Page 10 - KZN Business Sense-11.5 - Lesedi Metsoamere-ABSA - eBook

THE OUT-SOURCED IN-HOUSE ACCOUNTANT

Heather Flack, Business The Money customer data, which makes them VAT/PAYE, annual returns. Add a purpose, sub-processors, and
Leader, Flair Accounting an operator under the Protection quarterly “finance sanity” session. breach notices.
If you employ, you’re signing up
for a fixed monthly salary plus of Personal Information Act You’ll get clean books, timely ■ Red Flag: Month-end drifts into
returns, and no labour burden.
(POPIA). Translation: you need
ow to on-costs other than those directly a written operator agreement mid-month, every month.
get Chief payroll related. Think software covering security, purpose limits, SMALL but growing (5–25 staff, Fix: Get a clear SLA drawn up
HFinancial seats, a laptop, training, and the and breach notification. It’s not inventory or project jobs, monthly with deliverable dates agreed
Officer (CFO) hidden cost: your time managing scary; it’s grown-up. VAT, lenders sniffing around): with your contractor (liability).
brains them. For a qualified accountant, Go out-sourced in-house. Your ■ Red Flag: Growth pushing you
without South African market medians And, most importantly under provider runs the monthly close into independent review/audit.
adding to aren’t pocket change – especially the risk section – an out-sourced and payroll, drops a management Fix: Bring processing in-house
your labour in the big metros. accountant carries liability for pack each month, joins your (bookkeeper) and keep
burdens. With an outsourced retainer, the advice, submissions and operations meeting for 30 an external FC/CFO to steer
Let’s be honest: most small you buy a package: bookkeeping deliverables! Yes, that means if minutes, and flags cash-flow governance and deadlines.
issues early. Consider one on-site
your accountant submits your
and mid-sized businesses don’t + reconciliations + VAT + employees’ tax return late and day per week or month for hand- In summary, outsource
need an accountant warming payroll + month-end pack + you have interest and penalties offs and approvals. when you want expert finance
a chair eight hours a day. They “please explain this weird South payable – they are liable for consistently, but not five days a
need clean books, calm month- African Revenue Services letter”. that. When you employ, you the MEDIUM (more transactions, week.
ends, and someone who can look Good firms price by scope business owner carry all the risk forecasts every month, bank
at a cash-flow forecast without and complexity. For startups and liability for your employees’ covenants, perhaps creeping Employ when your daily
needing a lie-down. and simple small and medium work, or lack thereof, not them. toward review/audit territory): operations genuinely need an
enterprises, that monthly retainer Hybrid works best: employ a accountant most days, and the
Enter the out-sourced in-house often lands well below a full-time full-time bookkeeper/assistant workload justifies a desk.
accountant – a professional (or salary and scales as you grow. The Sleep accountant for daily processing,
small team) who plugs into your What you really want is rhythm. and retain an outsourced FC/ Whatever you do, classify
systems, shows up for month- The Risk A good out-sourced in-house CFO to own month-end, board correctly, paper the privacy, and
end like clockwork, sits in on Employees come with rights setup runs on: packs, governance, and audit lock in a service level agreement.
your management meeting when and processes, especially below Cadence: month-end close prep. It’s efficient, resilient, and Your future self (and your blood
it matters, and then quietly the annual earnings threshold by day 5 – 10, then a neat still cheaper than building a full pressure) will thank you.
disappears… until you need where overtime and working-time management pack you can finance department overnight. And if anyone tells you
them again. protections apply. That’s good actually read. LARGE / COMPLEX (multi- “Accounting is just data capture”,

Let’s first be clear about a crucial and fair – but it means policies, ■ Access: your cloud ledger entity, manufacturing, grants, smile politely and ask them to
point: what you call the person contracts, and discipline done exports): explain deferred tax, payroll
doesn’t decide the law. If someone properly. (Xero/QuickBooks/Sage), Employ your core finance staff – anomalies in a short month, and
shared drive, and a dedicated
works mainly at your premises and Contractors reduce HR accountant/FC, maybe a junior – why cash in the bank doesn’t
takes day-to-day instruction, the admin, but only if they’re truly chat channel for fast questions. and top up with specialist external equal profit.
taxman tends to see an employee, independent. If your “contractor” ■ Controls: maker–checker on help for tax, IFRS, systems Then call your out-sourced in-
not a contractor. Employees mean sits at your desk four days a week, payments, simple delegation migration, and audit wrangling. house accountant and get back to
pay as you earn, unemployment uses your tools, reports to your rules, and a compliance calendar building the business. 
insurance, skills development levy, manager, and has no other clients, for SARS and CIPC. Red Flags & Quick Fixes
workman’s compensation, leave you’re waving a big red flag at the ■ Exit Plan: you own the ledger, ■ Red Flag: Your “contractor”
rules, performance management, taxman. Misclassify them and you the bank feeds, and the has a company email, a desk, T: +27 (0)31 207 1572
M: +27 (0)76 555 7529
and the whole human resource could owe back Pay As You Earn, passwords. and is on the Staff Christmas E: heather@flairaccounting.co.za
jamboree. penalties, and interest… fast. The Party list. W: www.flairaccounting.co.za
With that in place, month-
True contractors invoice you fix is simple: structure contractor end becomes boring. Boring is Fix: Convert to employment
like any other supplier, carry engagements as deliverables-based beautiful. or redesign the engagement to
their own business risks, and – if with autonomy, and make sure be truly project/deliverable
they’re proper independents – they have multiple clients or their Which model suits your size? based.
don’t appear on your payroll. own staff.
MICRO / START-UP (founder- ■ Red Flag: No POPIA wording
That difference matters for One more modern wrinkle: led, fewer than 150 transactions a with your outsourced firm.
three reasons: (1) money, (2) risk, privacy law. Outsourced month, simple VAT or none): Fix: Sign a simple operator
and (3) sleep quality. accountants handle staff and Outsource the lot: bookkeeping, agreement – security, data

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