement of accounting and finance professionals.

Of the firms surveyed, 5 percent said their productivity jumped more than 26 percent; 2 percent realized an increase of 21 to 25 percent; 8 percent said productivity rose 16 to 20 percent; 22 percent saw an increase of 11 to 15 percent; 34 percent reported gains of 6 to 10 percent; and 29 percent saw gains of up to 5 percent, Accounting Principals reported.

The functions that are most frequently outsourced, according to the report, are: payroll processing, cited by 47 percent; tax preparation (39 percent); auditing (37 percent); tax analysis (20 percent) and accounts payable (18 percent).

According to the survey results, the top reasons firms outsource finance and accounting functions are: to reduce operating costs (38 percent), to retain outside expertise (28 percent); the functions aren't the firm's core competency (27 percent); difficulty recruiting or retaining finance staff (19 percent); to generate or improve management efficiencies (18 percent).

-- SmartPros News Staff

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