How to start a private accounting practice and where to find clients: Review of freelance exchanges for accountants. Remote accountant: pros and cons I do accounting at home income

The specifics of hired work have changed in recent years. The ergonomics of workplaces is developing: there are rest areas, new methods of organizing work are being created. Employers try to do everything to ensure that the company works for results. One of the requirements for survival is competitiveness in the market, which can only be achieved with properly motivated employees.

And, of course, this wave of transformations could not bypass our country. Slowly, breaking through the coral reef of stereotypes, the employee can no longer only sit comfortably in the office, where he (often) has all the conditions, but also in another place. Moreover, this place can be anywhere, it all depends only on imagination and technological equipment.

A new wave of workers with a different list of life priorities are called freelancers. Sort of free workers. Are they really free? Of course, freedom implies responsibility for one's actions. And responsibility makes us a leader: a person who makes his own choices and is fully responsible for his results.

So, let's look at everything in order.

Statistics

If the office space has begun to make you feel despondent, and the fate of the “office sitter” is only a nightmare, but you don’t want to leave your usual line of work, then welcome to the ranks of freelance accountants.

The need for self-education will be one of the priorities. You can take courses directly in classrooms, but there is also a distance learning option.

We also remember about self-organization. It is better if the companies you manage are entered into the table according to the columns. It reflects affairs within a month. At the end of the month we summarize with the appropriate mark for each of the companies. If you stick to a schedule, you can make your life a lot easier. The main thing is to write everything down, without relying on your memory.

It is worth taking care of emergency situations. Your computer may crash or your accounting program may freeze. If you don't have your work backed up on an external drive, or don't have sufficient knowledge of administering accounting software, this will make life seriously difficult.

We must not forget that the earnings of a “freelance accountant” will be quite uneven. One of the employers may not pay, so you will need to plan your budget wisely.

Where to find your dream job?

For example, on the freelance exchange Pchol.net. There are already quite a lot of freelance accountants registered here and their number continues to increase daily. This service attracts users with a simple, understandable interface and, most importantly, the absence of mandatory payments. If you are interested in working as an accountant remotely, then register on the site and add your resume. In this case, the employer will be able to offer you a job directly.

Additional clients can be found on the websites: russia.trud.ru, ru.jobsora.com, forumwork.ru, gorodrabot.ru and, of course, hh.ru, superjob.ru.

In general, working from home is your personal domain, which, if handled carefully with clients, can bring considerable income.

But if you are in doubt, then you should not rush and leave your permanent place of work. To begin with, it is optimal to find a part-time job that will give you the opportunity to evaluate your own strengths.

Freelance accounting is playing an increasingly important role in modern business. This is especially true for small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs. Remote accountant is a promising profession for a good specialist. If 20-30 years ago most of the calculations had to be done on paper, now you have Excel, 1C and many other auxiliary programs. 5-10 years ago you had to go to the tax office with all your reports; now in many countries reports are submitted via the Internet.

The scope of accounting is very broad, both in itself and in relation to the transition to remote work. I cannot promise to cover absolutely all the information about working as an accountant at home, but I will try to cover this topic as much as possible.

Despite the fact that many modern companies are transferring many processes to outsourcing and remote work, the profession should be considered from all sides. Because enterprises, directors, and even old-school specialists themselves may not see the benefits of remote work.

Benefits for the specialist

Opportunity to work in comfortable conditions
Ability to work from anywhere
Ability to work at any time
Opportunity to work in several companies. For example, if you do accounting for a small company or private entrepreneurs
Reducing travel time to work
Reduce costs for lunch and travel

Disadvantages for a specialist

Difficulties in communication. Actually a conditional disadvantage. With proper management of your time and affairs, any communications can be minimized
Problems with the Internet. And this is a real problem if you have urgent work.
Lack of live communication. There's nothing to explain here, but it's worth noting places like coworking centers, where you can rent a workspace and meet a lot of people. But today these are, for the most part, youth institutions.

Benefits for the employer

Cost reduction - one single and most important advantage for any company. There is no need to maintain an accounting department, an office for them and equipment. In addition to the printer, which is extremely important in accounting

Disadvantages for the employer

Difficulties in communication - t Same disadvantage as a specialist. If you need to quickly resolve the issue, then you still need to contact the employee, but for this you should determine in advance the work schedule and the time when he will always be available

IMPORTANT: Most problems in work arise due to problems in communications, this applies not only to accounting. Therefore, always agree on the period of time during which you will be in touch, and if you need to leave, always warn. This advice applies to both specialists and bosses.

