Accounting firms are facing talent shortages, rising client expectations, growing demand for advisory services, and rapid changes in technology.
Ascend helps firms build dedicated offshore teams in the Philippines, strengthen the processes around those teams, and create capacity for higher-value work.
Qualified accounting professionals are increasingly difficult to find and retain, putting more pressure on existing teams and limiting firms’ ability to grow.
When staffing is tight, partners and senior professionals get pulled into production work, leaving less time for advisory services, client relationships, and growth.
Advisory services create growth opportunities, but firms need enough capacity to move experienced professionals away from production work and toward higher-value client relationships.
AI and automation can improve accounting workflows, but evaluating tools, redesigning processes, and implementing them requires time and expertise many firms lack.
Adding offshore talent without the right onboarding, processes, management, and accountability can create more work instead of more capacity.
Smaller and mid-sized firms may not have the resources of larger PE-backed platforms, but they still need stronger staffing models, process improvement, and technology to compete.
A well-designed offshore team can support repeatable accounting, finance, and back-office work while onshore professionals focus on responsibilities where their experience creates the most value.
Ascend helps firms determine which roles make sense to offshore and build dedicated teams around those needs.
AI can handle more repetitive, high-volume work, while people remain essential for judgment, review, exceptions, quality control, and client communication.
Building an offshore team also encourages firms to document and standardize processes, creating a stronger foundation for automation. Ascend helps firms think about people, processes, and technology as one operating strategy.
Ascend brings firsthand experience building and scaling offshore operations, not simply advising companies on what they should do.
David Liddicoat’s background includes finance leadership and experience within an accounting firm, giving Ascend perspective on both the work being offshored and the operating realities accounting firms face.
Ascend helps firms think through roles, team structure, management, integration, processes, and long-term scalability rather than treating offshoring as a simple hiring exercise.
Not every role belongs offshore.
Ascend helps firms determine where offshoring makes sense, how the team should be structured, and when another approach may be more appropriate.
Ascend can help you determine where offshoring fits within your firm and build a dedicated team in the Philippines around your long-term goals.