Offshoring fails on process, not skill: op-ed
- Offshoring failures stem from implementation, not model viability
- Chandu Nagarajan names seven common implementation failure drivers
- Poor onboarding and inadequate monitoring rank among top causes
- Madras Accountancy’s Nagarajan is a former Big Four professional
CHENNAI, INDIA — Offshoring failures in United States accounting firms are driven by implementation breakdowns rather than the viability of the offshoring model itself, with expectation gaps, poor onboarding, and inadequate monitoring identified as the primary causes behind firms concluding that offshoring does not work for them.
Seven implementation failures drive offshoring breakdowns in accounting
Chandu Nagarajan, senior vice president of client relationships and strategy at Madras Accountancy and a former Big Four professional, wrote in Accounting Today that “offshoring didn’t work for us can mean different things to different firms,” identifying expectation misalignment, quality concerns, communication gaps, and poor onboarding and integration as the most common causes of breakdown.
Nagarajan identified inadequate monitoring, resource continuity problems, and wrong provider selection as three additional failure drivers that accounting firms encounter when offshore engagements break down.
The op-ed argues that firms often conclude offshoring does not work without first diagnosing which specific implementation step caused the failure.
Partnership model, not vendor model, determines offshoring success
“It was how offshoring was done that caused the failure rather than offshoring itself,” Nagarajan wrote, drawing on his Big Four background and subsequent work in the accounting talent and capacity sector.
Structured onboarding, defined monitoring ownership, and inclusive communication practices such as firm-wide town halls and internal discussions separate failed offshore engagements from successful long-term ones, the op-ed argues.
“Offshoring works best when both parties are equally invested in making it a success,” Nagarajan wrote, recommending honest capability assessment by providers and recognition paths for high performers, including onsite opportunities.
The implementation failures Nagarajan identifies connect directly to the sourcing case for offshore outsourcing and business process outsourcing (BPO), where established delivery models build expectation-setting, onboarding, and monitoring structures into the engagement framework from the start.
When accounting firms select top BPO companies worldwide with mature integration frameworks, the seven failure modes Nagarajan describes become process-controlled rather than people-dependent.
Nagarajan’s Accounting Today op-ed confirms that offshoring failures in accounting are a function of implementation quality, not model viability.
For enterprise buyers evaluating offshore accounting capacity, provider selection should weight governance structures, onboarding maturity, and monitoring capability over cost metrics alone.
BPO operators with structured talent integration models and defined escalation paths are positioned to capture accounting mandates from firms that have written off offshoring following first-cycle implementation failures.
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- Firms turn to outsourcing as accounting talent crisis worsens: survey · 10 Jul 2025
- Edward Jones confirms India outsourcing amid U.S. staff cuts · 1 Apr
Disclosure: Outsource Accelerator uses AI tools in the backend of its editorial workflow. Every article is reviewed and verified by a human editor before publication.
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