Staff accountant or accounting support by an audit firm: who to trust? Outsourcing, Internet service or full-time accounting: how to choose an accountant for LLC Staff accountant.

How to organize bookkeeping in a company? Hire an accountant or outsource everything?

Let's weigh the pros and cons and understand how you can solve the specific problems of the company in these two ways.

Prompt generation of primary documentation

At first glance, it seems that an accountant who is constantly in the office will be able to quickly form required documents because it is especially important in sales. And what happens if an employee gets sick, goes on vacation, quits, or just a computer breaks down?

On the other hand, when outsourcing, a whole team of specialists is always in touch with you. The company cannot get sick or go on vacation. Everyone's computers won't break right away. The very process of generating primary documentation can be built using technical tools that allow you to integrate databases, systems, etc.

We have a number of clients with whom we have already successfully solved similar problems.

Bookkeeping and bookkeeping

It all depends on the specialist himself and his professionalism. The same good and the same bad can work as an accountant in the state, and an accountant in an outsourcer company.

At the same time, with outsourcing, you get not just one specialist, but a whole team. For example, in our company all strategically important decisions are made collegially: the head, Chief Accountant and deputy accountants control the work on each project.

Correct calculation of taxes and timely payment

Again we turn to professionalism, on which everything depends.

We often encounter situations when a client who has contacted us complains about “surfaced” debts to regulatory authorities that did not allow the company to win a tender or conclude an important contract. To avoid such a situation for our clients, we quarterly check with the tax authorities and transfer the information to the client.

Another common situation is that the accountant does not tell the manager about alternative taxation systems and does not calculate different options. We often meet stores that are on the STS 6%, although it is more economical than the STS 15%.

Let me tell you about a few rules that apply in our company:

When starting work with a new company or with any changes for clients with whom we already work, our accountants analyze the chosen taxation system. For this, financial planning is carried out, and other systems are evaluated. In this way, we help to optimize the tax base, of course, within the framework of the law.

Our clients regularly receive information from us about how much tax payments have already accumulated. This is how we help owners plan their expenses more efficiently.

We conduct regular reconciliations with tax authorities. This allows you to avoid debts to the state.

A responsibility

The legislation of the Russian Federation states that all responsibility for the actions of the company lies with CEO companies. Therefore, the manager is also responsible for the actions of the accountant.

At the same time, we rarely encountered a situation in which, due to late payment of taxes and fines imposed, due to which the company suffered losses, the employer fined his employee.

For example, the contract with our company states that we are fully financially responsible for our actions. That is, if the fine arose through our fault, we will pay it. It should be noted here that we have not yet paid a single fine.

Cost reduction

One of the main factors in favor of outsourcing bookkeeping. Let's count on the example of an average company.

We take the following characteristics as a basis:

Taxation system: OSNO
Number of operations: about 200
Number of employees: 10
Field of activity: services

As you can see, both options for organizing accounting have their pros and cons. Make the decision for you. For our part, we will be happy to advise and help with the choice!

Based on the law No. 402-FZ of December 6, 2011, all commercial enterprises, regardless of the taxation regime, are required to submit reports and keep accounting records. For an LLC, this means that it is necessary to register and summarize in monetary terms information about the company's obligations, its property, and the flow of funds. All business transactions must be confirmed by primary documents, reflected by postings to special accounts.

Responsibility for the organization of accounting is borne personally by the head of the company. Upon detection of violations in accounting, monetary penalties are imposed. For tax evasion or deliberate distortion of the amounts transferred to the budget, the director bears criminal liability.

The legislation does not require an accountant to be on the staff of an LLC. In small enterprises on the simplified tax system, his functions are often performed by the director himself. However, this is only justified if the enterprise has little business transactions and there is no distribution of dividends between the founders.

Why LLC is an accountant

The main requirement of the law is that accounting should be reliable and objective, and reporting should be submitted in prescribed form and within strict deadlines. Sale of products, purchase of materials or stationery, payment of salaries, depreciation, payment of rent for premises - all operations are confirmed by contracts, invoices, acts, invoices, expense orders, etc. Each transaction is reflected twice - both as a debit and as a credit, on the respective accounts. At the same time, the timeliness of postings is important - in accounting, transactions must be recorded at the time they are made.

