Managed services builds on traditional delivery models, helping CFOs turn the back office into a driver of insight and growth.
Ask any CFO and they’ll tell you their job has never been tougher. Payroll costs are climbing, the talent pool is shrinking — especially with accountants — and compliance demands keep multiplying. Add rising expectations from boards and investors, and finance leaders are expected to deliver sharper insights with fewer resources.
The challenge is that most finance teams are already stretched thin. A single resignation or leave of absence can derail the close, forcing leaders into constant firefighting instead of growing the business. It’s clear the way organizations run their finance function must change.
The question isn’t whether to rethink your model; it’s which model(s) will help you stabilize costs, ensure coverage and free leadership to focus on strategy.
As today’s finance leaders evolve into strategic partners guiding the business, the next-generation “Platform CFO” leverages technology, automation and data-driven processes to transform the back office from a cost center into a source of insight.
To get there, you have a choice of three operating models. Each can accomplish the core tasks, but the cost, coverage and leadership time they demand are dramatically different.
While each model delivers results, the cost structures — and the strain on leadership — are vastly different.
Building an internal team seems straightforward: post the job, hire the candidate, pay the salary, get the work done. But CFOs know that salary is just the start. A realistic budget for the total cost of employing someone full-time is 1.3x–1.5x their base salary:
Applied across a mid-sized finance team, these hidden costs reveal the true price of keeping work in-house.
When hiring, the costs continue to add up. Turnover, single-threading — where one person owns a critical process end-to-end — and undocumented workflows create coverage gaps and compliance risk, while constant firefighting keeps CFOs overly involved in daily operations instead of advising the business.
Combined with direct labor costs, these indirect inefficiencies quietly erode productivity, increase operational risk and keep finance leaders focused on maintenance instead of momentum.
Many companies turn to outsourcing to contain costs and add capacity. Outsourcing is an effective solution for transactional processes like accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), tax filings or reconciliations. While it’s typically seen as a short-term solution to address immediate needs or resource gaps, there are instances where it evolves into a long-term engagement. For instance, a mid-sized company may decide to outsource its AP and AR to a specialized provider, and the access to talent, costs and efficiency can make sense long-term.
How outsourcing typically works
Outsourcing can streamline execution and reduce headcount, but it still requires oversight — managing vendors, coordinating handoffs and validating results. You gain output, not necessarily direction.
Managed services, on the other hand, delivers a fundamentally different engagement model — one that combines the control and insight of an internal team with the scalability of finance and accounting outsourcing. You’ll find that a top-tier MSP takes a true “we” approach and becomes an extension of your team rather than a vendor on the outside.
Instead of paying by the hour, you pay for outcomes. A good provider takes responsibility for staffing, process continuity, documentation and technology, and embeds analytics and automation that get better over time. With predictable costs, built-in expertise and scalable capacity, the provider stays aligned with your goals, shares in your success and frees you to focus on strategy and growth.
Bottom line: Managed services doesn’t just replace headcount; it restores your leadership capacity, embeds expertise and aligns your finance function with your growth agenda.
A best-in-class managed services provider takes a true “we” approach and becomes an extension of your team rather than a vendor on the outside.
Managed Services at a glance: strategic advantage
Now let’s get down to dollars and cents. Managed Services offers a fixed, predictable price for clearly defined outcomes. Instead of paying for hours or transactions, you invest in a long-term engagement that stabilizes costs, reduces risk and delivers better results over time.
As you can see, managed services wins in terms of cost, but what about control? The structured managed services model also delivers on that promise.
Now let’s look at a real-world example. A CFO at a private equity firm decides to move accounting, tax and compliance into a managed services model. As a result, the finance function evolves from a cost center into a driver of insight and strategic value with the following potential:
With predictable costs, seamless coverage and built-in insight, the back office becomes a driver of strategic growth — giving CFOs the clarity, capacity and control to lead with confidence.
So many delivery choices, what’s a CFO to do? Fortunately, you don’t have to choose one delivery model over the other. The good news: traditional delivery models and managed services aren’t mutually exclusive; they solve different types of challenges and often complement one another. Outsourcing, hiring and managed services each serve a role in building an effective operating model.
Hiring builds institutional expertise and continuity within your team. Outsourcing expands capacity or adds specialized skills when needed. Managed services complements both — offering a scalable collaboration that combines the control of internal staff with the flexibility of external support.
Here’s how they can work in tandem: A software company hires full-time IT leaders to guide strategy and manage vendor relationships, while outsourcing customer service during a major product launch to handle peak demand. At the same time, it engages a managed services provider to continuously maintain and optimize its IT infrastructure — monitoring performance, strengthening cybersecurity and integrating new tools and business units as the business scales.
In this model, hiring ensures direction, outsourcing provides surge capacity and managed services delivers ongoing stability, insight and performance improvement.
Managed services turns unpredictable expenses into fixed, transparent costs — helping CFOs, controllers and executives budget with confidence and reinvest in growth. Whether used as a standalone solution or alongside hiring and outsourcing, it delivers lasting value through scale, insight and efficiency.
The result? A more agile, cost-efficient finance function, ready to adapt, perform and grow.
If you’re spending your energy on turnover or managing vendors, it’s time to gain the stability and capacity to focus on growth. Learn how our Managed Services experts can turn your back office functions into a strategic engine for your business.
Schedule a consultation to see how Armanino's Managed Services can optimize operations, eliminate inefficiencies and free your team to focus on what's next.
