Accounting and Finance: Hiring Remotely to Save Costs

Finding skilled accounting and finance talent is a constant challenge for many businesses.

By leveraging remote staffing solutions to access qualified professionals abroad, companies can achieve significant cost savings compared to local hires.

In this article, we'll explore how sourcing accountants and financial analysts from regions with favorable exchange rates and lower salaries can offer major financial benefits. You'll learn best practices for partnering with specialized staff augmentation providers to securely recruit and manage remote teams with needed accounting skill sets.

Introduction: The High Costs of Local Accounting Talent

Businesses seeking skilled accounting and finance professionals often face challenges finding the right talent at an affordable cost when recruiting locally. From salaries to overhead, building out an in-house finance team can become an expensive endeavor.

Exploring the Finance vs Accounting Salary Dilemma

When reviewing potential local hires for accounting and finance roles, salaries tend to be a key economic factor. On average, those specializing in corporate finance earn higher base pay compared to accountants. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, financial analysts earned a median salary of $81,590 in 2019, while accountants and auditors earned $71,550. This pay disparity highlights a dilemma businesses face when deciding which roles to prioritize. There are tradeoffs to consider regarding qualifications, responsibilities, and budget.

The Administrative Burdens of Local Hires

In addition to salary expenses, employing local accounting and finance talent saddles businesses with further costs. From payroll processing fees to benefits packages, the overhead involved isn’t trivial. There are also demanding HR obligations around sourcing viable candidates, onboarding new hires, and ensuring continued legal compliance. As teams scale, these administrative burdens increasingly divert focus from core business operations.

Is accounting and finance a hard major?

Accounting is considered more difficult than finance as an undergraduate major due to the precise math and strict discipline required. While finance also utilizes quantitative skills, accounting relies on defined arithmetic principles across various subdisciplines like financial accounting, managerial accounting, tax accounting, and auditing.

Students pursuing accounting degrees must have strong attention to detail to properly categorize financial transactions and produce accurate financial statements. The regulatory standards in accounting also require students to rigorously apply specific guidelines. Finance allows slightly more flexibility and room for subjective analysis when making investment decisions or managing portfolios.

Overall, both majors are challenging. But accounting's reliance on technical skills and defined standards typically make it a tougher undergraduate major versus finance. Students who excel at math, enjoy structure, and have an analytical mindset tend to thrive in accounting programs. Supplementing an accounting degree with practical work experience can make graduates very appealing for corporate finance or public accounting roles.

Is accounting and finance a good degree?

Choosing an accounting and finance career path means you will have the skills to work in a profession that is constantly in high demand. Companies from all industries require accountants and finance professionals to manage their finances.

Accounting and finance degrees open doors to many lucrative career opportunities. Accountants are always needed to prepare financial statements, file taxes, manage budgets, and provide vital financial insights to guide business decisions. Similarly, finance roles like financial analysts, controllers, treasurers, and CFOs are critical for planning investments, securing funding, maximizing profits, and enabling company growth.

As per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment for accountants and auditors is projected to grow by 6% between 2021-2031, faster than the average across all occupations. Strong demand stems from globalization, regulatory changes, and entities seeking to maximize efficiency and profits. Most finance occupations are also expected to grow at 6-11% over the next decade.

With stable high-growth prospects, good accounting and finance degrees deliver excellent return on investment. They open pathways to intellectual stimulation, job security, rising pay, and career advancement. The average national salary for accountants and auditors was $77,250 in 2021, with the top 10% earning over $132,000. Finance roles like financial managers earned a median pay of $134,180 in 2021.

For those reasons, accounting and finance remains a consistently smart degree choice with a promising future. Partnering with specialized staffing agencies like Vintti further enables businesses to tap into top remote talent in these fields to drive cost savings and operational efficiency.

Which degree is better accounting or finance?

Both accounting and finance offer promising career paths, but there are some key differences to consider when deciding between the two degrees.

Career Options

The field of finance provides more versatility when it comes to potential career choices. Common jobs with a finance degree include financial analyst, investment banker, portfolio manager, and risk manager. However, the work can be less predictable as finance careers often depend heavily on economic conditions and financial markets.

