While remote work has existed for some time, the coronavirus pandemic has greatly increased its acceptance. Many employees, who are now used to working from home, want to stay away permanently. This has led many companies to switch to remote-only models.

The gig economy is exploding. More and more employees are looking for location-independent opportunities. That means some of the best talent is now only available online. Companies that embrace this new model could find better access to talent than companies that only allow on-site working arrangements in the accounting industry.

That’s a competitive advantage that’s not going away anytime soon.

However, there are many important questions employers have about remote work.

Are there any downsides to renting remote?

Are there positions you should fill personally instead?

Are some tasks better suited for a remote worker than others?

While the answers aren’t set in stone, we’ll give you the information you need to scale your business using remote work.

Is it better to hire remote or on-site workers?

Many in the accounting industry are unsure whether they should be hiring remote workers or just hiring on-site workers. Companies with millions in revenue probably already have employees on site. For them, the question arises as to which roles can be performed remotely.

On the other hand, small businesses may not yet have employees and might find the transition to remote work easier.

Remote work for smaller businesses

Companies with less than $1 million in revenue can find a physical office and on-site work to be a barrier. Why pay for office space when you can get your work done online?

Before you go far away, think about your ultimate goals and what kind of business you want to have in five years. Do you see that your company remains small, under 5 to 10 employees? In this case, a handful of remote workers might be the most cost-effective.

Just keep in mind that there might be pressure to have a more personal presence than a solid scale. Could you imagine your company becoming one of the larger companies in your area with over ten employees? When this happens, managing a team of this size remotely can be difficult.

Because managing a handful of remote team members is different than managing a large, two-person team remotely. It’s also a lot easier to go from in-person to remote than it is from remote to in-person — mostly because you’ll likely be hiring people from different parts of the country.

Remote work for larger companies

As a general rule, many accounting firms can find it a headache to work in a remote environment once they start generating revenue in the $3-5 million range or more. However, you should not necessarily do without remote work opportunities. Just as smaller companies can benefit from not paying additional rent for physical office space, larger companies can reduce some expenses by deploying some or, in rare cases, all of their teams remotely.

Typically, accounting and financial planning firms hire remotely for lower-paying positions that generally require less in-person interaction. When a company gets used to managing a remote worker, it’s easier to expand remote workers because there’s a level of comfort that you’ve already done before. More advanced positions such as accounting manager or tax manager are filled remotely when a company is more willing to take the plunge.

Of course every company is different and we speak in general. Your company may want to dive right into hiring 3-5 remote positions at a time. During the 2020 pandemic, many companies had to go far and make it work, so it certainly can be done! Larger companies moving to remote may have additional considerations like returning IT and equipment, but it’s not nearly as uncommon as it used to be.

How accounting firms can manage remote workers

If the owner of an accounting firm decides to hire external staff, we have a few tips to keep in mind. One problem that can arise with the work-from-home mentality is that some employees prefer to be in bathrobes and have Netflix breaks in the afternoon. In short, remote work can lend itself to flexibility that office workers simply don’t have.

There is an element of secrecy to remote work that, if not managed properly, can lead to reduced productivity.

For this reason, companies that choose to remotely hire should have a system in place where everyone gets to the “office” on time and use some sort of timesheet or project management tool that ensures your field workers are monitored. Slack is a popular choice, but many companies use tools like Asana or Jira. Hiring remotely without holding team members accountable is a recipe for failure.

One tip we strongly recommend is a well-formed new hire onboarding process that walks your remote worker through:

• business goals
• Mission of the company
• corporate culture
• What you do
• What other team members are doing
• Training goals for their growth
• HR manual and rules
• Your expectations of remote work
• The software your company uses

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but enough to get you started. Remote workers need just as much training, if not more than personal attitudes, when it comes to learning how the company works, what services the company offers, and how best to be successful in their role. It helps to have a shared drive of company policies and procedures that remote workers can access at any time.

Provide new remote workers with feedback on what they are doing well and what they are doing wrong, and offer solutions to their problems. You can’t just drop by their cabin all day on how to personalize. So make it a point to reinforce the value of the company and the value it offers when you connect via video conferencing.

In short, when it comes to remote work, providing training and support is key to success, and some managers find this more difficult than in-person hires. So keep that in mind when deciding whether to hire remotely. Ultimately, every accounting firm gets its culture from the founders. It’s up to the leader to create the morale, onboarding process, and goals to help remote workers thrive.

Pro tip: HR tech tools are available to streamline recruitment, assess resumes and onboard smoothly. Once integrated, task management software such as click on can help you keep track of tasks for remote team members. Bamboo HR is another excellent resource for companies with remote workers. Bamboo HR is a hub for employee records, onboarding materials, performance management and manager approvals.

Tools companies use to find remote workers

Common remote work jobs for accounting firms include administrative assistant, accountant, project manager, etc.

Many companies use remote workers for both entry-level and more advanced positions. It all depends on the needs of the company. pages like wishup.co can help match your company with potential employees looking for remote work.

Of course, keep in mind that if you search remotely, you’ll likely have a larger talent pool to choose from. Use too As a matter of fact, glass door, accounting flyand Simply employed Find your ideal candidate.

The benefits of hiring remote workers

Many accounting firms will find that the biggest benefit of hiring remote workers is outsourcing small tasks so the firm owner can focus on growth, client retention, and other “big things.” For example, instead of being busy with data entry, with a remote employee taking care of that task, the business owner can focus on offering value-added strategies to customers like the Augusta rule.

Another advantage of hiring remote talent is the cost. For many accounting business owners, their biggest cost is talent. Outsourcing can offer significant savings for employers.

While it can be harder to outsource CFO work, tax planning, or other high-level services, outsourcing lower-level services like tax preparation, accounting, and other administrative tasks can be much easier. This can buy valuable time, especially for smaller businesses, to focus on revenue-generating services. As many say, time is the most valuable resource you have, right?

Whether you’re hiring in-person or remote help, the bottom line is you need to scale your team. You can’t be a solopreneur with one Top 100 companies. Going far away with your employees is a great way to reduce the cost of renting more physical office space, but most importantly, it can help your business complete necessary tasks so you can maximize your own time.

An investment in talent is an investment with incredible returns.