For accounting firms that are in the process of outsourcing, a crucial issue is the quality of reporting and meeting delivery timelines. While having multiple resources on the job can seem like an easy fix, a person who is dedicated to your account can simplify things to a large extent. Unfortunately, an important factor that accounting firms often overlook is having a dedicated account manager in outsourcing.
There are numerous benefits to having a dedicated account manager, which include and are not limited to enhanced clarity and accountability. As CPA firms set up their outsourcing processes, a crucial question to ask is whether a dedicated account manager will be on task to communicate significant events as they arise.
This blog explains the role of a dedicated account manager and how they can save accounting firms valuable time and resources.
Why Dedicated Account Managers Result in Personalized Outsourced Accounting
While they might seem like an additional overhead in most outsourcing projects, dedicated account managers add significant value when outsourcing accounting. Here are ten reasons why dedicated account managers should be an integral part of your outsourcing emdeavour.
1. Ownership of Client Ledgers
The individual assigned as the dedicated account manager will create a thorough understanding of how the transactions are recorded, the reasons for utilizing particular accounting treatments, and how prior period adjustments were addressed. Therefore, all future decisions will remain consistent and defensible while at the same time aligned with a client’s history.
Without personalized outsourced accounting, ledger ownership is often rotated between several different managers and/or team members. This creates an inconsistency in the logic used to post, an increase in the number of clarification requests, and uncertainty about how to answer questions concerning past decisions, all increasing the risk of error and the need for rework.
2. Client-Specific Standard Operating Procedures
The dedicated account manager will take the time to document and maintain comprehensive, client-centric accounting services and standard operating procedures for the outsourced team. The procedures will include items such as the utilization of a chart of accounts, specific journal entry process, cut-off policies, closing timelines, and the formatting of reports. Over time, the standard operating procedures will change as the client’s needs change to continue to be aligned with the expectations of the firm.
Without this personalized outsourced accounting, work is typically performed based on generic processes. Client-centric accounting services preferences may exist on an unofficial basis, but they are seldom documented, causing inconsistencies in the execution of the processes and frequent corrective action.
3. Review of Deliverables
When an account manager is dedicated to the engagement, they perform a structured review of all key deliverables including reconciliations, payroll outputs, tax schedules, and financial statements before submission. Because they understand the accounting context, they can identify anomalies, unusual variances, and missing elements that others might overlook.
Without this dedicated review layer, deliverables are often passed through minimal checks or reviewed by individuals unfamiliar with the account, increasing the likelihood that errors or inconsistencies reach your firm.
4. Handling of Exceptions and Adjustments
When there is a full-time Account Manager assigned to an account, it ensures a more structured process on the Account Manager’s part in reviewing every one of the key deliverables, such as reconciliations, payroll output reports, tax schedules, and financial statements, prior to submitting them. Since they have the complete understanding of the account, they are able to discern discrepancies, outliers, and missing elements that others may miss.
Without this extra layer of review, the deliverables will likely only see a minimal number of checks being done or only reviewed by individuals that are not familiar with the account, thus increasing the chance of there being errors or inconsistencies making it to your business.
5. Communication Flow
The dedicated account manager takes ownership of exceptions that occur, such as balancing unreconciled items, misclassified transactions, and missing documentation. They will investigate why the exception occurred and create a record of what happened and what was done about it and ensure that corrective actions are taken for any additional instances of the same or similar issues in future periods. This practice eliminates the recurrence of specific issues and maximizes overall account stability.
Without an assigned account manager, exceptions tend to be resolved in a vacuum, only to meet tight deadlines, without identifying reasons for their occurrence. Consequently, the same issue will often happen on a monthly basis over and over again.
6. Period-End Close Management
Having a dedicated account manager managing your period-end process and making sure they are completing the procedures in your close checklist, monitoring and following up with all tasks listed in the close checklist, and managing overall resources necessary for managing the period-close, means that the entire process will be done thoroughly, ensuring that you aren’t rushing to complete the closing just prior to the final reports being prepared.
Without having the oversight of personalized outsourced accounting, you will often end up going through numerous iterations of trying to coordinate the entire close process on an ad hoc basis, which can lead to long delays, last-minute changes, and increased stress on both the outsource provider as well as your internal team.
7. Continuity During Staff Changes
For your firm, a dedicated account manager creates continuity in the service delivered by the outsource provider, even if the delivery personnel change. The account manager maintains the institutional knowledge and provides for a smooth transition of service through documentation of policies and procedures, as well as providing historical information and context concerning how the service has been performed historically.
Without the assistance of a dedicated account manager, a firm will see that many staffing changes will disrupt the continuity of service, leading to multiple additional trainings and increased likelihood of errors during changeover.
8. Alignment With Firm Standards
A dedicated account manager ensures that the outsourced work is performing to the same internal review standards, preferred software configurations, regulatory compliance, and reporting conventions as set forth by the firm. The account manager serves as a liaison between your firm’s required standards and the outsourced provider’s execution of the services.
Without this alignment process established, the provider will execute based upon their generalized and standardized processes, which may not align with your firm’s standard of service and will create additional work on your part for review and correction of the work performed.
9. Performance Monitoring and Improvement
With a dedicated account manager, performance is monitored over time rather than on a task-by-task basis. Recurring errors, turnaround times, and rework trends are tracked and addressed through structured feedback and process refinement. Without this accountability, issues are corrected individually without any systematic improvement, limiting efficiency gains, and long-term quality improvements.
10. Scaling the Engagement
A dedicated account manager plays a critical role in scaling the engagement by planning increased transaction volumes, additional services, or new client-centric accounting services. They assess resource requirements, adjust workflows, and maintain quality controls as the engagement grows. Without this planning and oversight, scaling becomes reactive, often resulting in inconsistent service levels and reduced output quality.
One of the most common engagement models for CPA firms looking to outsource specialized accounting services is the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) model. In order to get an in-depth understanding of this approach and learn about other outsourcing models to which one can seamlessly integrate with your organizational model best, read FTE Model Outsourcing and Other Models Explained for US CPA Firms.
Key Takeaways
For accounting firms evaluating outsourcing partners, having dedicated account management should be a must. Dedicated account managers provide clear ownership, consistent oversight, and a single point of accountability for client accounts, helping ensure outsourced work aligns with firm-specific standards, processes, and quality expectations.
Firms that outsource without this setup often face disorganized communication, repeated errors, and more internal review efforts that diminish the efficiency benefits outsourcing aims to provide. By choosing partners that offer dedicated account management, firms can expand their services confidently while maintaining accuracy, consistency, and client trust.
