The Pros and Cons of Audit Support Outsourcing

Audit support outsourcing is the practice of hiring an external vendor to handle your firm’s back-end audit operations. If you’re interested in outsourcing this service, it’s good practice to weigh its pros and cons first based on your firm’s actual setup, budget, and preparedness. 

To help you make the right call, let's run through the positive and negative sides of audit support outsourcing services. 

Check this out: Outsourcing for Audit Firms [A Complete Guide] 

The pros: Benefits of audit support outsourcing

Audit firms outsource back-office support for two main reasons: 1) to increase operational capacity and 2) to cut costs.  

If you’re eyeing the same goals, you’re heading in the right direction.  

Here are the key benefits of outsourcing audit support services, and how these benefits were made possible. 

1. Increased operational capacity

Your team can only do so much, regardless of how competent they are. Once they exceeded the standard employee utilization rate of 70%-80%, their performance will start to suffer due to burnout. Several factors can push them to their limits. It can be the busy season, additional service requests from clients, increasingly complex audit regulations, or a rise in client volume that throws your firm’s staff to client ratio off balance. 

An outsourced audit support team helps your in-house auditors meet these expectations. The former can handle the groundwork required in the three stages of audit (i.e., Planning, Execution, and Conclusion). This can include tasks like risk assessment procedures, test of controls, review of board minutes, and preparation of audit closing meeting 
materials, among others. Once the necessary materials are ready, your auditors can then complete the process, particularly the client-facing tasks. 

Through this setup, you can cut your auditors’ workload by half; thus, giving them the extra capacity to deal either with additional front-end tasks or handle more urgent work. 

2. Wider reach of audit talent

If your firm struggles in hiring qualified talent, outsourcing can give you an easy way out. Of course, it isn’t just another band-aid solution that offers a temporary fix.  

If done with proper planning, and if you follow outsourcing best practices, you can use it as a permanent solution to cope with the ongoing accountant shortage. 

You might be interested: Why Offshore Talent Sourcing Helps Scale Your Accounting Practice 

This benefit is directly tied to the first item on our list. With outsourcing, you can increase your ability to hire, which is critical in expanding your operational capacity.

In fact, a US-based audit firm had first-hand experience of its effectiveness. To read how outsourced audit support services work in an actual business setting, you can access their case study here: US Firm Resolved Talent Gaps Through Outsourcing. 

3. Scalability during peak seasons

Audit season often brings a surge in workload.

To deal with it, you might feel tempted to hire new in-house auditors just so you can meet your deliverables within the deadline. But this approach is often expensive and time-consuming.

Outsourcing helps you address this. Service providers can give you immediate access to additional resources when you need them most. Once the busy season is over, you can adjust the level of service or the number of hours they provide.

D&V Philippines, for instance, offers seasonal audit support services to help audit firms meet peak audit season demands. To learn more, read this whitepaper.  

4. Access to provider’s audit proficiency and efficiency

Outsourcing providers often have teams trained in U.S. GAAP, IFRS, and PCAOB standards. They understand the technical requirements and can handle complex documentation tasks accurately.  

On top of their auditors’ technical proficiency, outsourcing vendors also invest in technology and process improvements. This way, they can maintain the efficiency of their service delivery.

Being in the same line of business, most vendors understand your goal of providing the importance of excellent client service. They aim to give you a top-notch service just as you aim to do the same for your clients. 

5. Extended availability

Most audit support outsourcing companies are from Asian countries like India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The time difference in these areas can work in favor of your business by adding working hours to your business processes.

A number of audit tasks can be relayed to your audit support outsourcing partner by the end of your business hours and receive the completed documents by the start of the next business day.   

6. Reduced employer responsibilities

Outsourced audit professionals are not your legal employees, which means less employer obligations for you. 

Read Next: Key Differences Between Employee vs Independent Contractor vs Outsourcing 

When you outsource, you enter into a contract with another entity, agreeing that you’ll receive services from them in exchange for a certain amount. 

The work they’ll provide is outlined in the service level agreement (SLA) you signed and will be delivered by their staff. During the duration of the contract, you can either work with your outsourced staff directly or entrust the management of the entire operation to the service provider.

This setup reduces any risk of misclassifying workers. It doesn’t increase your responsibilities as an employer as well since your chosen service provider will be the one shouldering this liability. 

7. Higher cost savings

There are several reasons why outsourced audit support comes at a lower cost. These include: 

• Lower cost of labor wages, especially when you’re outsourcing to offshore countries. 

• More flexible setup vs hiring an employee since you can get audit support services in an hourly, part-time, full-time, or project-based setup. 

• You no longer need to invest in additional office space, equipment, and utilities. 

• You’re not liable to pay additional taxes and government contributions as well. 

• You can also save from high recruitment fees since the service provider will take care of the entire process for you. 

All these factors result in significant cost savings and make outsourced audit support a more cost-effective alternative to traditional hiring. 

Take the time to assess these benefits. Based on your goals and the challenges you’re facing, are these the same benefits you’re trying to achieve? Will these add value to your current operations? If yes, then outsourcing might be for you. 

But don’t let go of your skepticism yet. 

You must also be aware of the potential downsides of audit support outsourcing. This way, you can see for yourself if the benefits we just discussed are worth the risk, and if it’s even possible to manage them. 

The cons: Disadvantages of audit support outsourcing

No business activity is perfect, just like outsourcing. Despite its benefits, it can also have its own set of drawbacks. But like any other risks, these drawbacks can be managed, especially if you’re aware of them from the start. 

