Accounting outsourcing is Features, types, benefits and prices

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 18:37

It just so happened in this world that it is not the strongest, smartest, largest who survives, but the fittest. This biological regularity fully applies to the field of entrepreneurship. To secure the market, it is necessary that the income received by the company exceeded the costs. And in this case, every moment and nuance is important. So what is accounting outsourcing? How does this affect the company?

Introduction

Start here with a definition. Accounting outsourcing is a form of cooperation in which an individual specialist or an entire company takes on the functions of keeping records, document management, as well as submitting the required information to regulatory authorities. It is considered as a measure of administrative unloading of the company. With its help, you can quickly ensure the functioning of the accounting system. In addition, accounting costs are reduced, and proper support is provided for the entire process. AtThis distinguishes between the following types of services:

1. Preparation and execution of tax and / or financial statements.
2. Documentation processing.
3. Monitoring the implementation of existing legal norms.
4. Timely submission of the required information to the control authorities.

There is an opinion that the use of third-party accounting services is economically beneficial only for small businesses. But with a competent organization of relationships, it can also be used by medium-sized businesses. Large enterprises prefer to manage on their own. Although there are those among them that use the services of transferring accounting functions to external partners.

What are the benefits of accounting outsourcing for companies that take advantage of this opportunity?

In general terms, this is:

1. Reducing the cost of maintaining a specialist. Using the services of the company is much cheaper than attracting a qualified employee. After all, you do not need to pay monthly wages, vacation pay, provide a social package. There is also no need to purchase accounting journals, install and maintain specialized legal reference systems, organize a workplace, and much more.
2. No problem finding a qualified employee. Experienced accountants are expensive, not every company can afford them. Whereas novice specialists, due to lack or little experience, are guided by the methodmistakes and trials, which sometimes cost even more than attracting a qualified employee.
3. Constancy of service. A staff accountant can go on vacation or sick leave. As a rule, a remote specialist does not work alone, and there will always be a replacement for him who can continue working.
4. Service competence. Since the work is usually carried out in a group, it is possible to solve even the most complex and non-standard situations.
5. The opportunity to get advice from a qualified specialist, which allows you to concentrate on solving core problems.

Generally high quality, strict confidentiality and insured services.

Now let's look at it in detail

What is accounting outsourcing like? This is a more complex question than it might seem at first glance. It can provide full process transfer or selective transfer. The latter means that only certain accounting functions are outsourced: preparation of statistical reporting, payroll, and the like. And here we come to what prices are made up of.

Outsourcing of accounting services is not provided at a fixed rate. The cost is influenced by the taxation system, the number of transactions, the turnover of the company. It should be borne in mind that if an error occurs, loss of documents, damage, then the responsibility is usually borne by the service company that took over the accountingoutsourcing. But sometimes that doesn't make it any easier. When choosing an organization, you should pay attention to work experience, earned reputation, availability of certificates and diplomas, as well as the range of services provided. The transfer of part or even all of the accounting functions is not an easy step for any company. And before you decide on it, you need to deal with all the details. To better understand what accounting outsourcing is, keeping records at a distance, you can familiarize yourself with Law No. 402-FZ. It was adopted about ten years after the appearance of the market in Russia, so that it was able to absorb the experience of already quite active activity.

A small digression

Accounting outsourcing is an approach to optimizing business processes. It allows you to concentrate on your core business, reducing financial risks and costs. The first companies providing these services appeared in the Russian Federation at the beginning of the 2000s. Although in some other countries the tradition of using such solutions is much more common. Thus, in Western Europe, 86 percent of small and medium-sized businesses use such services. And in the US, this figure is generally equal to 92%. In the Russian Federation itself, the emergence and rapid development of this market is due to the need for companies with foreign capital to report in accordance with international standards.

Today, accounting support (outsourcing) has gained wide popularity among various organizations of different forms of ownership. Thus, in the year the regulatory law was adopted, 44% of all cases of transfer of functions fell onthis area. In financial terms, this figure was estimated at between five and ten million dollars. Now this market is growing at 6-8% per year, and its volume is estimated at billions of rubles. And this is not surprising, because in a crisis, many companies want to reduce financial costs and get high-quality accounting. Therefore, they switch to external service. Another significant factor that affects the popularity of the service in the Russian Federation is the constant strengthening of state administration in the field of taxes. You can regularly observe the complication of reporting and accounting, an increase in fines even for minor errors.

What else is there in Russia?

Since the topic of the Russian Federation was raised, let's bring it to the end and consider in full what accounting support is. Outsourcing allows companies and individuals to reduce risks and obtain reliable service providers. If we talk about the sectoral structure, then the sphere of trade uses it the most. It accounts for a quarter of the income of outsourcing companies. In second place is the oil and gas industry. The financial sector closes the trinity.

Additionally, accounting consulting should be noted. Even if there are no accounting problems, it is useful to periodically communicate with experienced professionals in order to know the nuances of the constantly changing tax legislation. After all, perhaps a certain benefit was introduced. Especially need accounting outsourcing for individual entrepreneurs andsmall enterprises, when the maintenance of an additional specialist does not make sense due to a small turnover or low workload. The same can be said about companies that want to free their employees from routine work in the presence of a large number of the same type of operations. In addition, outsourcing costs can be written off as expenses. In this case, VAT will be deductible. On average, the use of outsourcing allows you to achieve cost reductions of 25-30 percent!

