pros and cons in 2023 – Finance – Kommersant

Accounting outsourcing: pros and cons, responsibility, types of services, what to choose and other questions – in the material “Kommersant”.

In 2023, company owners can choose how to organize an accounting service: they can hire an employee, or they can conclude an agreement with an accounting company. Both options have their pros and cons.

Experts advise small organizations to outsource accounting work. As for medium and large businesses, it will be difficult without full-time accounting. If a small company has an average of 300 transactions per month, then a large company can have the same number of transactions per day. In this case, you need an employee who will “keep abreast”.

What is accounting outsourcing

Accounting outsourcing implies the removal of accounting and reporting functions outside the company, when these obligations are transferred under the contract to a third party. The service began to gain popularity in 2021 due to significant savings for businesses.

The specificity of accounting outsourcing is that the customer company receives not a specific employee, but a service. For example, a service for processing advance reports or accounting. The company pays only for the work performed. The advantage of this approach is that with outsourcing, work will not stop if an employee goes on vacation or falls ill. In addition, an outsourcing client, as a rule, receives not one employee, but a whole staff, where each employee has a specific function. The workflow is built as follows: the client provides all the information so that the outsourcer can start keeping records.

The list of services is negotiated at the conclusion of the contract. Outsourcing companies are responsible for all their mistakes. Under the contract, they are obliged to reimburse all fines, penalties and shortcomings that have arisen in the accounting process due to the fault of their employees.

The measure of responsibility of outsourcing companies is determined in the contract. Outsourcing companies provide continuous work to the customer.

Types of accounting outsourcing

At the moment, there are several types of accounting outsourcing. Among them is counseling. This service is necessary in a situation where staff members of the company have questions about accounting. Most often this happens when updating legislation and introducing new reporting forms. Accounting consultations in this case allow you to quickly solve the problem at minimal cost.

The company may outsource some areas of accounting. At the same time, the organization retains its own chief accountant, and small parts of the accounting are transferred to an outside specialist or company. For example, payroll and reporting is carried out by the chief accountant himself, and accounting for settlements with suppliers and contractors is outsourced. The most popular areas of accounting that are outsourced are payroll, personnel records management, processing of primary documents, export-import operations, mutual settlements with counterparties, and others.

The organization can completely abandon the accounting and economic service and transfer its functions to a third party. In this case, all accounting, reporting and settlements with the budget are completely transferred to the outsourcer. The customer of the service should choose an experienced and qualified specialist or a company with good reviews and experienced employees.

There is another option when the customer chooses to manage the accounting department through a provider. It is less common. The company retains the accounting staff, but management is outsourced. In fact, the accountants are managed by the chief accountant-provider.

For example, an organization accepts a large number of cash payments from customers. For this, the state provides for seven units for the position of an accountant-cashier. Cash desk employees only accept cash, draw up primary documents and transfer money to the company’s current account. The remaining operations are outsourced.

Benefits of outsourcing bookkeeping:

– Savings on staffing. Outsourcing a small company will cost several times cheaper than a full-time specialist, even if the employee works part-time.

– The customer independently analyzes and selects an outsourcer company with which he will conclude an agreement. You can find a provider of inexpensive, but high-quality services without territorial reference.

— Possibility to change the outsourcer at any time. In this case, the contract for accounting services can not be renewed after its expiration or terminated without waiting for the expiration date. For example, with a full-time employee who is hired on a permanent basis, this cannot be done. The Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides for a lot of guarantees for working citizens.

– There is no risk of dismissal of the accountant and the human factor. All outsourcer employees are interchangeable.

— Risks are insured. Even if the outsourcer violates the current accounting regulations or, for example, delays the submission of reports, all fines and financial losses of the customer will be reimbursed. Naturally, the measures of responsibility and the amount of compensation are indicated in the contract.

Disadvantages of outsourcing bookkeeping:

— The risk of making a mistake when choosing a service provider. The customer needs to approach the choice of a potential outsourcer with maximum attention and caution.

— Even the complete transfer of accounting under an outsourcing agreement does not relieve the company from tax, civil, administrative and criminal liability. In addition, it should be understood: if the customer engages a freelancer, and not a specialized organization, he takes all the risks.

– Not all organizations can refuse full-time accounting. Even partial transfer to outsourcing can be irrational.

Vadim Tkachenko, founder and head of VvCube consulting group:

“Since the beginning of the 90s, organizations have made it a rule to hire their own accountant, who can be trusted with calculations and know that he will keep all the financial secrets of localization. From the middle of the 2000s, the situation began to change and outsourcing and outstaffing services began to gain popularity. This affected accounting services, financial and tax consulting. Russia has begun to adopt the experience of foreign companies, where every three blocks have their own specialists and even divisions and departments.

Since 2009, the situation began to change, mainly due to the positions of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation and later legislation, when outsourcing was recognized as a scheme for avoiding the UST. Businesses, especially large ones, began to move mainly to work with full-time employees. The development of small businesses, as well as the subsequent sanctions of the middle of the second decade, again changed the bias of interests, companies began to recruit freelance accountants or entered into contracts with them for piecework services. But this practice has shown that the work of many accountants, both full-time and freelance, is not always good. This is due not so much to their competence and professionalism, but to the lack of other necessary units in the state or on the same freelance: lawyers, tax specialists, financial directors, assistant accountants or persons who are more involved in technical work and analysis of legislation.

Recently, more and more often we hear that there are many mistakes on the part of accountants, which are noticed not at the time of drawing up declarations or balance sheet, but as a result of audit or even tax audits. And such accountants are also difficult to fire. The case of our company contains examples of situations where the courts reinstate dismissed accountants or financial managers for violation of their duties. There are other situations when accountants conduct operations on their own, without informing management, believing that they have been able to make decisions on their own over the years of their work. There were also cases when chief accountants created a parallel business and thus earned money.

That is why now businessmen are increasingly resorting to concluding an agreement with a consulting company for the provision of accounting services, realizing that:

– with such an organization it will be possible to safely terminate the contract if the result of the work does not suit the customer;

– there is hope for a more competent staff of the partner;

– such companies can be involved in the study of other issues, as well as interact on tax consulting or financial planning issues;

– this option is cheaper and more profitable in a number of positions

“You can always enter into a confidentiality agreement and avoid situations related to the disclosure of trade secrets of the business.”

What is important to define in the contract of accounting outsourcing

The conclusion of an agreement for remote accounting services is a strategic decision of the organization’s management, which affects all the activities of the company and affects its efficiency. Therefore, before transferring accounting functions to a third party, it is necessary to develop a plan for the transition to outsourcing.

The risks of outsourcing bookkeeping can be avoided. To do this, you need to draw up a contract correctly. It indicates the list of services, duties and responsibilities of the parties. The contract should include such clauses that indicate the following aspects:

– preparation of tax and accounting reports;

– providing data to the tax authorities;

– reimbursement of fines for errors in accounting at their own expense;

— maintaining the confidentiality of data received from the client;

– providing information to the customer on all innovations in the legislation on accounting issues;

– other requirements that will ensure complete, continuous, timely accounting of the customer company.

It is important to discuss in detail with the supplier the working conditions, actions in case of possible risks or termination of cooperation. Then the customer company will be able to quickly return to its previous functioning without loss of efficiency or suspension of operations.

Marina Kolokolova; group “Direct speech”