Proper preparation and maintenance of accounting records not only guarantees the absence of claims from regulatory authorities. It helps owners and managers of companies make the right decisions, pay more attention to solving strategic problems, without being distracted by routine. Professional accounting protects against unnecessary risks and fines.
VALEN company will take care of the accounting, and you will always be sure that reports are submitted on time, papers are filled out correctly, and all business transactions are correctly reflected in the reports. We will help you organize your existing documents, check the accuracy of your accounting, and correct errors. But we can also organize accounting from scratch.
Setting up accounting from scratch is necessary for companies that have registered recently. The law requires that accounting be started as soon as the company appears in the state register. Responsibility for this rests with the general director of the company.
The purpose of accounting is the effective operation of the organization and its financial department. This service is also designed to help with choosing a taxation system, developing accounting and personnel policies. When starting work, each company is obliged to develop a regulatory framework for internal documents, determine the optimal accounting system and create a document flow system.
Outsourcing
What is accounting outsourcing today, what services can you order?
An accounting company can offer individual entrepreneurs and legal entities comprehensive support (subscription services) and individual services. In the first case, the client receives full-fledged external accounting. Specialists organize accounting, process primary accounting records, make entries, maintain registers, generate and submit reports. You can also get advice from the outsourcer on setting up accounting and its subsequent maintenance.
Strangers will know plans, volumes, ways of earning money... How do things deal with trade secrets in outsourcing?
The accounting company guarantees the preservation of confidential information. But let's figure out what data the outsourcer operates with. At the stage of organizing accounting, he forms accounting policies, accounting registers, and draws up a chart of accounts. Naturally, the accountant will have access to information about capital and property; after all, they need to be reflected in accounting. But this data is not confidential. They are known, for example, to the tax office and the bank where the current account is opened. When maintaining accounting records, the outsourcer operates with data on expenses, income, fixed assets, capital, taxes, and contributions. All this information is reflected in declarations and balance sheets. Every year, accounting becomes more and more transparent, and the amount of tax secret information is reduced. The amount of taxes paid and the presence of debt have long been no secret to anyone. The fear of information leakage when collaborating with an outsourcer is irrelevant.
Where will the accounting documents be located if the accounting is organized and maintained by an outsourcer?
There are two options: • The documents are kept by an accounting company. • You provide storage yourself. In the latter case, a clause on the mandatory return of primary documents and other documentation within a certain time frame should be included in the service contract.
Does organizing accounting by an outsourcer involve installation and configuration of 1C?
When organizing accounting for an individual entrepreneur or legal entity, an accounting company can help in choosing specialized software products. Automation of accounting optimizes costs for the formation of primary records, simplifies control of payments and shipments, receivables, and payables. If the software is needed only for accounting, which is completely carried out by an outsourcer, the client does not pay anything extra. The costs of purchasing and updating accounting programs are borne by the accounting company.
Where is the accounting base located when collaborating with an outsourcer?
A 1C database (or one created in any other accounting program) can be stored: • in an accounting company; • at home; • in the cloud. The first option is common practice. Don't be afraid to give the base to the performer. Specify in the contract the provision of data archives, for example, monthly. Store archives in any convenient way.
How is the accounting database transferred?
The method of data transfer is discussed individually. The outsourcer can provide the client with printed registers, a copy of the electronic database, and an archive for a closed reporting period. The transfer process is confirmed by a corresponding act.
How is communication with the outsourcer carried out?
Accounting services include personal, online, email consultations and exchange of data and documents via secure telecommunication channels that comply with the requirements of GDPR legislation and personal data. In the company ordering the services, communication with the outsourcer is maintained by the manager or other responsible person.
How quickly can accounting be organized?
Outsourcing is the optimal way to quickly organize accounting for individual entrepreneurs and LLCs with any taxation system. Specialists of a specialized company have extensive experience in servicing businesses, use up-to-date document forms and accounting schemes, taking into account the specifics of the customer’s activities. The period for organizing accounting depends on several factors: the scale of the business, the tax system, and the scope of activity.
Is it possible to combine outsourcing with other methods of organizing accounting?
Accounting services are a fairly flexible service. The ability to choose the optimal format of cooperation is its advantage. Combining accounting methods is commonplace today. A common option: a full-time accountant to prepare the primary account and reflect daily transactions in accounting plus from the outsourcing company. You can also completely outsource database maintenance, reporting and accounting quality control. And the customer company’s full-time managers can handle the initial registration quite well.
