What is outsourcing in simple words, making money on outsourcing

Accounting outsourcing has appeared in the vocabulary of domestic companies relatively recently, but has already managed to establish itself exclusively on the positive side. By adopting business practices from the West, Russian entrepreneurs were able to concentrate on their core work, transferring a number of important functions to outsourcing companies.

Industry relevance

Domestic business has outgrown the spontaneous stage and taken on a completely new civilized appearance, which is clearly reflected in the identification of individual tools and entire organizations coordinating business from different sides. One of these tools can rightfully be called outsourcing, which has been successfully introduced into the Russian business industry.

The concept of “outsourcing” arose in the 80s of the last century, however, the beginnings of outsourcing appeared at the beginning of the century. The birthplace of the industry is considered to be the UK and the USA, where at that moment the first law firms were opened, taking over some of the responsibilities of their clients. The idea received a positive response from society, and outsourcing companies began to gradually open around the world.

It’s surprising that the concept of “outsourcing” has a birth year. In 1989, the largest company Kodak turned to intermediaries for help, who were supposed to provide advisory services, deal with legal issues, and also accompany company representatives during the signing of contracts.

Over time, the industry has divided into several key areas, including accounting outsourcing. In Russia, it found a response in the early 2000s, when most large companies began to seriously consider the foreign business model.

Almost twenty years have passed since then and the help of accounting outsourcing specialists has become even more in demand. At the same time, European and American companies consider outsourcing as a real help and do not skimp on paying specialists.

What it is

Before we continue to look at the different aspects of accounting outsourcing, we should define the concept.

So, accounting outsourcing is usually called the process of transferring authority to manage all issues related to the organization’s accounting.

In other words, the company’s management no longer needs to be afraid of tax audits, look for competent accountants and arrange audits for them. All major work related to financial reporting activities is undertaken by a third-party organization. As a rule, such a company employs exclusively professionals with extensive experience behind them.

It is curious that the word came to us from English lawyers, and it consists of two words (out source). Literally speaking, the term translates as “external source” and well reflects the essence of the entire process.

Dmitry Vasilkov, CEO and co-founder of WhenSpeak

Surprisingly, the principles of transferring a business process or outsourcing are approximately the same for startups and already established companies. In general, two main approaches can be distinguished:

• on the importance of task control,
• according to market conditions.

The first option implies that the core competencies that lead to the creation of the bulk of the project's value are not outsourced. The rest can be safely delegated to external experts.

If we take our example, we understand software development and the creation of effective mechanics for interactive interaction between the speaker and the audience - only internal specialists are responsible for this. But we hand over the subsequent pairing of software with office applications to contractors - practice has shown that such distribution is effective.

The second way assumes that in a growing market it is much more profitable for companies to outsource some processes, and in a falling market, full in-house will help avoid unnecessary costs and increase competitiveness.

And, of course, the faster the business develops, the greater the volume of tasks that can and should be delegated, and it is better to start with the back office (accounting, jurisprudence).

What is it for?

Today, organizations with completely different capital, number of employees and scale of production forces turn to outsourcing companies. The importance of competent specialists is appreciated and more and more businessmen want to protect themselves from poor quality work of in-house accountants.

According to statistics, over the past few years, the total increase in income of companies specializing in accounting outsourcing has increased by 10%.

It is noteworthy that even during a crisis, companies do not refuse to hire third-party accounting organizations. Many have realized that it is better to pay a professional and protect themselves from system errors than to save money and have the opportunity to lead the company to collapse.

Outsourcing, in general, helps company owners to fully immerse themselves in the main process, without burdening themselves with complex and responsible accounting issues. Specialists are able to significantly relieve managers, since the state annually makes adjustments to the field of reporting and taxes, so it is their direct responsibility to take into account all the changes and protect the entrepreneur from fines.

External management of accounting outsourcing has many advantages, otherwise in the USA and Western Europe about 90% of companies of various levels would not use the services of specialists.

Outsourcing of foreign trade activities

This type of outsourcing is a new phenomenon in Russia.

The abbreviation “VED” means “foreign economic activity”.

Outsourcing in this case helps to carry out activities for those companies that interact with the economies of other countries.

This type of service is most often used by small-sized companies, which simply do not benefit from keeping employees on staff, since the volume of operations is small.

Of course, you are concerned about the cost of services. Let us immediately note that it is directly influenced by several factors.

