How to Choose a Suitable Accountant?

What to choose - keep records yourself, hire a full-time accountant, find an incoming accountant, or contact an accounting company for outsourcing? We have compiled recommendations for each case. So keep reading if you want to know how to choose the best accountant for your business.

Self-accounting
Suitable for: Small and medium-sized businesses that do not require complex accounting.

What you need to do: Learn simple skills of using the online system on the site and devote 10-15 minutes a day to keeping records.

How it works: The entrepreneur independently issues primary documents. Sends incoming documents and bank statements to the system. The system processes and enters them into the database. From this base, you can automatically generate balance reports for the manager, a report on the balance of money, and tax reporting. You can also automatically submit reports to the tax committee.

Entrepreneurs are increasingly using online services and cloud computing in accounting. The first plus is that accounting can be kept from anywhere in the world, through any device: smartphone, tablet, or computer. Online service helps to save time. This is very convenient for people who are constantly on trips but continuously monitor their business financially.

Visiting accountant
Suitable for: Small businesses that don't require complicated bookkeeping.

The main advantage of an incoming accountant is that their services will cost the entrepreneur less than the salary of a full-time accountant. Also, an incoming accountant, depending on work experience, can keep other records, for example, personnel records, help work with banks, advice, etc.

Nuances: An incoming accountant does not sign documents if he or she is not registered as an individual entrepreneur. Usually, all documents are signed by the director. Therefore, it is better to look for an incoming accountant on the recommendation of trusted contacts. One incoming accountant, if he has a lot of experience, can manage a maximum of 9-10 small companies. If you bring more customers, then the quality suffers.

Staff Accountant
Suitable for: Small, medium, and large businesses operating under the generally established tax regime with a large document flow. Not suitable for business under the simplified tax regime, where accounting is easy. But what are the benefits of a staff accountant?

Multitasking
If you apply to an outsourcing company, in any case, you need to hire an office manager who will collect documents for the accounting company. He still needs to be trained. It is better to hire an accountant who will do the work of not only an accountant but also an office manager, cashier, economist, personnel officer, warehouse manager, partly a lawyer, etc. For small and medium-sized businesses, this is convenient and profitable.

Privacy
With a full-time accountant, it is easier to understand and control the inner workings of your business and maintain confidentiality. Because usually, external accountants serve several clients at the same time, among which your competitors may be.

Consultation
Every entrepreneur has his own secrets on how to increase income and reduce expenses, and pay fewer taxes. An entrepreneur can consult on these issues only with his full-time accountant.

Responsibility
In Labor law, the rights of an employer have protected more than an employee, so it is easier to ask a staff accountant. Freelancers are not legally allowed to sign contracts. Consequently, they take on less responsibility.

How to choose a staff accountant? The professionalism of an accountant does not depend on work experience. Accountants with twenty years of experience can make elementary mistakes. There are accountants without a single work experience, but after two years they can independently manage the company. Extensive work experience is when an accountant has worked in different areas of accounting, and he or she has the desire to learn and improve their skills.

You should not hire accountants with average or extensive work experience for routine work, and force them to issue primary documentation, as well as load the accountant with the work of an office manager. This is an inefficient waste of your money and time.

You should also avoid accountants who often change jobs, not staying on some for even a year. If an accountant leaves work at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the year, when the work on submitting reports is in full swing, this is a wake-up call. Also, don't rely heavily on certificates. If an accountant has some kind of cool certificate, do not run at full speed to take them to work without a single doubt. The main thing is practice. Often, accounting exams are easier to pass in theory than in practice.

Nuances: When concluding an agreement with a full-time accountant, be sure to specify in the agreement the accountant's responsibility for fines. The fact is that notifications come to the taxpayer's office, which must be answered on time, if the accountant does not answer, the tax authorities can block the entrepreneur's accounts and impose a fine. It often happens that an accountant makes mistakes and quits, and the entrepreneur is left with fines.

It happens when an accountant destroys accounting databases after a conflict with a manager. The entrepreneur is left without data, which is almost impossible to recover if there is no archive. Such cases are common. Or when an accountant pretends to be working hard, but in reality simply submits zero reports, then quits. Therefore, sign a liability agreement. Provide liability for damage to the company through the fault of the accountant. Sign an employment contract, and draw up a job description - this will protect you from trouble in the future.

Accounting company (outsourcing)
Suitable for: Small, medium, and large businesses operating under a simplified and generally established tax regime.

How to choose: When choosing an accounting firm, first find out how many years it has been in the market and what staff it contains. Meet personally with the manager, and discuss how records are kept, and who controls the processes and reporting. Do not be shy, because you are giving your account to a third-party organization. Don't just focus on price. You should be alerted if the price is lower than in other companies.

Outsourcing accounting has numerous benefits:
- Savings. No need to buy software and equipment, rent a room, or pay taxes on the salary of a full-time accountant (in total 28% of the salary). The services of an accounting company will cost the entrepreneur as well as the maintenance of a full-time accountant.
- Efficiency. With a small amount of work, a full-time accountant sits in the office doing nothing: calculates salaries and submits reports for a whole month. The accounting company will do it in one week. The work of issuing invoices can be done by a sales manager, if you teach him once, then a full-time accountant is not needed.
- Experience. Many employees work in accounting companies, and a chief accountant or an auditor with extensive experience is a must. If a staff accountant can make a mistake, especially if an inexperienced one, then in an accounting company the chief accountant can figure it out quickly. Also, the auditor or chief accountant always monitors changes in legislation.
- More responsibility. The accounting company concludes an agreement with the client, in which all points can be written. If the accountant makes a mistake, the company takes full responsibility. Also, accounting companies monitor their reputation more, so their level of responsibility is higher than that of an individual.