Source: Insight

A report by McKinsey Global Institute indicates that 31 percent of jobs in accounting and finance worldwide are vulnerable to being transferred offshore.

Offshoring is controversial. It is said that offshore workers are not easily supervised, have poor training, and do not maintain confidentiality. Others say the quality of the work is comparable, the offshore companies are able to spend more resources on supervision, and offshore firewalls are often more secure than they are in the U.S.

The loss of jobs to overseas companies may be offset by increasing automation (jobs that are sent offshore may be eliminated by technology), and the retirement of baby boomers. The result, say many economists, will be a shortage of jobs in the U.S.

For the accounting profession, offshoring offers the possibility of using people in higher value jobs, for which the candidates are so scarce today. We should create methods to transition displaced workers into other jobs, train our workers to be more competitive in the global economy, and develop an insurance program to compensate displaced workers until new employment is found.

From Insight, The Magazine of the Illinois CPA Society, May/June 2006. For the complete article, click on the following link: http://www.icpas.org/hc-insight.aspx?id=920.