Outsourcing can give businesses access to specialist skills, additional capacity and greater flexibility as they grow.
It also expands the number of people, devices and locations connecting to financial systems and sensitive business information. With direct offshore arrangements, those connections can extend across different jurisdictions, devices and networks that the Australian business may have limited visibility over or control of.
Before handing over access, there are several controls worth putting in place.
Start with the work being performed, then work backwards to the access required.
Someone responsible for accounts payable may need access to Xero and supplier documentation without needing payroll records, HR folders or administrator privileges.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre recommends the principle of least privilege, where users receive only the access necessary for their role. Businesses should also review permissions regularly and remove access that is no longer required.
A simple access register can make this much easier:
Person | System | Access level | Approver | Review date
Individual accounts should also be used wherever possible. Shared credentials make activity harder to trace when something goes wrong.
For ATO systems, employees and authorised users should be given access through Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) and the appropriate permissions configured through Access Manager, rather than sharing another person’s credentials.
Multi factor authentication is an important baseline, but the device connecting to your systems matters just as much.
For remote users, consider whether you can enforce software updates, encryption, endpoint protection, screen locking and restrictions on downloads or unauthorised applications.
Tools such as Microsoft Intune can allow organisations to centrally manage devices, apply security policies and remove corporate access when required.
This is where the structure of the outsourcing arrangement becomes important.
If an external worker is using a personally managed laptop on a network outside your organisation, how much visibility do you actually have? By contrast, a managed provider may be able to enforce device standards, access controls and monitoring consistently across its team.
Those questions become increasingly important as financial and personal information moves across a distributed workforce.
For businesses covered by the Privacy Act, overseas access can introduce another layer of responsibility.
Under APP 8, an Australian entity that discloses personal information to an overseas recipient generally needs to take reasonable steps to ensure that recipient handles the information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles. In certain circumstances, the Australian entity can also be accountable for the overseas recipient’s actions.
So before engaging an overseas provider or contractor, understand where information will be accessed, whether it can be downloaded, whether subcontractors are involved and what happens to the information when the engagement ends
Incident response deserves the same attention.
For entities covered by the Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme, an eligible breach may require assessment, notification to affected individuals and notification to the OAIC. Where personal information is handled overseas, the Australian entity may still retain privacy and data breach obligations depending on the nature of the arrangement and the level of control it retains.
That makes visibility critical.
If a breach occurs on an externally managed device overseas, consider whether your business can obtain access logs, identify what information was exposed, determine how the incident occurred and preserve the evidence required to investigate it.
Contracts should address these points before an incident occurs, including notification timeframes, access to logs, subcontractors, data deletion and cooperation during investigations. The ACSC similarly recommends contractual security requirements and access logging when organisations use external service providers.
Finance teams often have access to some of the most sensitive areas of a business: bank accounts, payroll, supplier details, tax information and payment systems.
A few additional controls can materially reduce risk.
Payment preparation and approval should be separated where practical. Changes to supplier bank details should be independently verified through a known contact method. Administrator access should be limited, and unusual login or transaction activity should be reviewable.
The same principle applies whether the person performing the work is sitting in your office or thousands of kilometres away. The difference with a distributed team is that visibility and supervision often require more deliberate systems.
There is a meaningful difference between engaging an individual contractor directly and working with a managed service provider that has established responsibility for the people, devices and processes used to deliver the service.
A well structured provider should be able to explain how staff are supervised, how access is approved and monitored, what security standards apply to devices, and how incidents are escalated and resolved.
For businesses using offshore support, this level of oversight becomes particularly important. A managed model can provide clearer accountability, consistent security controls and defined escalation procedures across teams operating in different locations.
Before choosing a provider, ask how the service is governed, where data is accessed or stored, what devices staff use, whether subcontractors are involved, how access is reviewed, and what happens if a cyber incident occurs.
The ACSC recommends assessing service providers before granting access and setting clear contractual requirements around security, monitoring and incident response.
These questions help businesses look beyond hourly rates and understand the level of governance and risk management included in the service.
A useful outsourcing arrangement should give the business more capacity without sacrificing visibility.
Know who has access. Control the devices and permissions where possible. Understand where information travels. Build verification around financial transactions. Make incident response and offboarding part of the arrangement from the beginning.
For businesses wanting to benchmark their existing controls first, the Australian Government’s Cyber Health Check Tool provides a useful starting point, while ACSC guidance on outsourcing and managed service providers can help frame the questions to ask potential providers.
Outsourcing doesn’t outsource accountability.
At Tailored Accounts, we are an Australian-based accounting and advisory firm with a structured service model built around clear accountability, controlled access, documented processes and practical cybersecurity measures designed to support Australian privacy, compliance and governance expectations.
Thinking about outsourcing your finance function? Talk to Tailored Accounts about a structured approach that balances efficiency with clear accountability and stronger oversight.
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