How do you know that everything will be done well?

Not good enough execution is the scourge of modern entrepreneurship. How do you know that the work will be done well? Since the market is at work here, it is in the companies themselves to ensure that high standards are maintained. And since all ongoing business processes, as a rule, have long been worked out, the solution of both complex and simple routine issues is carried out very quickly. At the same time, very often the client is additionally offered the support of several specialists at the same time: lawyers, experts in labor and tax legislation. In addition, they themselves are interested in quickly responding to changes in the regulatory framework and adapting to changing conditions in order to maintain their own market share and increase it.

About responsibility for the result

When an accounting outsourcing agreement is concluded, a sample of which can usually be found on the company's website, each party bears certainobligations. For enterprises using external services, the greatest interest here is the responsibility for the result. According to the current legislation, it is the service company that is responsible for causing harm during the provision of accounting support as a result of mistakes made, omissions, loss and damage to documents, unintentional violation of applicable law. This point should be studied in more detail, but usually the outsourcer assumes all risks and indemnifies for fines and pen alties imposed by the tax office. This achieves a situation where he is extremely interested in eliminating any possibility of their occurrence. Whereas, if a staff accountant makes a mistake, then the company itself has to pay fines and sanctions.

Privacy

The outsourcer and his client are full-fledged business partners. Their interests are the same. Therefore, an agreement must be concluded between them to keep secret any information that will be obtained through the execution of an agreement for outsourcing accounting services. This is done in order to avoid possible losses and damage to the interests of the client being served. The model of reliability in this case is the large and well-known company British Petroleum. She entered into a service agreement back in 2002. And no losses in connection with this have not received to this day. To ensure confidentiality, various options are used to minimize possible data leakage.

Risks

Most of the conversation was about the benefits. But there are not only them. As with any activity, there are certain risks that may affect the processes carried out. And you need to know about them and always keep in mind, and not blindly praise accounting outsourcing. The escort agreement should take them into account so that there are no disappointments later. So, short list:

1. Risk of loss of reputation. It is associated, as a rule, with the unsatisfactory provision of services by the outsourcer. For example, loss of good reputation with the tax office.
2. Risk of information leakage. When accounting functions are transferred to a third-party organization, there is always a security problem. It is especially relevant in terms of loss of privacy.
3. Operational risk. It arises from the use of imperfect technology or through incompetence.
4. Risk of reduced responsiveness. It is expressed in a somewhat belated response to certain problems.
5. Personnel risk. It is legal now to use exclusively classical accounting outsourcing. Agency labor is prohibited, and outstaffing is significantly limited. Since such a restriction was introduced relatively recently (in 2016), there is, albeit small, but a chance to meet with a company whose activities in the field of accounting are not licensed.

How much does it cost?

ANow let's take a look at the issue of price. Outsourcing of accounting services is evaluated depending on many different parameters. The most important and common are the taxation system, the number of personnel, as well as the business transactions performed in the period. It is difficult to say exactly how much outsourcing of accounting services costs in Moscow. Approximate range prices look something like this:

Number of documents per month	General system	Simplified taxation
Up to 10	5000 rubles per month	3000 RUB
From 11 to 30	9000	6700 RUB
From 31 to 50	15000	12000 RUR

Although this is not the full cost of accounting outsourcing. Prices in Moscow can vary widely. Let's look at another system. Only it will be based on the turnover of the company. The approximate cost in this case is:

Company turnover	Maintenance cost per month
Up to 250 thousand rubles	3500
Up to 500,000	5000
Up to 1 million	5500
1-2 million	10000
2-3 million	13,000
3-4 million	14,000

At the same time, when the price is discussed, it is necessary to clarify what is included in the basic package. The most common and requested moments include 1C support, current accounting in accordance with all registers, preparation of advance reports, the formation of books of purchases, sales and cash registers, personnel records management, payroll, other remunerations, protection of the interests of a partner in the tax office, payment orders and delivery of information to controlling services.

Conclusion

As you can see, this is a profitable business - outsourcing of accounting services. The contract allows you to display all the risks and consolidate the relationship in a legal plane. This approach allows to significantly reduce costs (which is extremely beneficial for small companies), ensures the timely submission of all information and avoids fines and other sanctions that may be imposed by the tax authorities. But one should not forget about attention and caution when choosing a company. After all, a lot depends on it. If you approach this matter carelessly, then you can get a lot of problems later. Moreover, the violation of confidentiality and the provision of data to competitors is not the worst problem. Indeed, to conduct accounting outsourcing, you do not need to obtain a special license. And a guarantee of the quality of services, as well as workno one can give.

You can focus only on the experience of a commercial structure, its existing reputation, diplomas and certificates, as well as on the range of services provided. Fortunately, in the age of the Internet, it is not difficult to find out all this. You can visit the sites of outsourcers or even special organizations that monitor their activities. At the same time, you should pay attention to how many companies are under their jurisdiction, because too many of them negatively affect the quality of services. It is advisable to study the contract for outsourcing accounting services long before signing, a sample of which should be on the website of the company or specialist you like.