Outsourced Chief Accountant

Legal basis

The head of a company may use the services of an accountant under a contract or delegate bookkeeping to a specialised organisation — an audit firm, tax consultants or another organisation whose charter provides for such services (Article 11 of the Law "On Accounting"). Responsibility for organising the accounting, the accounting policy and publishing the financial statements remains with the head of the company.

What an external chief accountant takes on

• Accounting methodology and the accounting policy
• Decisions on how to record non-standard and contentious transactions
• Oversight of tax calculations and the accuracy of tax returns
• Preparation and review of financial statements
• Liaison with auditors and the tax authority
• Setting tasks for and supervising the bookkeeper who handles primary documents

How functions are split

The in-house specialist handles primary bookkeeping: processes documents, records routine transactions and keeps the document flow in order. The external chief accountant is responsible for making all of this add up to correct financial statements — and for decisions where there are no standard answers.

The economics

A qualified full-time chief accountant is a significant cost, even though tasks at that level do not arise every day. Outsourcing lets you pay for expertise when you need it, while keeping day-to-day document processing in-house.