Accounting careers tend to be more stable and predictable. Common accounting career paths are financial accounting, management accounting, auditing, and tax accounting. While there may be fewer options compared to finance, accounting roles are always in demand thanks to steady regulatory requirements and continuous business operations.

Earning Potential

In some cases, careers in finance may offer higher pay potential, especially for jobs in investment banking, hedge funds, venture capital firms, and private equity firms. However, these high paying finance jobs also expect longer hours and high-pressure work.

Accounting salaries may start lower than finance but have the potential to rise steadily over time as you gain specialized expertise and credentials like a CPA certification. Accounting careers offer comfortable, middle-class salaries with reasonable work-life balance.

So while finance presents more options and accounting provides stability, both degrees lead to good careers. Consider your own interests, aspirations, and temperament when deciding which one is the better fit for you. Proper planning and networking can open doors in either field.

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Is financial accounting a good major?

Pursuing an accounting major is an excellent choice for many students. The field offers strong career prospects in terms of job availability, salary potential, and growth.

Why Study Accounting?

There are several key benefits to majoring in accounting:

• High Demand: Accounting skills are always in demand. Businesses need qualified professionals to handle essential finance and bookkeeping tasks. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects over 200,000 accounting job openings in the next decade.
• Strong Salaries: Accountants earn excellent wages. The median salary for accountants and auditors is over $73,000 per year. High-level positions like controllers and CFOs can earn well into six figures.
• Job Security: Accounting is a recession-proof field. Businesses need accountants regardless of economic conditions to comply with financial regulations. This makes layoffs less likely.
• Advancement Opportunities: With an accounting degree, professionals can progress to manager, controller, CFO, or other leadership roles. Some accountants even start their own firms.

So for job seekers interested in business, finance, numbers, or data analysis, an accounting major offers a reliable path to a rewarding, well-compensated career. The accounting and finance field continues to expand with innovations in financial technology, adding even more long-term opportunities.

Sourcing Remotely for Significant Savings

Here we dive into the global talent pool and cost advantages of hiring remote accounting staff based in South America.

Abundant Supply of Qualified Accountants

South American countries like Colombia, Argentina, and Peru have a deep talent pool of credentialed accountants and CPAs looking for remote work opportunities. These professionals possess qualifications like:

• Degrees and certifications in accounting, finance, business administration
• Expertise in US GAAP and IFRS standards
• Fluency in English
• Cultural alignment with US companies

For example, Colombia produces over 8,000 qualified accountants every year. Many of them obtain further credentials like the CPA to make themselves more employable abroad.

With this steady supply of qualified talent, businesses can easily source from this pool to fill their accounting and finance positions. Instead of struggling to find local candidates with niche skills, they can leverage this global abundance of specialized professionals in South America eager for remote roles.

Favorable Exchange Rates and Lower Salaries

Hiring remotely from South American countries also enables significant payroll savings due to:

• Favorable exchange rates - Conversion rates between USD and local currencies stretches salaries.
• Lower cost of living - Day-to-day expenses are much lower in these countries.
• Competitive job markets - High supply of professionals keeps salaries grounded.

For the same role, businesses can realize 50% or higher savings in total payroll costs by hiring remotely from South America instead of locally.

Rather than overspending on local hires, these exchange rate dynamics create win-win situations for both employers and remote staff. Companies contain personnel budgets while professionals earn attractive salaries.

Specialized Skills for Specific Accounting Needs

The deep talent pool in South America contains accounting and finance professionals with specialized skills tailored to all business needs:

• Financial reporting -Closing books, preparing statements, reconciling accounts
• Budgeting and forecasting - Building operating budgets, modeling growth plans
• Payroll and bookkeeping - Processing payments, tracking income and expenses
• Data analysis- Identifying trends and insights in financial data
• Audit and compliance - Ensuring adherence to laws and regulations

So whether businesses need support on day-to-day accounting operations or strategic initiatives, they can find professionals with the exact relevant backgrounds and capabilities by tapping this rich remote talent pool.

Sourcing remotely from South America solves pressing hiring pain points with access to affordable, specialized accounting talent supporting all facets of finance operations and strategy. Rather than struggling with local hiring, businesses can tap into this deep global pool to efficiently meet their accounting and finance staffing needs.

