What to hand to an offshore accountant first: a handover checklist for practices 

Hand over the work that already has a written checklist and a named reviewer: bank reconciliations, bookkeeping, payroll processing and BAS preparation. Move on to workpapers, financial statements and returns once those first jobs come back clean. Have logins, templates and one sample job ready before the person starts.

Why start with work that has a checklist and a reviewer?

A handover checklist is a ranked list of the work a practice moves to an offshore accountant, set in the order that carries the least risk and teaches the most.

Two things make a job safe to hand over early. One is a written method, so the person knows what finished looks like. The other is a named reviewer, so every result is checked by someone who knows the client. If either is missing, put it in place before the job moves.

Starting this way also tells you something. Over the first few weeks you see how the person works and at what pace, how many corrections come back, and which points the reviewer has to explain twice. That evidence, not a guess, decides what goes next.

In what order should work be handed over?

Read the order as a guide, not a rule. A practice with a very clean payroll process may sensibly move payroll first. A practice with no written BAS method should write one before that job goes anywhere.

For the later items, the word that matters is preparation. The offshore accountant prepares, and your reviewer reviews and signs off. Any work that a registered practitioner must lodge or sign stays with that practitioner. Check the current rules for your registration with your professional body.

What should you prepare before day one?

Logins and access

Set up a named login for the person in each system they need, with access only to the clients they will work on. Agree the confidentiality terms before the first login goes live. Write down who can remove access, and test that removal works.

Checklists and templates

Collect the checklist for each job you plan to hand over, along with your templates, naming rules and folder structure. If a checklist lives only in a senior person's head, sit with them and get it on paper. One page per job is enough to begin with.

One sample job

Choose one completed job and keep the finished work, the source documents and the reviewer's notes together. It is the most useful training material you have. The person sees what a good result looks like, and your reviewer has something concrete to compare against.

• Named logins created, with access limited to the right clients
• Confidentiality terms signed
• Checklist written for the first job type
• Templates and naming rules shared
• One sample job with a worked answer
• A named reviewer with time set aside each day
• A place for questions, and a set time to answer them

What do the first four weeks look like?

1. Week 1: give one real job from the first work type. Review all of it and send notes back the same day.
2. Week 2: move to a steady daily volume of the same job, with a short check-in each morning. Update the checklist after every correction.
3. Week 3: if corrections are few, the reviewer samples the work instead of reading every line. Add a second job type.
4. Week 4: go through the month with the person. List what came back clean, what did not and why, then choose the next job type.

Do not hurry week 3. If corrections are still high, stay with the first job type for another week. A slower start builds a firmer base for everything that comes after it.

What are the common mistakes?

• Handing over a job that has no written method.
• Opening access to every client from the first day.
• Skipping the sample job and explaining everything over messages.
• Moving three job types in the first week.
• Leaving corrections unrecorded, so the same error keeps coming back.

How do you know a handover is working?

Judge it on a few plain measures instead of a feeling. Count how many jobs come back with corrections, and what kind. Compare how long each job takes with how long you expected. Track how much reviewer time each job uses.

If corrections fall week after week, the method is working. If the same correction keeps returning, the checklist is missing a step, so add it. If review time stays high, narrow the scope for a while instead of adding more.

Keep a short log of each handover decision: what moved, when and why. After a few months that log shows how your practice prefers to work, and it makes the next handover quicker.

Frequently asked questions

These are the questions practice owners ask most often before a first handover.