Accounting for income and expenses, accrual and payment of taxes and other payments, timely submission of reports - this is one side of the work of an accountant. His responsibilities include systematization of primary documentation, calculation wages, opening and closing current accounts. Add to this the preparation of advance reports and cash documents, control over accounts payable and receivables, the formation of accounting registers. Personnel records in small and medium-sized enterprises are also usually kept by an accountant.

Good professional with practical experience, is able to protect the enterprise from fines and penalties. A professional will resolve problems with regulatory authorities, help optimize taxation and reduce financial expenses. If the manager takes on the solution of these problems, he simply will not physically have the time and energy to focus on his own business.

In-house accountant or outsourcing?

Until quite recently, almost every LLC had one or more full-time accountants. Today leaders even large companies often do not hire employees, but completely give up accounting and tax accounting for outsourcing or leaving one employee to process the primary documentation, and the solution of other issues is entrusted to specialized firms.

The cost of maintaining a full-time accountant:

• Wage;
• insurance premiums;
• Organization of the workplace (6 sq.m. of premises, furniture, computer, etc.);
• Stationery, consumables;
• One-time expenses for specialized software, monthly - for access to information and reference systems.

So that the accountant does not lose his qualifications and is always aware of changes in legislation, you will also need to regularly pay for his training - attendance at specialized seminars. Consider in advance who will perform the duties of an employee during his vacations, training and temporary disability.

If there is only one accountant in the state, there is always a risk that he may make a mistake, and as a result, the head will be responsible before the law.

Outsourcing of accounting services

The transfer of accounting and tax accounting to third-party specialists is primarily financially beneficial. The cost of outsourcing services is less than the cost of maintaining a full-time employee. In addition, payment under an outsourcing agreement can be attributed to expenses, thus reducing the taxable base.

Accounting costs are minimal when working with a private accountant, however, any freelancing has high risks associated with incompetence, leakage of confidential information, sudden absence of an accountant due to illness or other reasons. To avoid these problems and organize professional accounting allows cooperation with outsourcing organizations with a full staff professional accountants and auditors.

Benefits of accounting outsourcing:

• The cost of outsourcing services is much less than the cost of maintaining the staff of your own accountants.
• There is no need to control the work of staff, look for a replacement for vacations, study or illness.
• Accounting and tax records are kept taking into account actual changes legislation.
• By concluding an outsourcing agreement with a company, and not with one accountant, you get the opportunity to attract highly specialized specialists to optimize taxation, resolve tax disputes, conduct audits, etc.
• Payment under the contract of outsourcing services may be attributed to the expenses of the LLC.

The company "AMBER" accepts for outsourcing accounting at any stage of the company's existence. When registering, we will help you choose the best tax regime for taxation and properly organize accounting. For those who are already leading economic activity, we additionally offer services for the restoration of accounting, financial planning and optimization of taxation.

With the advent of audit services for companies, many businessmen wondered: is it really necessary to keep an accountant in your staff? After all, the search for a normal candidate for the position of an accountant does not always end in success.

Experienced specialists require high wages from employers, although, in fact, their services are required only in connection with the need to provide quarterly and annual accounts v tax office. In addition, the maintenance of a full-time accountant requires the organization and official registration of the workplace, the payment of sick leave and vacation benefits, the purchase of special office equipment, etc. All these are additional expenses of the enterprise, which sometimes become an unbearable and unreasonable financial burden for the average Russian small and medium business .

The idea to use the services of an audit firm for accounting at the enterprise has repeatedly visited entrepreneurs from the segment of domestic small and medium-sized businesses. The incoming and outgoing specialist will perfectly cope with the accounting at the enterprise. And even if he falls ill, he will immediately be replaced by another specialist sent by the audit firm with which the entrepreneur cooperates. Such situations with a full-time employee should be foreseen by the company's management, knowingly insuring itself and hiring a second accountant.

What's Included in Audit Services accounting services?

The volume of work performed by an accountant from an audit company is always negotiated with the client. It may include all the necessary financial operations for the customer company or exclusively the preparation of tax returns, accounting, consultations for the manager on certain issues, etc.

Types of accounting services offered by auditors

Outsourcing– full accounting support for the company, including maintaining profile documentation, compiling reports, consulting on tax legislation, etc.

Doing individual directions accounting– preparation of reports for the tax authorities, preparation of the company for mandatory audits.

