Short answer: the first month with an offshore team decides whether it saves your January or adds to it. Sign the UK GDPR paperwork before any client data moves, give each person their own login, start with one or two simple clients, review every file, and measure four numbers at the end of week four before you add more work.
Practices that start outsourcing in November usually do it for the same reason: Self Assessment and March year-ends are coming and a hire will not be ready in time. That leaves about four weeks to get a new team working properly before the peak. This checklist is how we run that month with UK practices. If you are still deciding what to hand over at all, start with what to outsource first.
Before day one: paperwork and access
Sign a Data Processing Agreement
Your practice is the controller for client data and the offshore provider is your processor. UK GDPR requires a written contract between you covering what is processed, for what purpose, security, sub-processors and deletion at the end (ICO: contracts between controllers and processors).
Put a transfer mechanism in place
Personal data viewed from outside the UK is a restricted transfer. Check which mechanism applies, usually the ICO’s International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK addendum to the EU clauses, and keep the risk assessment on file (ICO: international transfers).
Create named logins, not shared ones
Each team member gets their own user in Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, IRIS or BrightPay, with only the permissions the work needs and multi-factor authentication on. Every entry then carries a name in your audit trail, and access can be removed in minutes.
Write a one-page scope note per client
Year-end, VAT scheme, quirks (a director’s loan, a property, a foreign account), where documents arrive, and the deadline. Ten minutes of writing saves a week of questions.
Weeks one to four
| Week | What happens | Your team’s job |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | One or two simple clients with complete records: bank reconciliations, bookkeeping catch-up | Answer questions the same day; review every file |
| Week 2 | Add three to five clients of the same type; start using your review checklist | Log review points by type, not just fix them |
| Week 3 | Add one more complex job: VAT return preparation or a draft set of accounts | Check the working papers, not only the output |
| Week 4 | Steady volume across all clients so far | Measure the four numbers below and decide what to add |
The order matters more than the speed. A team that gets three simple clients right in two weeks is ready for Self Assessment preparation in December; a team handed twenty mixed jobs in week one is not. For how the handover itself runs, see the two-week onboarding process.
Turnaround against the agreed date. Review points per file, and whether they are falling. Questions per job, which shows whether your scope notes are working. Hours billed against your own estimate. If all four are steady, add the next type of work; if one is not, fix that first.
Three first-month mistakes
Starting with the messiest client. It tests your records, not the team. Reviewing only the final number. Errors hide in the workings, so read a sample of the working papers too. Waiting until December to start. A month of steady work before the peak is what makes the peak manageable.
How EarthOne runs the first month
Qualified Indian Chartered Accountants work inside your own software from their own named logins, a second CA reviews every file before it comes back to you, and weekly timesheets show who did what. A UK GDPR Data Processing Agreement is signed before the first file moves. Ad hoc work is £10.50 to £16.50 an hour, or a dedicated bookkeeper or accountant from £750 a month, with no onboarding fee and one month’s notice. See offshore accounting services for UK firms or published pricing.
Want the first month running before January?
Tell us the work you would start with, your software and roughly how many clients. We reply within one business day with a first-month plan and the cost.
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