Let's look at them in more detail:

1. The level of complexity of the work that needs to be performed when importing goods. The main difficulty here is filling out customs declarations, as well as preparing documentation for the tax office. Therefore, it will be cheaper to use the services of specialists in this industry.
2. The cost of the item you are importing.
3. How often do you deliver?

It is worth noting one important point: an outsourcer who has an excellent reputation and values ​​it will not inflate the price for its services. If you have entered into a long-term contract, the price for you may be reduced.

Transition to outsourcing of foreign trade activities

The transition process is no different from transition in other types of activities.

So let's summarize it briefly:

1. Perform analytics of your company's activities;
2. Select a contractor company;
3. Agree on all the terms in the contract;
4. Sign the contract;
5. Make an advance payment;
6. Transfer the functions of conducting foreign economic activity to an outsourcer.

Kinds

Under the influence of time and the transformation of the business industry, several main types of accounting outsourcing have emerged:

1. Consulting. A fairly common service aimed at monitoring the activities of staff accountants. Often used before global inspections by coordinating bodies, before the sale or transfer of a business to a new owner. In addition, consultative outsourcing is used in case of cooperation with foreign companies;
2. Selective outsourcing. In this case, the company transfers some of its functions to external management. This may be related to questions about payroll, vacations and sick leave, preparation of annual reports, audits before inspection by regulatory authorities, etc. Often, this type of outsourcing is necessary so that the company’s management receives an objective assessment of the accounting department’s activities, as well as to optimize similar processes;
3. Full outsourcing. Represents a 100% transfer of accounting to a third party. Suitable for beginners and allows you to not have an accountant on staff;
4. Conducting accounting activities on behalf of the company's chief accountant. In this case, a third-party company has the right to sign, accepts the financial statements, gives the go-ahead or makes adjustments before putting a seal and signature. The outsourcing company takes control of the accounting activities of the enterprise.

Each of the species is extremely popular in Russia and finds its supporters.

The selection of one or another type of assistance directly depends on the type of activity of the company, its current state, the availability of full-time accountants, etc.

What is outsourcing?

The most popular and in demand among entrepreneurs are the following types.

Accounting outsourcing.

It happens that for a small company it is expensive to maintain an entire accounting department. But in addition to paying wages, it is necessary to install specialized software, monitor changes in legislation, and so on.

In this case, it is easier and cheaper to contact a special company, whose specialists will take care of some of the issues.

IT outsourcing.

Small businesses rarely have professional programmers on staff. Most often, specialists who have a minimum set of special skills are hired.

But if you need to do work related to programming, they prefer to turn to an outsourcing company for help.

Legal outsourcing.

This is a painful point in almost any enterprise.

Not everyone can hire a highly qualified specialist, and besides, there are simply no universal lawyers who are equally well versed in all areas of law.

If you outsource the work of lawyers, you can receive competent and qualified service.

HR outsourcing.

Personnel work in organizations is often carried out by secretaries, accountants and lawyers. The level of work with such a distribution of responsibilities leaves much to be desired. In this situation, outsourcing is an excellent solution.

Recommended reading:

Personnel outstaffing (leasing, outsourcing) - what it is, how to lease personnel, the pros and cons of outstaffing and differences from outsourcing.

Sales outsourcing.

Highly qualified sales managers are literally worth their weight in gold. They are looking for them and are willing to pay good money, but the problem is that getting such a specialist is not easy.

But specialized companies have them. Therefore, we can conclude an agreement and remove such a problem from the agenda.

Labor outsourcing.

Large enterprises organize a separate service in their state to perform this function.

Small companies sometimes do not know about this concept at all, but ignorance of the law does not exempt them from responsibility.

Therefore, leave this work in the hands of specialists and you won’t even have to delve into how an incomprehensible department works.

How to choose a company

The complete transfer of accounting to a specialized company is a rather important step. An entrepreneur must make sure that he is really facing a time-tested organization that helps improve the efficiency of its work and in no way harm the business.

Today, we can highlight the main requirements that accounting outsourcing must meet:

• The accounting outsourcing company must have experience and have existed in the outsourcing market for at least several years;
• Availability of supporting documents on the qualification level of the organization’s employees;
• Availability of a permanent office, a “live” website;
• The agreement signed by the two parties must be as detailed as possible, with the terms of cooperation spelled out;
• A reputable company always announces the preliminary amount that the client must pay for certain services, and never takes money in advance;
• Availability of positive reviews about the company’s work;
• Possibility of remote work, traveling to the client’s office;
• The company is obliged to provide preliminary consultation, outlining the future scope of work.

