When a practice runs out of capacity there are three ways to add it: hire someone, send work to a UK-based outsourcer, or use an offshore team. Most articles comparing them are written by a provider of one of the three and reach the conclusion you'd expect. We are an offshore provider, so read this with that in mind. We've tried to say plainly where offshore is the wrong answer as well as where it's the right one.
Which Is Best: Hiring, UK Outsourcing or Offshore?
It depends on the work. Hire in-house for client-facing and judgement work. Use a UK-based outsourcer when the file needs a UK qualification on it or same-hours contact. Use an offshore team for preparation and production work at volume, where the cost difference is largest: offshore accountants typically cost £8 to £25 an hour against £30 to £90 for UK-based accountants.
The hourly ranges are from QX Accounting's 2026 cost guide. The reason the question is live for so many firms: in Advancetrack's 2026 Accounting Talent Index, a survey of around 500 accountancy leaders, 73% said their firm was turning away potential clients for lack of staff.
The Three Options Side by Side
| In-house hire | UK-based outsourcer | Offshore team | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | Salary, plus employer costs, recruitment fee, software and management time | £30 to £90 an hour | £8 to £25 an hour. EarthOne: £10.50 to £16.50 an hour, or £750 to £1,450 a month |
| Time to start | A recruitment process, then a notice period, then training | Depends on the provider's capacity | No recruitment on your side. Our onboarding is built around two weeks |
| Commitment | Permanent employment | Varies by provider | Varies by provider. EarthOne: one month's notice, no 12-month contract |
| Qualification | Whatever you hire: ACA, ACCA, AAT or part-qualified | UK qualifications | Usually a local qualification. EarthOne: Indian Chartered Accountants, not ACA or ACCA |
| Working hours | Yours | UK hours | A different time zone, with some overlap |
| Client contact | Yes | Sometimes | EarthOne: none. We never contact your clients |
| Who signs | Your firm | Your firm | Your firm |
The in-house column has no figure in the cost row on purpose. The true cost varies too much by role, region and seniority for a single number to be honest. What matters is that the salary is only part of it.
When Hiring Is the Right Answer
Hire when the work is the reason clients stay with you. Client meetings, tax planning, advisory conversations, managing and training your own team: this is judgement and relationship work, and it should sit with people who are part of the firm.
Hire, too, when you need someone to own a client portfolio end to end. An outsourced team prepares work. It does not carry a client relationship, and it shouldn't.
The limits of hiring are speed and flexibility. A new hire takes time to find and time to get up to speed, and a permanent salary doesn't shrink in a quiet month. We've written about the gap between making a hire and that hire being productive.
When a UK-Based Outsourcer Is the Right Answer
Use a UK provider when your firm's compliance framework, your insurer or a specific client requires ACA, ACCA or ICAEW membership on the file. An offshore team with a different qualification can't meet that requirement, however good the work is. We say the same on our own pricing page.
A UK provider also makes sense when the work needs same-hours, back-and-forth contact through the day, or when a client has asked that their data is handled only in the UK.
The trade-off is cost. At £30 to £90 an hour, the saving against your own staff is smaller, so the case rests on flexibility more than price.
When an Offshore Team Is the Right Answer
Use an offshore team for work that is high in volume, follows a defined process and gets reviewed before it goes anywhere: bookkeeping, reconciliations, VAT return preparation, payroll runs, and first drafts of year-end accounts and tax returns. This is preparation work. The check and the signature stay with you.
- Cost. At EarthOne, ad hoc work is £10.50 to £16.50 an hour. A full-time dedicated accountant is £1,450 a month. Our cost guide shows where each model becomes cheaper.
- Flexibility. One month's notice either way, and no minimum on ad hoc work.
- Review. A second qualified CA reviews every file before it comes back, inside the published rate.
- Control. We work inside your software, on your templates. Nothing goes to HMRC or Companies House without your instruction.
The questions firms rightly ask about offshore are data and control. We've covered both: what the breach data says about offshore risk, and what is real and what isn't in the loss-of-control fear.
Most Firms End Up Using More Than One
These aren't exclusive choices. A common shape is in-house people for clients and sign-off, with an outsourced team behind them doing the preparation. The useful exercise is to sort your work, not to pick a side.
List the work by type, not by client.
Bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, year-end preparation, tax returns, review, client contact, advisory.
Mark what needs your people.
Anything client-facing, anything that is a judgement call, and every final sign-off.
Mark what needs a UK qualification on the file.
If your framework requires it, that work stays in-house or goes to a UK provider.
What is left is the candidate for offshore.
Start with the lowest-risk part of it. Our guide on what to hand over first covers how to scope that.
Not sure which of your work fits which route?
Tell us what you do and where the pressure is. If offshore isn't the right answer for it, we will say so.
Book a free 30-minute consultation