A back office in most

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

s is where work that supports '' front office'' work is done. The front office is the "face" of the company and is all the resources of the company that are used to make sales and interact with customers and clients. The back office is all the resources of the company that are devoted to actually creating a product or service like data entry, payroll,

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...

and the other labor which is not seen by customers, such as

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

. Broadly speaking, back office work includes roles that affect the costs side of a business's trading statement and front office work includes roles that affect the income side of a business's trading statement. Although the operations of a back office are rarely prominent, they are a major contributor to a business's success. They can include functions such as

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the cap ...

, inventory management, supply-chain management,

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ' ...

and logistics. Back offices are often located somewhere other than company

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

. Many are in areas and countries with cheaper rent and lower labor costs. Some office parks provide back offices for tenants whose front offices are in more expensive neighborhoods. Back office functions can be outsourced to consultants and contractors, including ones in other countries.

References

{{Office types Business terms

See also

References