1. Communication and coordination issues

Communication and coordination issues are among the main trade-offs of outsourcing audit support services.  

Outsourcing means working with auditors who may be located on the other side of the world. Since they’re not physically present in your office, communication and coordination may not always happen in real-time. 

Most service providers, such as D&V Philippines, address this by adjusting their schedules based on the client's time zone. At the start of the engagement, they coordinate the client’s preferred schedule to find the best workaround.

For example, an outsourced audit team from the Philippines may work the night shift to match a US client’s 12-hour time difference. Other teams, on the other hand, follow a shifting schedule to ensure staff availability across time zones. In some cases, clients agree to have at least a few overlapping hours with their outsourced team. This allows both sides to communicate within a shared window of time. It can also be a good setup since it extends the firm’s usual working hours. 

2. Adjustments in your audit service deliver

Adding outsourcing to your firm’s process requires you to adjust how you deliver your audit services. 

Aside from quality service delivery, your in-house staff are also expected to make adjustments to how they perform their roles. This means that you need to spend time training both your in-house and outsourced talents in catering to your overall process adjustments from software, service-level agreements, communication, and working lines. 

3. Possible data security risks

Working with a service provider with weak data security can put your sensitive business information at risk. This becomes an even bigger concern when you outsource audit support services because you’ll need to share confidential client data with your outsourced auditors.

To prevent this, you must choose an audit support service provider with strong data security measures. It’s also good practice to look for ISO certifications and insist on having strict non-disclosure agreements (NDA) and secure file transfer protocols.

Be critical as well of all the pieces of information and access privileges you share with your outsourced team, especially during the onboarding process.

4. Limited control over processes

Your outsourced team often operates from remote locations and follows the service provider’s internal workflow. Because of this, you may not always have full visibility over how they do their tasks. 

You can address this by aligning your processes with the service provider before the actual engagement even begins. Once you reach an agreement, the service provider can adjust their audit process to fit your standards as closely as possible.

As the partnership progresses, you can assess what works and what should change to ensure your team’s full integration with your firm.

Having clear guidelines and constant communication can reduce any gaps in your audit workflows. When you set expectations early in the process, it’ll be easier for both sides to manage the workload and maintain work consistency. 

5. Vendor reliability concerns

When you rely on an external provider, your audit timelines and deliverables may be affected by their performance. Inconsistent output, poor communication habits, slow workflows, and frequent staff turnover, for instance, can disrupt your workflow and affect the quality of your audit engagements. 

This isn’t a good thing, especially during the busy season. 

To protect your firm, make sure to review the provider’s track record before signing any agreement. Look at their service history, client testimonials, attrition rate, and internal quality controls. Doing so will help you choose a provider that can support your audit needs without disrupting your operations. 

6. Cultural and compliance alignment issues

An outsourced team usually comes from an offshore country. Their work culture, communication styles, and expectations may be different from what you’re used to. 

The same goes for compliance. Outsourced auditors may follow practices based on their local standards, which might not fully match the regulations and audit requirements in your market. Without clear guidance, this can lead to inconsistencies in documentation or review procedures. 

Must read: Cultural Alignment: A Must for Outsourcing Partnership 

The best way to address this is to train your team based on your actual requirements. Immerse them in your culture, either through letting them visit your office, encouraging them to participate in your meetings and other culture-related activities, teaching your firm’s workflow, and sharing your firm’s regulatory obligations. 

7. Hidden costs

While outsourcing often leads to lower labor costs, there may be additional fees that are not always obvious at the beginning. These can include charges for extra hours, added responsibilities, software access, or changes in the scope of work. 

For example, you may need to pay more if you request additional reviewers during peak season or if the engagement requires specialized audit tools. Some providers may also charge extra for rush work, expanded deliverables, or new service requirements that were not part of the original agreement. 

Service providers usually explain these charges during onboarding, but the details may still vary depending on your setup. This is why it’s important to review the contract carefully and clarify which services are included in the base rate. 

To avoid surprises, make sure the pricing structure is clear before the engagement starts. Ask about possible add-on fees, scope of changes, and overtime charges. This will help you plan your budget better and prevent unexpected costs as the work progresses. 

Being aware of potential outsourcing issues will help you make a more informed decision. When you know the risks and how to address them, you can decide if outsourcing is the right choice for your firm. 

The best outsourcing practice starts with due diligence

Before you partner with any service provider, it’s important to take the time to understand who they are, what they offer, and how they work. Through this, you can assess whether they can support your audit needs and match the standards your firm expects.

During the due diligence process, you can request information about a pilot project, sample work papers, testimonials from existing clients, or details on how they train their accountants.

It also helps to review their security measures, certifications, and communication processes.

We've put together a complete due diligence process (with downloadable checklists and forms) to guide you through this process. You can check it out below. 

Let’s see if we’re the service provider you’re looking for

Now that you know what to look for in an audit support partner, the next step is to see if we match the standards you expect.

Learn more about our services by talking to our experts.

In case you aren’t ready for a call yet, assess our capabilities instead. Here’s a free e-book you can use: Outsource with Caution: An Outsourcing Due Diligence Handbook. Our legal team and accounting experts will be more than happy to provide any documents and supporting information you’d like to review. 

This post was first published on 18 September 2018 and has been updated since then for relevancy and comprehensiveness.

Last edited on 15 December 2025

Edited and updated by: Mary Milorrie Campos