FAQs
We are a small start-up accounting firm and in the process of adding new clients. Will outsourcing work for us and will you help us?
- Outsourcing used to be available only for a few large global corporate's, till a few years ago. But nowadays, even small start-ups and one man bands can benefit from outsourcing.
- We will be glad to help in the start-up stage and work your way through to become a bigger business. Infact, it is much better to start using the outsourcing route in the early stages of the business than finding a way to fit after establishing it.
We are a small business and we want monthly bookkeeping to be done, quarterly VAT returns, and end of the year accounts to be prepared and act as our representative for any enquiries. Can you do that?
- Absolutely. We can manage your bookkeeping, prepare and file your VAT returns and prepare your yearend accounts. We can also file your accounts online. We can also manage enquiries from HMRC and Companies house on your behalf apart from representing you.
We are an accounting practice and we have a few hundred clients. Our biggest worry about outsourcing is about you taking away our clients. How can we trust you?
- This is the single biggest fear of accounting firms in the UK. It is totally unnecessary because, our standard agreement will cover all the areas of mutual non-competition, non-solicitation and non-disclosure. Being an outsourcing company, our strength is doing the back-office work and we will do it very well.
- Even amongst you're employees, there may be a slight chance of them stealing away your clients, but with us it will never ever happen. We will stay behind and only work on your directions. You will be the single point of contacts for us. Your clients need not know that we exist. We will prepare a list of questions/clarifications while doing accounts and send it to you. You can then go back to your clients, get the reply and then send it to us. It is as good as you having your own team in a far away location.
- We have been working with accounting firms all across UK for many years and every one of them will be glad to give a reference to you in this regard.
- On top of that, we don't provide accounting services to end clients. For us, our clients are accounting and bookkeeping firms.
How competent are your bookkeepers and accountants? Are they qualified?
- All our offshore accountants are university qualified and have several years of experience. They are selected through various rounds of rigorous tests and interviews. They are trained for UK accounting rules and regulations by UK qualified accountants. All of their work will be fully reviewed by UK qualified accountants before it reaches you.
- Our UK accountants are either qualified or part-qualified accountants and are accredited by ACCA and CIMA. Some of our accountants are aspiring to do ATT, CTA to gain a good knowledge and experience in tax domain.
How secure is our data? What about data protection regulations? How can you guarantee safety of our data?
- We are registered with information commissioner's office for data protection and we abide by all the regulations to ensure absolute safety of your data. We are a UK limited company and we are aware of all the responsibilities of data security and that's why we have implemented several levels of security during transmission and also storage. For more information about our data security measures please view the following link. Data security and protection measures.
Who are your main clients? What is their profile?
- Majority of our clients are accounting and bookkeeping firms in the UK. It doesn't mean that we drive large corporate's' away.
What are your service terms? What is our commitment in the outsourcing engagement?
- Generally the level of commitment is based on the size of engagement. For most hourly and monthly plans, it is just 30 days notice. However, if the engagement is large, then we will have to work on a yearly contract to protect interests of both parties.
- We do not believe in tieing-in our clients against their wish. We know that, the success of outsourcing is based on trust, understanding and success for both parties.
Would you prefer working on online accounting software over desktop accounting software?
- We do not have a preference of one over the other. We have experience in working with online or cloud accounting software (example: Xero, QuickBooks online). Most other accounting software has online versions as well. If you prefer to use online accounting software, just give us permission and we will start the work. When the work is completed, we will inform you and you can login and view the reports.
- If you want the accounting software to be installed in your machine, that is fine with us too. In this case, we will have to connect with each other on a remote desktop technology. We know many remote desktop providers who will provide a better prices to us. In this case, your documents and software will always stay with you at your own office.
- We are comfortable with both online and offline accounting software.
Why should I choose you than any of your competitors?
- I am sure majority of our rivals do very well. We don't want to bring down their qualities. We can only talk about us.
- We are honest people with good work ethics, strong client focus and a UK based support team. We will always give that little bit extra personal care to put a smile on your face. We are very sure you will not regret choosing us.
What are the working hours?
- In summer-time, India is 4.5 hours ahead of the UK, so at 9.00 a.m. in the UK it is 1.30 p.m. in India; in winter the difference is 5.5 hours. Obviously, if staff worked to rigid timetables, this could be a problem but our people are pretty flexible and happy to start and finish late, being at their desks by (say) 7.00 a.m. UK time and leaving around 3.00 p.m.
- So, there is a little overlap to take account of, but clients quickly get used to it. And it can be pretty helpful to be able to email the details of a new instruction to Mumbai at 5.30pm on Tuesday and have the work in your in-tray at 9.00 the following morning.
- We are very flexible, if clients wants support during pure UK hours, then we are quite happy to adopt to that as well.
Do I need to inform to my PI insurers?
- In short – yes. It shouldn’t make any difference to premium or policy terms, but you may be asked whether our terms include any acceptance of risk (the answer has to be no, as staff work entirely to your direction and control).
What holiday time needs to be allowed to staff?
- If you signed up a long term contracts, the staff are entitled to 8 public holidays in a calendar year, in addition to which they should get a further 20 days for annual leave and sickness. However, our staff are also ready to sit extra hours and extended weekends to cover up the work and deadline. As our staff are very well versed with UK style of working, thier holiday patterns are generally tuned very well with UK working style.
How often do I send my staff/senior staff to visit Mumbai?
- If you are only using temporary staff, there will be no need to visit Mumbai at all. But if you are using us to provide permanent staff, then we think you should be looking at visits by UK senior staff at least once or twice a year. We think it really helps in working with each other in a more collaborative manner.
How trained are your staff?
- We keep weekly practical training in our offices.
- Our staff also spends time on www.swat.co.uk for online webinars and trainings.
- Some of our staff are already ACCA/CIMA qualified, which in turn helps our other staff during ''On job- training''.
- Our staff keeps themselves updated with latest changes in legislations and practices through various online platforms like mentioned below:
What about Data Protection?
- Because of the way the Data Protection Act works, we cannot actually be classed as a “data controller”. This gets very technical, so we have written a special briefing note on our data security policies, which you can then incorporate into your own.
- But fundamentally, we and all our current clients are confident that our security meets DPA requirements for most data handled by us.
- For more on this “fun” subject, please speak to us.
How are staff issues handled?
- We would expect you to deal with simpler issues of training directly with your staff, as you would here in the UK. But if the issues seem to be more serious and/or involve persistent shortcomings in quality, then we would want you to get us involved please phone Mayank as soon as possible.