Providing advice– assistance to the head of small and medium-sized businesses in solving certain financial issues, in which full-time accountants are not competent.

Advantages and disadvantages of audit accounting support

"+" - The high level of professionalism and qualifications of specialists working in audit companies allows saving time on accounting operations, as well as providing all financial and tax reporting in accordance with the specified procedure and terms.

"+" - Possibility of saving working space and Money for the maintenance of a staff member.

«-» - Lack of possibility to use such services in large enterprises. Here, of course, one cannot do without a full-time accountant (due to the large volumes of financial document flow). In general, the use of audit accounting services in small businesses is a completely expedient and objective decision.

Features of choosing between various options bookkeeping

When starting a business, most entrepreneurs do not think about some of the nuances of this area - it seems to them that a viable idea and initial capital are enough. In general, by and large, it is, but we must not forget about the many routine processes that you will need to perform on a regular basis, such as keeping records.

Accounting This is a very time-consuming task that requires special knowledge and long preparation. Doing it yourself is very difficult, it is most rational to turn to specialists, but which ones exactly - that is the question. To answer this question, you need to understand the essence of the accounting process and determine to what extent and to whom you want to transfer responsibility areas in the area of ​​your finances.

Components of the accounting process

Accounting- involves not only fixing all movements in your account - this is only a small part of all the duties of an accountant, but also a whole range of daily, monthly, annual and simply periodic actions, namely:

• collection of documentation about money circulation in company,
• compliance with all rules for the preparation of reporting documents in accordance with the legislative requirements of the Russian Federation,
• correct and timely processing of the received data, entering them into the general information base,
• maintaining and fixing all business transactions in accounting and tax accounting, attaching relevant documents to the reporting for each period, grouping them according to the relevant accounts,
• calculation of wages for employees of the company and execution of relevant documents for accrual and calculation (payroll statements, etc.),
• conducting all banking operations of the organization (preparation of documentation on payments for the bank, currency control, maintaining a currency account, etc.),
• maintaining cash records, advance reports,
• creation and control of accounting documents for tangible and intangible assets of the company, depreciation accounting,
• preparation and submission of necessary reports tax service, Pension fund, insurance companies, etc.,
• representation of client interests in tax and government bodies during tax audits.

Accounting Options

Every business leader faces the need to choose a method of accounting. This choice depends primarily on the volume of financial flow, as well as on the number of employed employees, the applied taxation system, production volumes, and so on. Given all these parameters, you can choose one of four options: to independently maintain accounting (albeit an obvious option, but of little use, since without special training it will require you to almost completely abandon all other cases), hire a full-time accountant, use a third-party company that provides accounting outsourcing services or use the online services of Internet accounting.

staff accountant

Of course, if your business is large enough, then hiring a full-time accountant is indispensable. An employee constantly working for you will be aware of all the intricacies of the current office work and the situation in the organization as a whole. For most large companies, one accountant is not enough - specialization is required. With a large number of employees, a separate full-time accountant is required, who will deal only, for example, with payroll for employees; in case of serious interaction with foreign partners, it will be necessary to allocate an employee to work with contracts of foreign partner firms, and so on.

In general, a full-time accountant is a must for big business. But what about entrepreneurs starting their own business, or small businesses? It is obvious that hiring additional employee not always affordable for them.

Accounting outsourcing

Undoubtedly, only experienced specialists can carry out such complex work as accounting, who, if necessary, can also give qualified recommendations on a particular situation. Keeping these specialists on staff is not always profitable, especially if there is no special need for the constant presence of an accountant in the office. It is easier and more economical for a company to outsource bookkeeping.

Accounting outsourcing- this is the transfer of all accounting affairs external organization a company that specializes in this area. You can transfer cases in whole or in part, depending on the specifics of the business of the company itself, on its scale, tasks to be solved, the number of employees, budget, income and expenses. There can be a lot of parameters.

Transferring the accounting process to a third party will allow you to reduce the cost of maintaining a staff of accountants, free up material and even temporary resources, reduce tax risks (you will not depend on your accountant - on his experience, problems or ambitions), shift part of the tax liability to shoulders of a specialized company, as well as not to spend resources on monitoring the work of full-time employees. And, finally, you will be able to devote more time to your company, its development and expansion, not being distracted by tactical issues, but focusing on strategically important tasks. Trust experienced and highly qualified specialists - and let your business grow quickly!

