The Demand for Professional Knowledge as a Key Factor of the Development of Outsourcing of Financial and Accounting Services in Poland

Abstract

abstract. The access to professional knowledge and specialists' skills is possible for small enterprises thanks to the outsourcing of services. Purpose -The aim is to analyse the reasons for the outsourcing of accounting services and the factors influencing the choice of the accounting office. The specific aim is to evaluate the entrepreneur's benefits resulting from using the knowledge of the specialists providing outsourcing services. Design/metodology/approach -A questionnaire survey was conducted among 120 entrepreneurs who outsource accounting services in the Podlaskie Region in Poland. Findings -The most important factors influencing the entrepreneur's cooperation with the accounting office are: high quality of services resulting from the competence of the employees of the office, the range of services offered by the company, advising on finance management, correctness of tax accounting, the possibility of using additional services. Due to high competitiveness, the demand for professional knowledge influences the development of the outsourcing of financial and accounting services to a greater degree than the price of the services offered by the accounting offices Keywords: outsourcing of financial and accounting services, human capital, demand for professional knowledge, entrepreneur.JEL Classification: L21, M21, M12.

Accounting Outsourcing Issues

“…According to Maelah et al (2012) accounting outsourcing means transferring a part of the accounting functions to the third party providers or fully owned subsidiaries in order to cut cost, gain access to scarce skills or obtain competitiveness. Bagienska (2016) argues that the two main reasons for accounting outsourcing: the first is economic inefficiency of creating one's own financial-accounting department in the case of small-sized companies and another reason is the lack of an employee who has proper accounting knowledge, competences and qualifications.…”

“…Cullinan and Zheng (2017) found a positive relationship between accounting outsourcing and audit lag. Bagienska (2016) points out that among the advantages of the outsourcing of financial-accounting services, it is possible to mention the reduction of the operational costs resulting from the specialization and outer provider's scale benefit, saving time and resources, and the access to specialized technologies.…”

“…Dekker et al (2018) argue that the negotiating and drafting outsourcing contracts is costly and presents firms with a cost-benefit trade-off. Bagienska (2016) shows that disadvantages of accounting outsourcing are: the lack of current access to books of account, the lack of information on the financial situation of the company from the accounting service provider, the lack of financial analyses of liquidity, profitability and indebtedness measurement among the services which are offered.…”

“…Accounting outsourcing has been investigated (Agburu et al 2017;Auzair et al 2013;Bagienska, 2016;Barrar et al 2002;Cullinan and Zheng, 2017;Everaert et al 2010;Hadrovic Zekic et al 2018;Maelah et al 2010;Maelah et al 2012;Nicholson and Aman, 2012) from the different perspectives. Some of those studies provide an insight on advantages and disadvantages of accounting outsourcing (e.g.…”

Inovação Tecnológica Em Escritórios De Contabilidade: Confiabilidade, Complexidade Na Execução De Serviços E Eficiência Organizacional

“…O estudo se justifica ainda pela necessidade dos escritórios contábeis em possuir um quadro funcional qualificado e que consiga se adaptar em meio a revolução tecnológica (Bagieńska, 2016;França, 2018). Desta forma, ao correlacionar as características inerentes aos escritórios, como o número de funcionários por exemplo, com os fatores condicionantes ou impeditivos da inovação tecnológica, promove-se subsídios teóricos e gerenciais para compreender como os escritórios em diferentes estágios de amadurecimento se comportam perante a inovação tecnológica (Morais, Silva & Araújo, 2012;Reis & Silva, 2020;Tysiac & Drew, 2018).…”