Offshore staff for accounting firms: how it works in Australia and New Zealand

Three different arrangements get called "offshoring an accounting firm" and they are not the same thing. A named person in your client files is one individual, hired directly or through a managed-hire partner, who works inside your practice on your systems, under your review process, the same way a graduate or a bookkeeper you employ locally would. You know who they are, you brief them directly, and they stay on your engagements.

A BPO seat buys capacity from a business process outsourcing provider that staffs the work from a pool. You get output against a service level, but who actually does the work can rotate, and you may not deal with the same person twice.

An outsourced firm takes a defined task, such as a set of tax returns or a bookkeeping run, and hands back a finished result. You are buying an outcome, not adding capacity to your own team.

Nearhire is the named-person model. The person you hire sits inside your practice, on your client files, and reports to your review chain, whether you employ them directly or through a managed hire where Nearhire is their legal employer in South Africa.

The Tax Practitioners Board has published guidance on outsourcing and offshoring for registered tax and BAS agents, TPB(GS) 31/2018 (formerly TPB(PN) 2/2018). It sets out two things that matter for a practice adding offshore staff: supervision of work done by others under the Code of Professional Conduct, and appropriate disclosure to clients about how their information is handled, including when it is handled offshore.

In practice, most firms cover this with a line in the engagement letter that mentions offshore support and a written access policy describing who can see client data and under what controls. Lodgement, final review and client sign-off stay with your registered BAS or tax agent regardless of where the preparation work happens.

Requirements and guidance change, and how they apply to your practice depends on your specific engagements and client base. Check the current requirement with your compliance adviser before you finalise wording or a rollout date.

Practices tend to move roles offshore in a fairly consistent order. Bookkeeping goes first: reconciliations and ledger maintenance in Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks are well documented, rules-based and easy to review remotely. Accounts payable and receivable follow, once an approval workflow is defined, because invoicing and collections run on a repeatable cadence.

From there, practices add an assistant accountant: journal entries, accruals and balance sheet reconciliations under review. The last role to move is usually a financial accountant, doing technical preparation work under a local CA's sign-off. Statutory sign-off and lodgement never move; only the preparation and review-ready work does.

Indicative. Local bands from published 2026 recruitment-agency guides; Nearhire figure is an estimate confirmed on a call.

South African accounting talent trains through two professional bodies. SAICA (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants) runs the chartered accountant pipeline: a degree, articles at a Big 4 or mid-tier firm, and board exams, the same depth of training an Australian or New Zealand CA goes through. SAIPA (South African Institute of Professional Accountants) trains bookkeepers through to professional accountants on a shorter, more practical path.

A South African CA is admitted to CA ANZ by reciprocal agreement, with no further education, training or examination required. South Africa has run full IFRS since 2005, the same framework Australian and New Zealand statements are prepared under, and English is the working language of training and the workplace throughout. See how the CA ANZ recognition works for the full detail.

Johannesburg sits 8 hours behind Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on standard time, and 9 hours behind during daylight saving (Brisbane doesn't observe it). Perth is 6 hours ahead of Johannesburg year-round, which gives a Perth-based practice the longest natural overlap of any Australian city.

The standard arrangement is a shared overlap, not a matched day: an early Johannesburg start puts the person live with you from your early-to-mid afternoon, with the rest of their shift spent on processing work that doesn't need real-time input. Full Australian-hours coverage, where someone works your local 9-to-5 regardless of what time that falls at in Johannesburg, is available but is a night shift on their end and carries a premium. Confirm and cost that explicitly rather than assuming it as the default.

1. Call. A 20-minute conversation to understand the roles, the systems, and what stays with your local team.
2. Brief. You confirm scope, tools and the hours you actually need; we turn that into a search brief.
3. Shortlist within 7 days. Candidates with a recorded video interview and a practical test in your tools.
4. Interviews. You run them, with the people you choose from the shortlist.
5. Access setup. Role-based logins and two-factor authentication across every system the person will touch, agreed and documented before day one.
6. First month. The person works alongside your existing review process; nothing goes out the door without the usual sign-off.
7. 30-day check-in. A call with you and the person to confirm the arrangement is working and adjust anything that isn't.

• https://www.saica.org.za/members/member-networks/reciprocity-and-affiliations/
• https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/become-a-cpa/pathways/membership-pathways-and-arrangements/south-african-institute-of-chartered-accountants
• https://www.tpb.gov.au/
• https://nearhire.co/for/accounting-firms/

TPB(GS) 31/2018 (formerly TPB(PN) 2/2018), Outsourcing and offshoring of tax services. Checked September 2026. Confirm the current requirement with your compliance adviser before relying on it.