The combination of these factors allows us to identify a portrait of an ideal accounting outsourcing company. Entrusting the affairs of a company to a third party is an extremely serious step, which should be taken after weighing all the pros and cons.

Before contacting specialists, you should understand how much work they can handle and what functions are assigned to outsourcing companies. Situations often arise when an entrepreneur has little knowledge of the activities of such organizations and has a vague idea of ​​what specific responsibilities can be assigned to specialists.

We propose to consider the key functions of accounting outsourcing:

1. Cooperation with banking organizations, preparation of reports and payment of invoices;
2. Drawing up reports at various levels and submitting them to regulatory authorities;
3. Revision of the company's accounting strategy towards reducing the tax burden within the framework of the legislative framework;
4. Preparation of reports and calculation of salaries, sick leave, vacations, benefits;
5. Acting on behalf of the client before regulatory authorities;
6. Accompanying the client during inspections.

This is not a complete list of functions performed by outsourcing companies dealing with accounting issues. We have presented the most common options for specialist activities that are in demand among entrepreneurs of various levels.

Legal outsourcing

It is difficult to conduct business without professional legal support. But the situation is such that there are many lawyers offering their services, but there are few qualified specialists among them.

Therefore, let's talk about how not to make a mistake when choosing a specialist, so as not to be afraid for the quality of the work performed.

So, first, let's understand the terminology.

Legal outsourcing is the process of transferring legal support to a company to a specialized firm. The outsourcing company provides services in the field of labor and tax law. Also, if necessary, its specialists can represent your interests in court.

With all the advantages, such cooperation has vulnerabilities, and one of them is a violation of confidentiality, which we talked about a little earlier.

If you have a fairly large company, you can hire an in-house lawyer and enter into an agreement with an outsourcing company.

An in-house specialist will deal with current issues, and the outsourcing company will deal with issues that require a higher level of qualifications.

There are several options for cooperation; you need to choose the one that is most suitable for your business:

• You can interact with the outsourcer through consultations. By the way, this is the easiest option for cooperation. If you need to examine documentation, this is quite possible remotely;
• Consultations can also be carried out in your office. It will cost more, but cooperation with this option is more effective. At the time of concluding an agreement with the company, you can prescribe a schedule according to which specialists will come to you to resolve issues;
• One of the options is also to represent the interests of your company in regulatory authorities. In general, if you conclude a standard contract, then such a clause is not provided there, but it can be included as an additional one if the representative of the outsourcing company agrees to this.

The payment tariff in this case will be adjusted depending on the individual needs of the client.

Transition to outsourcing of legal services

For successful and effective cooperation, you need to go through several stages. Let's talk about them now.

Step 1. Decide on the transition.

For the decision to be correct, you need to carefully analyze the activities of your company, consider all the pros and cons of such cooperation, and most importantly, decide what the purpose of this transition is.

Once you decide on your goals, you can determine what services you will need and how much they cost.

Step 2. We are looking for an outsourcing company.

Focus on those companies that meet your requirements. In particular, be sure to pay attention to how long the company has been operating and what its reputation is, read reviews about it.

As soon as there are about 5 applicants left on your list, you can begin the negotiation process. Discuss every detail, do not hesitate to ask questions if something is not clear.

Step 3. Sign the agreement.

After analyzing all the collected data, decide which company to sign a cooperation agreement with.

Carefully review all the terms of the contract and read every line before signing it.

Step 4. Control the performers.

At the end of each reporting period, specialists must provide you with reports.

You can ask specialists:

• Analysis of their activities for comparison with the data that was planned;
• Analysis of the functioning of your entire company as a whole;
• Interim analysis for a specific period of time.

If problems arise in the process of cooperation, the reason may be either incorrect planning or the fact that the contractor performs his duties in bad faith.

This is why control is needed. And within what framework it will be carried out, decide for yourself.

Price

Most businessmen are extremely interested in the financial side of the issue, since many believe that involving third-party organizations in the process of company management will inevitably lead to huge waste. In practice, it turns out that maintaining full-time accountants on a permanent basis is much more expensive than outsourcing. In addition, with the outsourcing company you sign an agreement in which the risks and obligations of the professionals to you are calculated.

In general, the cost of services is influenced by the volume of work, the specifics of the enterprise, and the current position of the accounting department. In addition, if you enter into a long-term cooperation agreement, the salaries of specialists may not be fixed, but will change monthly.

What factors influence the price of services?

1. Total number of primary documentation;
2. The tax system format used by a specific enterprise;
3. Total number of company employees;
4. Are there any peculiarities in accounting related to the activities of the organization?

