When we set up our first outsourced accounting team seven years ago, we recognised that finding competent, skilled and qualified accountants was just the start of the process. We quickly learned that a structured approach to on-boarding, as well as ongoing training and education of our off-shore staff, were going to be key components in ensuring the success of our geographically dispersed team.
Our approach to training
We recently shared our insights into on-boarding of new staff. Now we would like to share a little bit about our approach to ongoing training and education of our off-shore team in the Philippines. Our training programme includes three main components:
- Training by directors and senior staff
- Video and technology-based training modules
- Mentoring
Let’s look at these areas in more detail.
Training by senior management
Group and individual training sessions are run by our Phillipines-based senior staff members and The Back Room directors, Wayne and Scott Findlay who make regular trips from head office in New Zealand.
In a recent trip, Wayne lead enhancement training related to capital and beneficiary distributions, capital gains, and interconnected workpapers on taxation, non deductible expenses, investment income and imputation credits for some of our accounting staff.
When face-to-face is training is not practical, Skype sessions are invaluable and they are a regular part of our training and communication regime.
Training modules
We are making use of technology to create video-based learning tools and we will ultimately have a series of online training modules and quizzes to help off-shore team members understand key concepts. This will be a fantastic resource to measure team members’ learning.
​Mentoring
With the huge learning curve that comes for new candidates we offer assistance by allocating one of our senior team members to review and mentor them after the initial on-boarding period.
More information
Whether you’re an existing client, or thinking about outsourcing for your business, if you would like more information about outsourcing, please get in touch with Wayne, or download one of our white papers.