Tax & regulatory services have been pain points for all businesses. In the hustle and bustle of growing your businesses,they often take a back seat. Sometimes they are avoided because of lack of awareness. Whereas sometimes due to unaffordability of resources. Some businesses outsource their tax and regulatory compliances whereas some manage internally. There is no right or wrong about it. It all boils down to effective planning that saves taxes. Now, how to know whether outsourcing is the right option or hiring an in-house team? Following are the 5 signs your business is ready to outsource tax and accounting compliances:

1) You are business is a start-up

When your business is a start-up, you have so many things to do. Developing your business, hiring the right resources, marketing. In an effort to handle everything, compliances are often missed.  Also, since you are a start-up, hiring a full in-house team of consultants – accountants, auditors, tax experts- is too costly to be an option. Hence, at this stage, outsourcing is the best option for any business.  

2) You have moved on from the start-up stage and are scaling up

Yes, this is the opposite of point 1. When your business scales up big time, you realize that you are lagging behind in managing it all. Compliances increase as a result of the complex tax and legal structure of the country. There are state laws and central laws. Then there are indirect taxes as well direct taxes. Again there are labor laws and their compliances. Some have quarterly returns, some monthly and some half yearly. Again increasing in-house resources will add up to your employee cost hugely. So will hiring multiple consultants. Hence the easiest solution is to leverage the position of an agency. An agency which specializes in providing all types of services under one head. So, this is one of the major signs that you need to outsource your hassles and concentrate on doing what you do the best – your business.

Also read: How will the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 note ban impact your business?

3) Security is a “No-Bargain” deal  for you

Data security is the most unavoidable check for any business. There are various facets of security checks. Some revolve around tangible measures like device protection, asset access restriction. Whereas some revolve around intangible angles like putting security systems and processes in place. One area of security that is often ignored is the security and privacy of the information within the workplace. Same group of employees are used for asset safe keeping as well as accounting for those assets. This makes systems more prone to fraud. Outsourcing whole or part of your business functions make sure that the segregation of interest happens between different groups of workforces in the organization. Apart from that, when accounting services are outsourced, the financial functions of a company stays private and for the management’s perusal only. Employees aren’t in a position to discuss the company’s profit or the owner’s financial picture. So, when security is a priority for you, outsourcing is the most viable option.

4) You prefer considerable fees and clear deliverable

Another sign that you are looking for outsourcing your tax and regulatory functions is that you prefer predictable costs and associated clear scope of work and timelines. Online accounting services offer fixed monthly fees with a detailed service offering. This means you get exactly what you expect when you expect it. No unwanted surprises here. Further, these online agencies come with their share of expertise of various professionals like CAs, CSs and lawyers. This is an added advantage.

Also Read: The basics of annual tax filing for startups – due dates and more

5)You have faced the hassles with book keepers/multiple consultants

From multiple consultants to in-house book-keepers, you have faced all issues. To and fro communication, repetitive documentation and data leakage are some of the major concerns in case of engagement of multiple consultants. On the other hand, lack of attention to detail to deliberate fraud, many companies have experienced more than their share of bookkeeping horrors. So, if you are simply done with these, it is a sign that you should move on to outsourcing. 

 

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