Is outsourcing always cheaper than in-house accounting?
No not always.
The maximum savings in money when collaborating with an accounting company are obtained by individual entrepreneurs using special modes, LLCs using UTII and simplified tax regimes, who carry out a small number of transactions daily, have no employees or have formed a small staff. A large business with a large volume of operations will not save on outsourcing, since the cost of services will be comparable to maintaining a highly qualified specialist on staff. But such a customer, as a rule, pursues other goals. Cooperation with an accounting company eliminates staff turnover, constant costs of recruitment, payment of fines and penalties, because mistakes are almost inevitable when changing accountants. Important: outsourcing ensures the quality of accounting, the reliability of reporting, and the absence of problems with the tax authorities. It allows you not to overpay for organizing accounting.
Who benefits from accounting outsourcing?
Organizing accounting by a specialized company is a rational choice for: • Individual entrepreneurs and companies with a minimum number of transactions. Hiring a specialist on staff in this case is unprofitable. • Individual entrepreneurs and companies with a large number of operations or with specific, complex operations (when combining types of activities, having separate divisions, carrying out foreign trade activities).
How to “set up” accounting yourself?
If you decide to organize accounting yourself, then you should start with the selection of personnel. Read about how to find a chief accountant here. The chief accountant usually selects ordinary specialists himself and then coordinates their candidacies with the manager.
Next, the actual work of “setting up” accounting begins:
- Accounting policy. This is the basic document that regulates accounting in the company. The basic requirements for accounting policies are set out in Art. 8 of Law No. 402-FZ and PBU 1/2008. This document reflects the methods of accounting chosen by the organization for all its sections. It is also necessary to develop a tax accounting policy in the context of types of mandatory payments.
- Working chart of accounts. Based on the “general” chart of accounts, approved by order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated October 31, 2000 No. 94n, the organization develops its own list, taking into account the specifics of its activities.
- Regulations on the department and job descriptions of employees. These documents determine the structure of the accounting department and the distribution of responsibilities, as well as the procedure for interaction with other departments of the company
- Document flow regulations. The work of accountants is based on primary documents. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a system that will ensure their timely formation, approval and entry into the accounting department.
Staff accountant
When should a new entrepreneur hire an accountant?
An accountant, as a rule, is the second hired employee after the manager (or even the first, if we are talking about individual entrepreneurs). To set up accounting, a specialist should be hired immediately after completing the registration procedure. Starting a commercial activity without organizing accounting is a serious mistake.
Where to look for a good accountant?
You can hire an accountant on staff based on a recommendation. This method remains popular, although it does not always work. It is important to evaluate recommendations objectively. Hire a professional! Most often, hiring is preceded by recruiting. There may not be time to post a vacancy and wait passively. Be prepared to view resumes of specialists on specialized resources and conduct interviews.
What is needed to keep records in a regular way?
When hiring an accountant, be prepared to spend money on office space, office equipment, computer equipment, software, and subscriptions to specialized information services. And also budget for the costs of wages, taxes, contributions to the Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund.
How many specialists should there be on staff?
The organization and subsequent maintenance of accounting can be carried out by one or more accountants. The number of specialists is determined by the expected volume of work. For a new small business, one accountant on staff is sufficient. A company that plans to actively develop, carry out many operations daily, combine several types of activities, cannot do without accounting, divided into sections (salaries and personnel, materials and equipment, etc.).
What is a staff accountant responsible for?
Formally, a full-time specialist is responsible for the quality of organization and accounting. But current legislation, in particular labor legislation, limits the extent of his responsibility. If a staff accountant made a mistake in calculating taxes, this was discovered during a desk audit, the tax office made additional assessments and applied sanctions (penalties, fines), only the average monthly salary can be recovered from the responsible person. The amount of fines and actual costs of the employer (taxpayer) is not taken into account. That is, the company inevitably suffers losses. It is impossible by law to force an accountant to work off fines. Usually, in this case, the staff member simply quits. And it’s good if the sanctions for the company are limited to penalties and fines, and the matter does not come to criminal liability for the manager.
How much does a full-time accountant cost?
It is difficult to answer this question unequivocally.
