Accounting has been major worry for small businesses. Timely entries, filing timely returns of GST, TDS etc. and year end finalisation.
All this has been a headache. Right? Especially, when you are not having any knowledge / understanding of accounting. So what to do?
You have three solutions:
1. Hire a part time accountant:
Well you can do that. It is a good option. We have tried to enlist pros and cons of this alternative for you.
Pros:
– Hiring a part time accountant’s service removes burden from entrepreneur.
– Well this solution is of course the most cost effective solution in our opinion.
– When you remuneration to part timer, you can assign responsibility to them.
Cons:
– Many part time accountants are very unprofessional and at times have low level of expertise.
– Being part timers, they are quite irregular in service, since they have other commitments at other firms.
– Leakage of proprietary information has been a major worry.
– Many times these people force clients to take service of their so called ‘tied up’ Chartered Accountants.
2. Learn Accounting / Tally:
Do it yourself and that too with perfection. Sounds good. So what can be done.
You can learn accounting, tally, taxation, excel etc., which is useful in getting you through your task by joining Executive of Commerce Course of Super 20 Training Institute or such other course. You can get more information about the course from S20.
Now let us understand pros and cons of this approach.
Pros:
– No dependence on somebody.
– No leakage of proprietary information.
– Even if you hire an accountant, he cannot fool you, since you yourself know the knitty gritties.
– You can have time flexibility and do it at your own convenience.
– Zero rupee cost. (Has time as a cost).
Cons:
– You may not be as good as a pro. (You can take help of a Chartered Accountant for returns and finalization, so this problem can be solved)
– Will take your own time. You can invest this time in other important activities.
3. Outsource to a professional firm:
In this case, you are hiring a professional firm, who specialize in accounting, taxation etc.
You can contact consulting team of www.S20.in/consulting which is an offshoot of Jigar Patel & Associates (A CA Firm) or such other firm.
Now let us understand pros and cons of this approach.
Pros:
– These people are professionals, so no questions about the quality of service.
– They have non-disclosure ethics, so no leakage of proprietary information.
– Outsourcing accounting service removes burden from entrepreneur entirely.
– Even it is better than hiring a full time employee in certain cases, because you do not need to monitor the employee here.
Cons:
– On and average 20-50% costlier than hiring a part time accountant.
So, entrepreneurs, all the best. You cannot ignore accounting, but you can manage it.