It is no secret that South Africa has become a force to be reckoned with in the world of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). We currently rank third in the world as an English speaking destination to outsource basic services to.
Up until now the race has been for the international call centre market, out of which most outsourcing investments in South Africa have consisted. But with so much counting in our favour, the time has come to move up the value chain to more sophisticated services.
Recognising the role that job creation has to play in driving our economy, our government has introduced a Business Process Services Incentive in the form of DTI grants, as well as other incentives for foreign companies to permanently outsource basic services to South Africa.
Along with the efforts of BPeSA, the national investment arm of the BPO industry in South Africa, we have managed to attract the likes of Amazon, Lufthansa and Bloomberg to name but a few.
RSA Tops in Finance
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants has been recognised as the organisation with the highest standard of its kind in the world for many years running.
The World Economic Forum has also ranked South Africa first out of 144 countries for the adoption of, and contribution to, International Financial Reporting Standards, as well as International Standards of Reporting.
Not only are we the world leader of the accounting and reporting industry, but we also boast the following:
- A growing English speaking talent pool;
- Great infrastructure and a first world experience;
- A robust and enabling business environment (ranked 41st by the World Bank for ease of doing business);
- Operating and staff costs of 45-50% lower than source markets.
These factors, as well as the approximately 20% cost saving through the market-leading government incentives mentioned above, make our country primed for the outsourcing of accounting, reporting and financial services on a grand scale.
A solid accounting and reporting system is key for every business in order to remain compliant and have relevant information on which to base business decisions.
Moving Further up the Ladder
The value that high level professionals can offer growing companies in the form of business analysis, international group and tax structuring, and company valuations (to name but a few) is massive.
With modern technology, all of the above tasks can effectively be done electronically from thousands of miles away.