Salary depends on the qualifications of the specialist. But the company’s costs for organizing accounting in a standard way are not limited to this. Add to the accountant's expected salary personal income tax, contributions to the Pension Fund and Social Insurance Fund (almost half of the salary), and expenses for advanced training. Important: the salary of a full-time accountant does not depend on the number of transactions per day. If previously a specialist processed 20-30 documents a day, and now must record 2-3 sales in accounting, you cannot reduce his salary due to a decrease in workload.
What influences the organization of accounting
Important decisions on which accounting depends are made by the business owner even before its creation.
- Choice of organizational and legal form. From an accounting point of view, the choice between a legal entity and an individual entrepreneur is important. The fact is that entrepreneurs formally may not keep accounting records at all. It is clear that in practice it is impossible for a businessman to work without accounting at all, but if accounting is carried out on a “voluntary” basis, then the requirements for its maintenance will not be so stringent.
- Kind of activity. The work of accountants largely depends on this. Each line of business has its own specifics and complexity of accounting. It is most difficult to maintain accounting records in manufacturing and construction companies, as well as in organizations working with foreign contractors.
- Estimated number of personnel. Payments to employees and “related” taxes are one of the most complex areas of accounting. Therefore, the more employees there are and the more diverse the options for organizing work and calculating salaries, the more difficult it will be for accountants.
- Choice of tax system. on the taxation system , and therefore the burden on specialists conducting accounting. In general, the maximum number of taxes and other mandatory payments must be calculated under the general taxation system (OSNO). However, when using special modes, the intensity of accounting can also be considerable, especially when they are combined.
- Selecting an accounting organization option. The law allows businessmen to organize accounting in various ways. The truth is not for everyone and not always... More about this in the next section.
My own accountant
Is it possible to organize and maintain accounting on your own?
Theoretically it is possible. And even practically some people succeed. But there is one important nuance: the more complex and large-scale the business, the more accounting tasks you have to solve every day. This requires time and appropriate competencies. Accordingly, keeping records yourself in a growing business is simply irrational. You can do without a full-time accountant, freelancer and outsourcer if you are an individual entrepreneur without employees, use the patent system, UTII or simplified tax system (USN) income and the number of daily transactions is minimal.
How to make calculations yourself without 1C?
There are several options.
Old school for conservatives - Excel. There is a simpler option: use a regular calculator. Both methods are suitable for individual entrepreneurs without employees, with a minimum number of transactions per day, not required to use an online cash register and using a special tax regime that allows for the most simplified accounting. For everything to work out, you will have to understand the mechanism for calculating taxes. In addition, you need to remember the deadlines for submitting reports, regularly check whether the procedure for filling out declarations and submitting them to the Federal Tax Service has changed. Important: if you choose manual accounting, you will have to spend a lot of effort and time solving accounting problems. However, the risk of making mistakes remains high. The same applies to late reporting.
“Bank + accounting” – is it profitable?
You can organize accounting without an outsourcer and a full-time accountant by outsourcing it to the bank where you have a current account. Most often, the option includes a tax calendar, tax calculation and automatic creation of payment orders for transferring appropriate amounts to the budget, salary accounting, and reporting preparation. One way or another, you will have to control the quality of performance of accounting functions yourself. Banking services are not immune to disruptions. And with responsibility for mistakes, everything is completely ambiguous.
What is online accounting?
This is another option for doing your own accounting.
Moreover, there are two types of online services. The first provide the opportunity to fill out declarations and send them to the tax office. The latter also offer accounting services. As a rule, such services can be used for free during a trial period. Then package offers become available. Doing online accounting yourself is quite convenient if you are an individual entrepreneur on a special regime and without employees. In most cases, the intuitive interface of the service simplifies the work. All forms are updated automatically, there is no need to additionally track changes. Important. The online service is a convenient platform for performing basic accounting functions (calculating taxes, generating declarations). The user is responsible for the accuracy of the data. Accordingly, in case of errors in calculations and reporting, fines fall on his shoulders.
That is, if the business is relatively simple, then you don’t have to spend money on staff and outsourcing? As practice shows, entrepreneurs are often mistaken about the simplicity of business and accounting, respectively. For example, combining taxation systems (even if one of them is PSN, which does not provide for accounting reporting) poses specific tasks for the accountant. It is impossible to solve them without understanding accounting and relevant legislation. Drawing up employment contracts, maintaining payroll records, and calculating taxes for yourself and your employees are also serious tasks. An online service designed to alleviate the plight of an entrepreneur who decides to save money on an accountant does not always help. The program is not able to objectively evaluate activities and take into account its specifics. This is a task for a specialized specialist.
