El Segundo, California – October 10 – In a pivotal conversation for the accounting profession, David Schnitt, President and CEO of IQ BackOffice, recently joined host Kalil Merhib on the Digital CPA Podcast to offer a strategic blueprint for solving the industry’s twin challenges: persistent talent shortages and the rise of artificial intelligence. Schnitt’s core message is clear: sustainable growth for CPA firms lies in a cohesive strategy that integrates global talent, strong processes, and smart automation.
Schnitt, drawing from decades of experience building global delivery teams, provided firm leaders with a clear path to leveraging these models for enhanced capacity and profitability.
Key Insights for the Future-Ready Firm
The discussion cut through common misconceptions and focused on actionable strategies:
Offshoring vs. Outsourcing: Schnitt clarified that offshoring is building a dedicated, remote extension of your own team—the firm retains direct management control. Outsourcing is hiring a third party to manage and deliver a specific service (like Accounts Payable) under an SLA. Understanding this distinction is vital for choosing the correct operational model.
The Flaw of “Cheap Labor”: The CEO warned against viewing global talent as merely a cost-cutting measure. Successful models are built on quality and scalability, driven by the firm’s management capability, not its size. To achieve success, firms must first establish highly documented processes, robust quality control, and effective technology integration.
Leverage in Client Advisory Services (CAS): CAS is uniquely positioned to benefit from global talent and automation. Schnitt stressed the importance of leverage: assigning automated and offshore resources to handle high-volume, transactional work, thereby freeing up higher-skilled onshore CPAs to focus on strategic client advisory and complex analysis—the high-value services that drive premium margins.
AI as an Augmenting Force: AI’s immediate impact is not replacement, but augmentation. Automation excels at mundane, repetitive tasks like data entry and invoice processing. When combined with an offshore team, AI significantly enhances the return on investment (ROI), creating an integrated system that is faster, more accurate, and more scalable.
The Future Balance: Looking ahead 3-5 years, Schnitt predicts a new normal where a firm’s talent pool is strategically divided between onshore leaders, high-quality offshore teams, and AI-powered automation. The firms that prioritize this cohesive integration of people, process, and AI will be the ones that thrive and conquer current capacity constraints.
Schnitt concluded by emphasizing that global talent is a high-quality solution when anchored by strong management and meticulous processes. His insights provide CPA firm leaders with the practical steps necessary to optimize their human capital and drive profitability in the digital age.
The entire podcast episode can be accessed via Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
About IQ BackOffice
IQ BackOffice is the leader in accounting process automation and outsourcing. Our solutions enable companies to streamline financial processes to SSAE 18 standards. We leverage our proprietary IQR solution to capture accounts payable invoices at 99.97% quality. Our web-based solution matches invoices or makes them ready for approval within 24 hours. IQ processes millions of transactions annually. IQ has an integrated web-based payments solution that provides control and visibility over all payments. We will process payments (via check, ACH, and virtual card) through our payment platform, which offers monthly rebates back to you. IQ’s services leverage the latest technology and accounting systems to increase efficiency while significantly reducing costs.