If we take average figures as an example, we can say that at least 30,000 rubles will be spent monthly on accounting outsourcing company services.

HR outsourcing

The essence of this concept is that you are transferring the HR functions of your organization to a third party company.

Who needs it? First of all, managers of small organizations for whom maintaining a personnel department is very financially expensive.

By and large, by concluding an agreement with an outsourcing company, you get a personnel service that works remotely.

Functions of HR outsourcing

The full list is quite lengthy, so we will only talk about the main ones.

1. Development of instructions for staff.

To do this, you need to constantly monitor changes in legislation, and the manager is unlikely to have enough time for this. Therefore, feel free to outsource this work.

2. Carrying out the hiring and dismissal of employees.

If the outsourcer is highly competent, then in the process of hiring a new employee, he will pay attention to such nuances that you do not give sufficient influence to. He just has a lot of time for this.

And when dismissing, you generally need to carefully follow the law in order to avoid problems.

3. Development of internal regulations.

If you do not have the necessary knowledge to draw up this document, then it is easier to enter into an agreement with an outsourcing company.

4. Maintaining work records.

It would seem like a simple job. But it requires increased care and knowledge of labor legislation.

Not only the length of service, but also the employee’s pension largely depends on how correctly the work record is filled out.

5. Development of staffing.

The staffing table is not a mandatory document, but if you decide that your company will have one, then you may need the help of specialists to develop it.

TOP companies

We have prepared a list of the best accounting outsourcing companies in Russia, each of which has a good reputation and a lot of positive feedback from clients.

The company’s activities have been tested by time, and its professionals have accumulated valuable experience necessary to solve problems of any level of complexity.

Intercomp Global Services

The company has been providing accounting outsourcing services since 1994 and is a leader in the number of projects being implemented. She can be considered a “pioneer” in the process of establishing outsourcing in Russia.

For 2020, the company made a profit of 266,934 million rubles. All the company’s clients speak positively about it, and the professionalism of the organization’s employees does not raise any questions. Today, the company’s services are used by more than 500 organizations, including both domestic and foreign enterprises.

BDO

A popular outsourcing company that has been helping build a domestic business from scratch step by step for several years now. It is noteworthy that the company occupies an honorable fifth place in the world among similar projects. The company employs more than 80,000 specialists, most of whom are involved in accounting issues.

The company's services are used in 162 countries around the world; in particular, Russian businessmen prefer BDO. The company began operating in Russia back in 1989. According to statistics for 2020, the company earned 94,040 million rubles. Providing accounting services is a priority for BDO specialists.

Mikhailov and partners (RBI)

The company helps entrepreneurs build their businesses, provides advisory services, and also takes control of the accounting departments of client organizations. The organization is among the TOP 100 best communications companies in the world, which confirms its status and the level of professionalism of its experts.

For 2020, the company made a profit of 71,436 million rubles. Founded in 1995, it has stood the test of time and annually increases the number of partners, adding specialists experienced in accounting outsourcing to its ranks.

2K Audit – Business consulting / Morison international

The company's main office is located in Moscow, and more than 300 specialists in ten specialized economic specialties work for the benefit of clients. The company's main work is focused on domestic firms, however, it provides its services in more than 40 foreign countries.

25 years of productive work have created favorable conditions for the formation of an image and the spread of outsourcing services throughout Russia. Over the past year, the company earned about 68,193 million rubles.

Mazar

The largest company specializing in outsourcing and auditing not only in Russia, but also in 89 countries around the world. The company was founded in 1995 and over the years has become one of the key players in the outsourcing market.

More than 250 talented experts work in the Moscow and St. Petersburg offices, capable of providing services of any level of complexity. In 2020, the company earned 65,178 million rubles.

Advantages and disadvantages

Outsourcing of accounting is quite a serious procedure; not every businessman in the Russian Federation decides to entrust accounting to a third-party company. We propose to consider the positive and negative aspects of accounting outsourcing.

Pros:

• Optimization of the company’s activities, the ability to concentrate on core business issues;
• All financial reporting is prepared exclusively at a high level, in accordance with the latest requirements and state standards;
• Reducing the risks associated with the incompetent work of a staff accountant, which resulted in fines and other sanctions;
• Economic benefit: no need to have a full staff of accountants and assistants, pay sick leave, vacation pay, etc.;
• The outsourcing company takes on economic risks by signing an agreement with the client.

