The Hidden Benefits of Outsourcing | Onside Accounting
Included in this blog
- Why Our Biggest Clients Don’t Build Finance Teams
- Financial Expertise That Grows With You
- Key Person Risk and Management Overhead
- Integration, Speed and Efficiency
- Flexibility
- Wider Support and Scope of Servicing
- Process Maturity
- Continuing the Conversation
Why Our Biggest Clients Don’t Build Finance Teams
A slide from our Services Overview that we’re fond of sharing details the growth stages of a typical client from incorporation, through several funding rounds and milestones, to Series B and C. It’s understandable that businesses that have raised significant funds at Series A want to ramp up their headcount in all areas, including finance, viewing it as a sign of maturity, but is this really what’s best for their business?
Financial Expertise That Grows With You
Whenever we hear news of our clients successfully closing their latest round, of course we’re delighted for them. Working closely with them as a natural extension of their business, we get to know the individuals as we support them along their journey, seeing first-hand how much energy they put into their endeavours.
While we’re often expecting a conversation at that stage around plans to bring their finance function in-house and reduce our involvement to compliance work, we’re often pleasantly surprised by their thinking around maintaining and growing our existing relationship with them.
Let’s look at why this is the case…
Key Person Risk and Management Overhead
In a finance function of a few people, one leaver can have a significant impact on operations and put the remainder of the team under real pressure. Hiring is labour-intensive in itself, as is ongoing performance management, and even three-month notice periods will likely still leave a gap between one person leaving and their replacement joining.
In addition, businesses often make junior hires to manage accounts payable (AP), for example, which are vulnerable to high staff turnover yet can be readily and efficiently outsourced instead – Onside offers support with managing payment runs using Apron, a best-in-class technology solution that significantly improves the AP process.
Outsourcing finance shifts key person risk to your chosen provider, who will invariably be better positioned to absorb the impact of an individual leaving your service team, saving you valuable time and ensuring continuity of operations in this critical area of your business.
Integration, Speed and Efficiency
Following on from the above, the responsibility for training and development of the individuals working on your account largely sits with your provider, once more saving time as well as the cost of supporting continuing professional development.
Onside’s approach to date has been to hire staff in anticipation of growth, rather than as a reaction to it, therefore being ready to service new business as opportunities arise, rather than bringing it in and then figuring out how to service it after the fact. Our teams are well accustomed to onboarding, with over 50 new clients having joined us in 2025 to date, such that they grasp detail quickly, are fluent in the use of our technology solutions and deliver a high standard of service from the outset of our engagements.
“It genuinely feels like Onside is an extension of our internal team. It’s rare to find an accounting partner that combines technical expertise with this level of responsiveness and care.”
Ambra Zhang, Co-Founder and CEO, Juniper
Flexibility
We understand that high-growth startups will experience fluctuations in resource requirements on their journey, and outsourcing the finance function allows for team members to be easily allocated or removed as necessary and at short notice. This might be temporary, such as to support a short-term project requiring finance support, or permanent, where closing a funding round sees a spike in transaction activity and payroll headcount.
In either case, the outsourcing model provides for agility and responsiveness in meeting the needs of your business in a cost-effective manner, that it isn’t possible to achieve through temporary or contract hires and the expensive agency fees that typically accompany them. Our model is designed to feel like an in-house finance team but at a lower cost and with a broader range of expertise.
Wider Support and Scope of Servicing
Hiring a finance team that is capable of meeting all of the financial and compliance challenges of a business without resorting to external support is extraordinarily difficult and costly to achieve. A good outsourced provider, by contrast, will be able to support your business in most areas, and possess a quality extended network to make recommendations with respect to any niche technical matters.
Our clients typically avail of multiple service lines beyond day-to-day accounting support, receiving advice from us on R&D tax credits, SEIS and EIS eligibility, EMI schemes, and transfer pricing, amongst other matters. By 2026, we will have the ability to service US entities to the same extent that we currently service those in the UK, supporting the growing number of clients with US expansion plans.
“Having everything from accounting to VAT and R&D claims covered under one roof makes things so much easier for us as a growing business.”
Michael Hart, Co-Founder and CEO, Teal
Process Maturity
Many in-house finance functions fail where their systems, processes and documentation fail to keep pace with the growth of their business, which is a significant risk to the success of high-growth startups. Businesses might operate for years in this fashion, making payroll and keeping the lights on, only to find that a critical process fails one day and the recovery is onerous, or that the business is unprepared, to say the least, for the rigour of an external audit.
Outsourcing provides immediate access to proven, scalable processes underpinned by best-in-class technology solutions, capable of supporting your business as it grows, enabling you to meet investor and regulatory requirements, to make informed decisions based on reliable, timely financials, and to provide you with peace of mind.
Continuing the Conversation
We’d love to hear your perspective and experiences of outsourcing your finance function.
Please contact Mike Scott, Commercial Director, at mike.scott@onsideaccounting.com for more information. You can connect with Mike on LinkedIn here https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-scott-ca/
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