30 June 2022
Accounting, no matter if outsourced, performed in-house or in a shared service center, provides the necessary information for decision making. Sourcing decision (insourcing or outsourcing) is made upon the availability of internal and external resources and their costs. Using transaction cost economics and resource based view as theoretical framework, Romania as context and multiple case studies as research method, this paper investigates the valid accounting outsourcing options for today. The results revealed that: external accountants are perceived as trusted business advisors, small companies outsource recording and reporting, whereas most of medium-sized and large organizations outsource only reporting. Considering the main outsourcing reasons (cost reduction or access to expertise), technologies usedand client's need for contact, accounting firms can provide services from their office using their own software or client's software in cloud or via a remote connection or they can relocate a team of professionals to the client's office.Showing what are the options for accounting outsourcing that companies have in the present represents the main contribution of this study.