Internet accounting

Modern technologies and the ubiquity of the Internet have allowed the birth of another way of doing accounting - Internet accounting. In fact, this is a kind of accounting outsourcing, only you do not need to search for a suitable candidate or an accounting office that inspires confidence. It is much easier, more convenient and less risky to turn to the help of an online accountant via the Internet.

A qualified staff of specialists will organize the entire accounting process for you. Moreover, the cost of such services will be several times less than even accounting outsourcing services in its classic version. Moreover, you can independently choose from several service options depending on your needs:

1. Fully transfer the functionality of the accountant to online accounting, and only pay for the services yourself.
2. Keep accounting via the Internet, and prepare reports yourself.
3. Use the service for remote preparation and submission of reports, and keep accounting on your own (this option is especially convenient for those who travel a lot and cannot always personally submit reports to the tax office).

One of the most popular and balanced in terms of "price-quality" online accounting is the online service Accounting.Contour. This is a trustworthy, reputable team of accountants and lawyers who will help you forget about the complexities of accounting. This service is suitable for both a modest business of an individual entrepreneur and a medium-sized organization that needs a full-time accountant. The cost of the basic annual service package is only 700 rubles.

Benefits of online bookkeeping obvious:

• you do not need to independently understand the intricacies of accounting;
• you can manage your finances from any place where you can connect to the Internet;
• accounting for your business is in the hands of experienced professionals, which minimizes the risk of errors;
• you can always get a free consultation on any financial issue;
• not only employees of the online service are aware latest news in the areas of accounting, taxation, reporting, but you also receive appropriate notifications;
• Internet accounting is not only an accounting service, with its help you can prepare and submit reports remotely, which also allows you to be anywhere in the world.

Thus, choosing from the most common accounting options, you must first take into account the specifics and volumes of your business, its development prospects and possible budget. Among individual entrepreneurs The most widely used accounting firms-outsourcers and online Internet accounting as the cheapest and most convenient options for accounting.

Who is responsible for bookkeeping in the company? This question worries both novice entrepreneurs and leaders of established companies. Let's analyze three common models for building accounting in private organizations - hiring full-time staff, outsourcing accounting and using specialized online services.

Staff accounting

A traditional and proven for decades method of setting up and maintaining records at enterprises of any industry. Many companies remain true to this decision today, hiring full-time staff in the form of an accountant, and sometimes a full-fledged department of specialists.

Pros of hiring your own in-house accountant

The personnel market in Russia (and especially the capital region) is full of offers and resumes of numerous applicants for the position of an accountant. However, not every such specialist is able to keep accounts in accordance with the requirements of the employer. This forces executives and HR managers to treat the choice of an accountant with increased attention.

Having "at hand" his own accountant, the business owner gets the opportunity to constantly monitor the implementation of the tasks - just like in the case of the rest of the company's staff working "at a rate".

Full-time employees are almost indispensable for large business projects with complex accounting. In addition, large corporations often choose to hire their own permanent accounting service providers due to privacy concerns. As a rule, such companies do not want to take confidential financial data outside the organization.

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Disadvantages of in-house accounting

In addition to the difficulties in finding a good specialist providing accounting services, there are other problems. First of all, financial expenses that are unjustified for many LLCs. The cost of a full-time employee is not only a constant level of salary, regardless of the number of operations performed per month (by the way, an experienced accountant in Moscow will require at least 50 thousand rubles a month for his work). Among other things, this is a social package, training, advanced training; expenses for the installation of special working software (software), the purchase of computer and office equipment, the equipment of a full-fledged workplace.

We must not forget about the so-called human factor. Even the most responsible employee will sooner or later go on vacation or sick leave(as an option - on maternity leave in the case of female accountants). Of course, this will create serious work disruptions and problems for the company's management, especially if such a specialist is the only one in the state.

Another problem of staff accounting is the issue of responsibility. Remember that if you have your own accountant, the head of the enterprise is responsible for making any operational errors (for example, paying fines). This is one reason many LLC directors are increasingly outsourcing their own bookkeeping.