Leveraging Staff Augmentation Partners

Staffing agencies like Vintti specialize in recruiting, screening, and providing ongoing management for remote accounting and finance talent. By leveraging these partners, businesses can easily access pre-vetted specialists to fill open roles or augment existing teams. This enables significant time and cost savings compared to traditional hiring processes.

Outsourced Recruiting and Screening

Vintti leverages relationships with top universities, networks of professionals, and specialized recruiting practices to source candidates from across South America aligned to unique accounting and finance needs. Their rigorous screening process evaluates technical skills, soft skills, English fluency, work eligibility, and cultural fit. This provides assurance to clients that any candidate presented meets key criteria for the role.

Some benefits of outsourcing recruiting and screening through staffing partners like Vintti include:

• Access to Specialized Talent Pools: Partners have existing relationships and networks to source candidates with specific skill sets that match unique needs. This includes expertise in areas like US GAAP, revenue recognition, consolidation, budgeting, and more.
• Significant Time Savings: Outsourced recruiting by dedicated staffing experts reduces the hours spent screening candidates by 75-90%. This enables clients to focus on core operations.
• Assurance of Quality Candidates: Rigorous pre-screening aligns candidates with key technical and soft skills needed to integrate smoothly into teams and workflows.

Ongoing Management and Support

Beyond recruiting, Vintti provides extensive ongoing management and support for accounting and finance professionals added to a team:

Administrative Tasks

• Payroll Processing
• Benefits Management
• Tax Compliance
• Timesheet Tracking

Performance Management

• Productivity Monitoring
• Skills Development
• Performance Evaluations

This enables in-house teams to focus on high-value tasks instead of administrative upkeep. It also ensures optimal productivity and output from remote staff.

For clients, outsourcing these management functions to staffing experts provides:

• Operational Efficiencies: By reducing administrative tasks, bandwidth focuses on core operations.
• Performance Oversight: Proactive tracking and management from staffing partners keeps productivity and output aligned with expectations.
• Flexibility: Support functions can scale up or down based on evolving business needs.

Flexible Staffing Models

Vintti offers flexible arrangements to meet unique needs and budgets:

• Fractional Roles: Covering partial needs like closing support for 10-25 hours per week.
• Temp-to-Hire: Contract talent works on initial projects or peak periods with the option to convert high performers to full-time over time.
• Dedicated Roles: Ongoing full-time equivalents integrated as seamless extensions of the team.

These flexible arrangements allow businesses to adapt their accounting and finance functions to scale efficiently alongside evolving operational needs and budgets. The ability to leverage world-class talent in a customized manner provides game-changing workforce flexibility.

Conclusion: Embracing Remote for Financial Efficiency

We'll conclude by recapping how leveraging South American talent can enable major payroll savings without sacrificing specialty skills or service quality, and addressing the finance vs accounting salary considerations for cost-effective staffing.

Significant Cost Savings Across Borders

Hiring remote accounting staff from regions with lower costs of living can lead to substantial budget reductions. For example, businesses may save 30-50% on talent acquisition and ongoing payroll expenses by working with specialized staffing agencies to find qualified candidates in countries like Colombia, Argentina, Brazil or Mexico. The finance vs accounting salary differential is significant - local US hires often demand $60K+ whereas partner agencies can provide comparable talent for $30-40K annually. Without sacrificing quality, businesses realize major savings that benefit the bottom line.

Access to Specialized Talent and Skills

In addition to attractive base pay rates, expanding the talent search outside traditional geographies grants access to a deep pool of qualified candidates. This includes accounting professionals with specializations that are challenging to source locally like audit, financial reporting, FP&A, Big 4 experience and more. Many have advanced credentials such as CPAs or MBAs. By leveraging staff augmentation models, businesses can easily scale teams up and down to meet demands for niche skill sets.

Flexible and Scalable Resourcing

The on-demand nature of staff augmentation arrangements allows for right-sized accounting and finance teams that flex to meet changing business needs. Rather than carrying excess internal headcount through ups and downs, companies can add or reduce remote staff to stay lean. This agility lets management focus resources on core operations instead of recruiting and talent management. The specialized on-site coordinators handle all HR duties for the remote personnel.