How to outsource annual accounts: a checklist for accounting firms

1. Choose the right first jobs

Start with routine, well-documented entities: companies, sole traders and rental properties with clean bank feeds. Keep complex or unusual clients in-house until you trust the process.

2. Write down your firm's way of doing things

List your workpaper standards, financial statement format, materiality levels and common journals. The clearer your policies, the closer the first job will be to how your own team works.

3. Set up access like a new staff member

Give access to the accounting software, practice management system and document storage the job needs. Keep access limited to what is needed, and remove it when you stop.

4. Check your privacy obligations

Your clients' information will be handled by someone outside your firm. Check your obligations under the Privacy Act 2020 (NZ) or the Australian Privacy Principles, update your engagement letters, and tell your clients. See is outsourcing to AI safe for client data?

5. Agree turnaround and how queries work

Confirm when the clock starts, what happens while a query is waiting on you, and how questions are sent. Written queries create a clear record for the file.

6. Review every job properly

Outsourced work, by people or by AI, can contain mistakes. Your review is the control. Check the workpapers, not just the final numbers.

7. Measure the result

Track review time, number of corrections and turnaround on the first few jobs. That tells you whether outsourcing is saving time and at what price.

Try it on one job

AnnualsAI prepares annual accounts by AI, inside your software, within 5 days of receiving everything we need. Your first job is free. See outsourcing for NZ firms, outsourcing for Australian firms or AI vs offshore outsourcing.