Accounting support (accounting outsourcing)

In Russia, the accounting outsourcing market is still at the very beginning of large-scale development and expansion. But in the west, companies specializing in third-party accounting support make up the lion's share of the industry market (probably for this reason, the first clients of outsourcers in our country were mainly branches foreign companies and joint ventures).

External accounting support is a service characterized by a certain flexibility of solutions. The client company can fully entrust the outsourcer with accounting and financial accounting or agree to provide individual services on an ongoing basis.

Sometimes there is some intermediate option, when the staff of the LLC has an accountant who leads primary documentation. Subsequently, it is transferred to an outsourcer for processing, organizing accounting, compiling and submitting reports to regulatory authorities.

Benefits of professional accounting support

The staff of outsourcing companies is recruited from highly qualified specialists who have been engaged in accounting practice for many years. At the same time, the staff is not only carefully selected, but also regularly undergoes training / advanced training. The management of such organizations, for obvious reasons, does not spare funds for all kinds of trainings, seminars, training programs and materials. This approach minimizes the likelihood of incorrect calculation of tax payments and other professional errors.

For most small and medium-sized businesses, outsourced accounting services are much cheaper than maintaining full-time staff. Such specialists take money only for the work performed, and the cost of accounting support is formed as flexibly as possible and depends on many factors (the scale of the business, the complexity of accounting, the taxation system, etc.)

Subtract the costs of implementing and supporting 1C, staff training, workplace equipment, social package, and you will understand that accounting outsourcing is really profitable. By the way, freelance staff is also saving office space.

The ability to focus resources on the core business is an invaluable advantage of outsourcing accounting services. Calculate: how much precious time do you spend every day discussing routine issues with your own accountant or independently searching for solutions to problems that have arisen?

A company providing accounting services will take care of such concerns, and any unforeseen situation will be resolved within a matter of hours.

Negative consequences in the form of possible penalties also fall on the shoulders of the outsourcer. According to the terms of the contracts, such companies bear liability for accounting errors. However, with a real pro, this probability is minimized.

Third-party accountants also insure against the already mentioned “human factor” problems. An outsourcing company is a staff of interchangeable specialized specialists. You are no longer afraid of an accountant's vacation or illness. If necessary, the services will be provided by another qualified employee, who will not need to explain everything from scratch.

Accounting support companies in most cases have an effective strategy, well-developed accounting methods, and a quality control system. In particular, the management of the Lores Consulting company not only invests maximum resources in training and improving the qualifications of employees, but also constantly improves professional methodology.

Problematic moments of accounting outsourcing

There are also certain pitfalls. So, “freelancers” are not the best way out for large corporations with complex accounting. Why? Firstly, accounting support by outside specialists here can reduce efficiency in financial accounting. And secondly, as already mentioned, representatives of large businesses are sensitive to privacy issues. financial indicators your company.

Of course, cases of leakage of confidential information when working with outsourcers are rather isolated. In addition, do not forget about liability for breach of confidentiality, which should be clearly stated in the contract. It is also worth developing and approving a workflow schedule. This will avoid another problem - the loss primary documents in the process of cooperation with a company providing accounting services.

Remember: the outsourcing format of work requires mutual discipline and the clearest possible assignment of tasks from the customer to the contractor.

Internet accounting

Among the alternative "trends of the times" are specialized software and online services (1C, "My Business") that allow you to keep accounting on your own. Despite the active dissemination of such a solution in Europe and the United States, many Russian entrepreneurs have not yet tested the possibilities of online accounting in their own practice.

Among the advantages - automation of most processes, a simple interface; the ability to keep records without specialized education, draw up reports and promptly send them to the fiscal authorities via the Internet. An indisputable advantage will be relatively low price accounting Internet services.

With all the advantages of online services, you need to understand that solution is effective only for small firms with the simplest accounting . In particular, such products are willingly used by individual entrepreneurs and organizations working on a “simplified” or UTII.

How to make a choice?

Summing up, the fact becomes obvious: for most organizations (LLC), the best solution would be to outsource the services of an accountant. Such a step will not only reduce costs, but also allow closing a number of other issues - personnel, organizational and administrative. Perhaps the only serious problem that the manager will have to face on the way to effective accounting will be right choice outsourcing company.

Lores Consulting specializes in accounting services in Moscow. Interested in learning more about accounting outsourcing? Ask your questions to our accountant or lawyer.