Afrishore BPO launches FSO unit to combat UK, U.S. talent gap

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Afrishore BPO has launched a dedicated Financial Services Outsourcing (FSO) division aimed at United Kingdom and United States companies struggling with persistent finance talent shortages and rising labor costs. 

The South Africa-based outsourcing firm said the new unit will provide qualified accounting professionals at significantly lower costs while maintaining globally aligned regulatory standards. This marks a strategic push into the fast-growing finance and accounting outsourcing market, which is projected to reach US$110.74 billion by 2030.

The move comes as mid-market firms in Western economies face growing difficulty hiring and retaining finance staff, particularly in bookkeeping, payroll, and financial controller roles.

Offshore finance demand rises amid UK, U.S. talent shortages

Afrishore’s expansion is anchored in what it describes as a widening structural gap in finance hiring across the UK and U.S., where vacancies continue to outpace supply.

“The 41,300 vacancies figure comes from Skills England data, and it understates the problem because it only captures formally reported vacancies,” said Anton Vukic, Vice President of Global Partnerships at Afrishore BPO. 

“It doesn’t capture the roles businesses have stopped advertising because they’ve accepted they won’t fill them,” Vukic added.

Afrishore argues that outsourcing is no longer simply a cost-saving measure but a way to access talent that is increasingly unavailable in domestic markets. 

The company’s FSO division will provide services including bookkeeping, accounts payable and receivable, payroll compliance, management reporting, and financial controller support.

South Africa’s large pool of more than 50,000 SAICA-registered professionals, combined with strong English proficiency and alignment with international accounting standards, is positioned as a core competitive advantage. 

The company also noted that operational costs are typically 55% to 65% lower than equivalent roles in the UK, U.S., and Australia.

SAICA-certified offshore talent targets mid-market finance

Unlike traditional offshore outsourcing models focused on transactional processing, Afrishore is positioning its FSO division as a high-skill professional extension of in-house finance teams. 

Staff includes Chartered Accountants (CA(SA)s) and BCom-qualified graduates regulated under the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), which operates under global IFAC-aligned standards.

The company emphasized that its model is built around dedicated teams rather than shared service pools, allowing for continuity in complex finance functions such as general ledger management and payroll compliance. 

South Africa’s GMT+2 time zone also enables real-time collaboration with UK businesses and partial overlap with the U.S. East Coast working hours.

“The ‘cheap offshore labor’ conversation is twenty years old. What’s changed is the caliber of professional sitting on the other side of the call or the reporting pack,” Vukic said. 

“Afrishore’s FSO division exists to make sure that story reaches the right audience,” Vukic added.

Afrishore said the division is designed to scale with clients, allowing firms to start with basic bookkeeping and expand into full financial controller support without changing providers.

Finance BPO market shifts toward capability-led models

Afrishore’s launch reflects a broader shift in the global business process outsourcing sector, where providers are increasingly competing on professional capability rather than cost alone. 

As finance departments face sustained hiring pressure and rising salary expectations, mid-market firms are turning to offshore partners not just for savings but for operational stability.

“The market was ready to receive a quality-differentiated product – not just a cheaper version of what they were already doing,” Vukic noted, adding that demand for offshore finance services is accelerating as companies reassess workforce strategies.

The global finance and accounting BPO market continues its rapid expansion toward US$110 billion by 2030, driven by structural labor shortages and digital transformation in finance operations. 

Afrishore’s entry signals how offshore providers are repositioning themselves as strategic capability partners rather than back-office cost centers, a shift that could redefine how global finance teams are built over the next decade.

Afrishore BPO is currently subscribed as an Outsource Accelerator (OA) BPO Partner. Through OA’s Marketing, Sales, and Source Partner Hubs, the firm accesses a unified growth platform designed to convert high-intent prospects and accelerate deal flow in the outsourcing industry.