Minuses:

1. Restructuring the company's internal system;
2. Remote communication with an accountant;
3. A large company runs the risk of losing close interaction with the accounting sector, which could negatively affect the process of transferring and processing new information.

Advantages and disadvantages

Like any type of work, outsourcing has its pros and cons, which should be studied in advance before attracting external resources to delegate responsibilities.

Main advantages:

1. Freeing up resources and time to shift the focus to the main activity, without being distracted by auxiliary processes that are not related to the main goal.
2. Opportunity to receive professional services. Since an appropriate outsourcing company is hired for a certain area, the responsibilities are performed by specialized specialists.
3. Reduced tax payments. Expenses for the employees of the hired company do not apply to the customer, therefore, tax payments for them, as for full-time employees, are not required.
4. Result guarantee. Since an agreement is concluded with clearly defined deadlines and work criteria, failure to fulfill obligations is strictly punished in the form of a fine or legal proceedings.
5. Savings in terms of wages. The customer pays the outsourcing company for the volume of work, and not for the work of each employee.
6. Protection from sick leave and vacation pay. The outsourcing company is obliged to resolve personnel problems itself and provide a replacement for the departed employee.
7. Increased profits and operational efficiency. When you have the time and energy to focus on your core business and entrust other functions to highly specialized companies, the company’s productivity increases, as does its profit.

Possible disadvantages:

• The strict framework of the contract makes it impossible to change responsibilities or assign a larger list of services, since recalculation will have to be done taking into account the tariff for the volume of work.
• You will also have to disclose internal company data to third-party sources, which increases the risk of valuable data being stolen and sold to competitors.
• Misunderstandings and conflict situations may arise between in-house employees and outsourcers.
• The hired organization may not live up to expectations and fail, resulting in downtime resulting in losses.

Adviсe

1. Analyze as much as possible the list of outsourcing companies providing their services in your city. It is necessary to choose the organization that is best according to all criteria;
2. A reputable company never takes an advance for work and does not require payment before fulfilling its obligations;
3. Check out the list of projects that the company has completed previously, ask for feedback on its work;
4. At first, it is worth working as closely as possible with the company to make sure of the professionalism of the experts and trust them without a second thought.
5. Accounting outsourcing should not be perceived as a newfangled trend in domestic business; it is an effective service that has long been used in developed countries.

Sales outsourcing

Sales outsourcing is the process of transferring the functionality of the sales department to a third party company. The transfer may be partial or complete.

Outsourcing in this area usually involves:

• Organization of presentations;
• Issues of informing clients about promotions and special offers;
• Dealing with client objections.

This list can be increased depending on the tasks that you set for the outsourcer.

Types of sales outsourcing.

We will analyze several main types. Experts recommend using them.

Outsourcing aimed at specific products.

If you have a wide range of products, then the sale of some products can be outsourced. Most often, these are those products that are always in demand.

Outsourcing part of the product sales procedure.

The process of selling a product is extensive and involves significant labor costs. If you outsource it entirely, you may encounter problems that are difficult to resolve.

Therefore, transfer only part of the entire procedure. This will make the work of your specialists easier and save a lot of time.

Outsourcing aimed at a specific customer segment.

You can outsource an area of ​​sales in which a number of specific factors are of great importance to the entire process. This could be the climate or cultural nuances in the region where your business is located.

Stages of transition to sales outsourcing

The whole procedure consists of several stages. Let's briefly describe each.

1. We analyze the activities of our organization . This is done in order to understand whether it makes sense to outsource sales.
2. Choose an outsourcer . We already talked about the criteria for choosing a company today. Focus not only on the cost of services, but also on the business reputation of the company.
3. We sign the contract . Keep in mind that it should be as transparent as possible and not contain ambiguous language.
4. We supervise the work of the specialist . Control should be within reasonable limits, but its presence is mandatory.
5. We pay for the result . You must pay only for the result specified in the contract.

Conclusion

Accounting outsourcing has become an integral part of the modern business industry. More and more entrepreneurs in Russia are turning to outsourcing companies for help, thus optimizing all basic processes. Now you don’t need to look for a qualified accountant, constantly coordinate the actions of the accounting department, fearing checks and errors in filling out reports. A third-party organization will take on the main work, and you can devote yourself entirely to the business without wasting your energy.

“How do you feel about accounting outsourcing? Most entrepreneurs agreed that the help of professionals helps to avoid a number of serious mistakes. Perhaps it’s time to give some of our own powers to experts?”

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Author of the article Angela Karpacheva Freelancer