CPA Case Study 1

Production and Quality

• Establishing the key deliverables for accounting and payroll services. Important parameters agreed upon were turn-around time and error rate in bookkeeping
• Non adherence to deliverables as stated in Service Level Agreements would lead to penalty and reduced billing to the outsourcing service provider
• All data was housed in dedicated US server at an international data centre to ensure online connectivity
• Setting up database for following up the progress on deliverables
• Formulating and implementing quality compliance systems
• Setting up a three tier review system to ensure timeliness and accuracy of output

Turnaround Time

• Establishment of turnaround times for all processes and sub processes. So turnaround time were established for accounts payable, receivable and reconciliation processes for the accounting work
• Service timings were changed to ensure two hour over-lap with US counterparts to resolve queries and data-related issues
• Reduction of turnaround time through innovative reporting

e.g. Use of a file tracker system with document identification numbers to clearly highlight missing data or documents. This reduced the time-spent on data-related queries/clarifications.

Responsive Administration

• Updating the Client Regional Account Managers on daily production status
• Communicating information requirements through missing information lists
• Pro-actively following up with the Account Managers and Client Operations Managers on status of information received and setting deadlines so that the client’s minimum production commitments are met
• Updating the online database for reporting status of ongoing projects/work

Process Innovations

• Customized checklists prepared to map the existing accounting practices of the client to ensure minimum start-up time for a new file
• Designing new procedures to reduce processing time and error correction time E.g.: Importing and exporting data between QuickBooks and MS excel
• Study, analyze and improve on the various client-reporting formats to reduce processing time and/or to improve quality of output. E.g.: designing and modification of various Key Performance Indicators (KPI) reports, excel schedules & word document reports

Issues and Challenges

• Irregular flow of data through the month from clients end resulted in skewed work-loads. We handled it through two ways- maintaining a buffer staffing and breaking the process into sub-parts. So a sub-part such as accounts payables related work (regular and predictable expense transactions) was done earlier
• Use of English- Standardized templates for raising queries meant that the communication skills of the operators was restricted to specifying the factual transaction details with relevant date and amounts. This similarity in transactions significantly reduces the scope for error due to miscommunication