As the trend for shared services continues to grow in South Asia, Pakistan is leading the way, with everything from large corporates to small and medium-sized accounting firms looking to scale, diversify services and stay competitive.
‘Post-pandemic, firms from the UK, the Middle East and increasingly the US became far more open to integrating offshore teams into their operations,’ says Zohaib Hassan FCCA, co-founder of FineX Outsourcing. ‘The type of work being sent offshore is getting more skilled and more integrated with clients’ core operations.’
FineX’s journey reflects the wider trend; it began with routine bookkeeping tasks but now supports management reporting, audit preparation, financial planning and digital transformation work. Clients typically select a dedicated pod team that plugs directly into their finance function, providing continuity and trust. The firm services clients across three key regions – the UK and Ireland, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the US – with teams ranging from single bookkeepers to pods of 10–25 staff.
‘The post-2020 period is a shared services boom’
Why Pakistan?
That expansion mirrors the sector’s broader evolution. The global business process outsourcing (BPO) market was valued at just over US$300bn in 2024 and is expected to grow to US$525.23bn by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 9.8% between 2025 and 2030. Pakistan currently holds less than 1% of this market, says Mohsin Iqbal Motiwala FCCA of Karachi-based offshoring provider theBPO, but has grown ‘four to five times’ in the past five years, fuelled by demand and capability.
For many practices, outsourcing was once the preserve of Big Four firms with the time and capital to build offshore infrastructure. New technologies, embraced amid the Covid-19 pandemic, have changed that equation. As Motiwala notes, the post-2020 period ‘is a shared services boom’ driven by scalability, flexible staffing and lower fixed costs.
These changes are especially relevant to smaller and mid-sized accounting practices facing economic pressures at home. Rising UK employer costs, tax policy volatility and fierce competition for qualified staff have pushed many firms to experiment offshore. Mansoor Khawar FCCA, a tax partner at Cartwrights Accountants & Business Advisors in London, puts it plainly: ‘I’m a firm believer in outsourcing; it’s becoming a survival thing for more and more firms.’
Khawar initially attempted to establish a Pakistan office himself. It failed for reasons familiar to many first-time outsourcers: limited local regulatory knowledge, mismatch in expectations and an absence of internal commitment. The second attempt succeeded precisely because the firm treated outsourced professionals as genuine colleagues rather than detached third-party service providers.
‘The ACCA qualification fits perfectly with shared services work’
‘We treat them as another employee of Cartwrights,’ he says. ‘They have the same email address, access to the same system, and they communicate with our clients directly.’
This partner-rather-than-vendor approach has allowed Cartwrights to steadily expand its offshore team from bookkeeping to accounting, payroll and company secretarial work. The model is simple: start small, invest in training and scale responsibly. As Khawar puts it: ‘We learned from our mistakes by focusing more on setting up the right system.’
Talent and technology
Pakistan’s talent pipeline is a core driver. Hassan estimates the country produces 60,000–70,000 finance and accountancy graduates each year. Many are digitally fluent, English-speaking and familiar with IFRS and international audit standards from day one. For FineX, ACCA has proven pivotal: ‘The qualification fits perfectly with shared services work: a strong IFRS grounding, analytical skills and now a growing digital focus.’
Partnering with ACCA members has also been pivotal to how the shared services sector has evolved in Pakistan, with firms such as FineX and UK-based Cartwrights collaborating on opportunities both locally and globally.
Meanwhile, theBPO has invested heavily in service breadth. Sustainability reporting, environmental, social and governance (ESG) analytics, digital transformation, enterprise resource planning support and even robotic process automation now sit alongside traditional accounting services. ‘Because of the demand, we gauge ourselves continuously on what skills are required in the market,’ says Motiwala. Over the past two years, the firm has established full departments for emerging areas such as ESG.
‘Clients will increasingly look for capability, not just cost’
Technology, however, is only half the story. Pakistan’s BPO firms have matured organisationally as well, adopting cybersecurity frameworks, ISO controls and SOC Type-II audits. ‘It requires a lot of investment, but it’s important to win the big tickets,’ Motiwala notes – a clear signal that the market is no longer about cheap capacity, but disciplined capability.
Early days
Despite the growth, Pakistan’s share remains tiny. That is precisely why many industry leaders believe the next five years will be transformative. Motiwala predicts a surge in more sophisticated services provided infrastructure, government policy and qualification bodies continue to support talent development.
Hassan adopts a similar outlook: Pakistan will move further up the value chain – deeper analytics, automation, mixed finance–technology work and ESG. ‘Traditional services will remain important, but clients will increasingly look for capability, not just cost.’
The road ahead
Outsourcing done well is neither transactional nor extractive, requiring patience, structured onboarding and cultural integration – lessons the sector learned the hard way. The most successful accounting firms treat their Pakistan partners as extensions of their business.
Khawar’s experience offers a template: build slowly, embed teams into workflows and align training with business goals. The result is access to a global talent pool, stronger service lines and the flexibility to expand without traditional hiring constraints.
Pakistan’s BPO story is still being written, but the momentum is unmistakable. As firms seek smarter operating models, the country’s BPO providers are no longer simply filling the gaps, but helping to redefine how accounting services are delivered worldwide
