A Finchley accountancy firm has transferred an entire department to India to cut costs by 50 per cent.

When clients bring in their books and records to SPW in Regents Park Road, they are packed up and sent to the firm's Bombay office.

A team of trained Indian accountants then prepare the accounts which are sent back to Finchley electronically for analysis.

Shirish Shah, a partner at the firm, said the time taken to perform the mundane task of accounts preparation has been more than halved despite shipping documents thousands of miles.

Speaking from his Bombay office, Mr Shah explained: "They are very proficient staff. They work 55 hours a week here that's the norm.

"There are lots of unemployed accountants here who are delighted to do this work. More importantly, we are paying 30 per cent more salary than the local rate. There is no exploitation whatsoever.

"We need to make sure we retain good quality staff in London giving more management-style advice to clients rather than doing accounts preparation it's a very mundane task to sift through all the books and records."

No jobs have been lost at the Finchley office. The Bombay office celebrates its first anniversary in December, and is currently expanding from seven staff to 30. SPW is also offering its Indian service to other accountancy firms.

November 14, 2001 17:16