About Offshore Accounting Hub

Why we built the Hub

For more than two decades, the world's largest companies and the largest accounting and audit firms have done a large share of their accounting, reporting and audit work from India. Multinationals run global capability centres there for finance and accounting. The top accounting and audit networks run their own global delivery centres and global delivery services teams (often called GDCs or GDS) that keep books, run month-end close, prepare audit workpapers and draft financial statements for their offices in the US, the UK, Singapore and elsewhere.

It has worked for them for clear reasons:

People.India has one of the largest pools of qualified accountants in the world, many trained on US GAAP and IFRS.

Time zones.Work moves overnight, so files are ready when the onshore team starts its day.

Capacity without headcount.Firms grow and get through busy season without hiring and training more local staff, which is hard and expensive in a tight market.

Better use of senior people.Onshore partners and managers spend their time on review, judgement and clients rather than preparation.

Until now

Firms outside the top ten, and growing businesses, have mostly been left out. Setting up your own centre in India means a legal entity, hiring, training, IT, security and management time, and it only pays off at scale. Freelancers and generic outsourcers are cheaper to start with, but rarely bring the written processes, senior review and controls an accounting firm needs.

The Hub

We built the Hub so that mid-sized and smaller CPA firms, Singapore practices and growing businesses can use the same delivery-centre model without building one. You get a team of qualified accountants working to your checklists, senior review on every file, security you control and hours that fit your day, starting with one client file and with nothing to set up in India.

500+clients

2012since

ProLead has served 500+ clients since 2012 across audit, accounting, advisory and market entry. Over that time we have kept books, closed months and prepared audit files for companies of every size, including the Indian subsidiaries of global groups reporting under US GAAP and IFRS. The Hub brings the same people and standards to accounting firms and their clients.

Who leads the Hub

Prashanth Vellanki

Founder and Principal Consultant, ProLead · Leads the Hub

FCA · CIA · CFE · DISA · CertIFRS

Over 16 years in assurance, internal audit, market entry and corporate advisory. Prashanth has set up governance and finance frameworks for many companies and serves as an independent director on company boards. He leads the Hub and is involved in every new engagement.

LinkedIn profile

Execution lead partners

Prem Kumar Y

Founder and Principal Consultant, ProLead · Execution lead partner

FCA · DISA · CertGST

Specialises in FP&A and technology-enabled finance operations. Prem oversees delivery quality, staffing and turnaround across Hub engagements.

Ajay Kumar Narra

Founder and Principal Consultant, ProLead · Execution lead partner

FCA · DISA

Specialises in tax, compliance and SME finance. Ajay oversees US business tax return preparation and the bookkeeping, close and reporting work for startups and SMEs.

Prasanth S S

Partner and Principal Consultant, ProLead · Execution lead partner

FCA · DISA

Specialises in audit, management consulting and process optimisation. Prasanth oversees close, reporting and audit support work.

US review and Singapore leadership

Iqbal Singh Grover

Founder and Principal Consultant, ProLead · CPA (USA) review

FCA · CPA (USA) · DISA · CertGST

A licensed US CPA who specialises in US GAAP and cross-border accounting. Iqbal reviews US engagements case by case, where the work needs a US CPA's review.

Alex Choong

Associate Partner, Singapore · Singapore lead

ACCA · CA (Singapore)

Leads the Hub's Singapore engagements from ProLead's Singapore office, and is the point of contact for Singapore practices and companies.

The full ProLead partner team is on prolead.services.

ProLead in brief

Founded: 2012.
Offices: Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin and Amritsar, with associates in Mumbai and Delhi; a hybrid office in Singapore and a virtual office in the USA.
Technology partnerships: QuickBooks ProAdvisor Platinum, Xero Certified Partner and Zoho Authorized Partner.
Credentials across leadership: FCA, CPA (USA), ACCA, CIA, CFE, DISA, CertIFRS and Chartered Accountant (Singapore).

Clients we have worked with

ProLead has worked with businesses from startups to multinational groups. Because the Hub works for accounting firms, we do not name their clients here. See the clients and businesses ProLead has worked with on prolead.services.

Explore ProLead

prolead.services: ProLead and all five of its service verticals.
proleadnex.com: process design and Zoho implementation.
startbusinessinindia.com: setting up a company in India.

Frequently asked questions

What is a GDC or GDS?

A global delivery centre (GDC) or global delivery services (GDS) team is an offshore team, usually in India, that a large accounting or audit firm owns and runs. It does bookkeeping, close, reporting and audit preparation for the firm's offices around the world, while onshore teams review the work and deal with clients.

Why have large firms moved accounting and audit work to India?

For access to a large pool of qualified accountants trained on US GAAP and IFRS, a time zone that lets work move overnight, and the capacity to grow and get through busy season without hiring locally. It also frees their senior people for review and client work.

Should we set up our own team in India instead?

At large scale it can make sense. It needs a company, hiring, training, IT, security and management time, and typically takes four to six months to get started. Below that scale, the Hub gives you the same model with nothing to set up. Our comparison of outsourcing and your own India team sets out the trade-offs.

Is the Hub only for small firms?

No. It is built for firms outside the top ten of any size, from small practices to large regional firms, and for growing businesses up to multi-entity groups that need consolidation.

How is the Hub different from a large firm's delivery centre?

The model is the same: qualified accountants in India, written processes and senior review. The difference is that you do not have to own or run it. You work with named people, to your checklists, and pay per client file, per chargeable hour or for a dedicated team member.

General information only, not legal, tax, audit or professional-conduct advice. Rules, standards and software features change, so confirm the position that applies to your firm before you act. See our disclaimer.