Working as an accountant from home requires advance planning and careful financial calculations. As well as a little experience and a bit of Nordic character. After all, working as an accountant from home is a highly competitive business, and therefore, in order to gain a circle of regular clients, you will have to show organizational and marketing talent. But then... Then, when clients are recruited and satisfied, stable income is guaranteed by the state itself in the form of all kinds of periodic reports, inspections and taxes that every entrepreneur in our country submits and pays. In a word, you can’t do without an accountant.

Remote accountant as a business: financial planning

Any qualified accountant can start their own business according to their profile. Carrying out accounting work from home provides many advantages compared to working on the staff of a particular enterprise. Thus, high-profile specialists with good work experience can earn decent money by independently planning their own time and not depending on the office schedule.

An important advantage of working as a home-based accountant is the minimum investment to start, which allows you to open a business almost from scratch.

With all the benefits in mind, there are some features that aspiring entrepreneurs should consider. These include the ability to communicate with clients, as well as planning skills and sufficient self-organization. In addition, the specifics of an accountant’s work include the need for constant self-development and improvement, so a self-employed specialist must follow trends and innovations.

Before starting remote work, you need to study the modern market for accounting services and determine which areas will be most in demand.

Working from home, a specialist can offer the following types of services:

assistance in state registration and liquidation of an enterprise;
assistance in maintaining company personnel records, calculating and calculating wages;
accounting;
assistance in drawing up reports of various types, including to the health insurance fund, Pension Fund, social services, etc.

At the initial stage of activity, you can offer only one or several types of activities, gradually expanding the scope of offers.

After the company's strategy has been created, it is necessary to develop a business plan, in which all financial aspects should be calculated and the level of return on investment for the future enterprise should be determined. Costs usually come down to purchasing quality software and a good computer and advertising, as well as paying taxes. In total, approximately 110 thousand rubles will have to be spent on these purposes. If a novice entrepreneur competently conducts an advertising campaign and develops a rational pricing policy, all investments will pay off in about a year.

Working as an accountant from home: where to start a business?

One of the most important organizational features is the need to officially register a business. Any specialist who has chosen the option of self-employment is required to obtain the status of an individual entrepreneur, regularly paying tax on the income received.

When drawing up a strategy for a future business at the preparatory stage, it is necessary to clearly define the features of the activity and its scale. So, having decided exactly what will be included in the accountant’s sphere of interests and what specific services he will offer to clients, you need to select the appropriate code according to the OKVED classifier. In most cases, code 74.12 - “Activities in the field of accounting and auditing” will be relevant.

For the activities of a private accountant, a simplified form of taxation may be suitable, having decided on which the new entrepreneur must inform the tax office within the first 30 days after registering the business.

Stages of starting a business

Creating and developing a business providing accounting services at home involves several stages:

- selection and preparation of work space. A separate room in the house is suitable for this purpose: it is important that the accountant can work in silence and comfort, where he cannot be distracted by his family;
purchase of working equipment - a powerful computer and licensed software. The following programs will be required: 1C: Accounting, Turbo Accountant and some other types of specialized software;
search for clients, advertising. There are several basic methods that differ in effectiveness and cost. It makes sense for beginners to start by working on a thematic exchange, participation in which will not require financial investments and at the same time will allow them to develop a reputation and find regular customers. Another option is to create your own website and promote your services through it. Social networks are suitable for the same purpose.

An effective way to find clients, especially at the starting stage, would be to post advertisements on online bulletin boards, and even place information brochures at the stands of the tax office.

In general, the provision of accounting services from home seems to be a promising start-up, suitable for both experienced and successful professionals, as well as for beginners.

As noted above, working as a visiting accountant is associated with many external factors - from high competition to country legislation. Yes, don’t be surprised, but even an accountant must respond in a timely manner to all new laws issued and amendments to existing ones. You will be surprised, but this is not uncommon; new amendments and legislative acts appear every year. Therefore, when choosing a job as an incoming accountant, you should follow some simple and obvious tips:

Study all new laws and amendments to existing laws. To do this, you can subscribe to thematic mailings issued by leading accounting publishing houses, or use current accounting computer programs, where all new laws are taken into account and applied, accompanied by appropriate documentation.
Despite the high competition, it is difficult to find any niche where the demand will be as great. This is due to the fact that it is quite difficult to find a good accountant who knows all the intricacies of a particular business, which is why the services are in demand. Are you a good accountant? Don't be afraid that clients will come and go. Turnover is a common factor in your business.
Feel free to use additional ways to make money from your clients. Precisely because clients come and go. And you can make money from them even after they leave you in search of other accountants or independent management. For example, using the service "

You will learn where to start providing accounting services at home, where to find clients for remote work, and how to become a successful accountant working outside the office.

Every year, the phenomenon of remote work is gaining popularity. It is also called the fashionable word “freelancing”.

The concept itself reveals the essence of cooperation: the employer and the employee (customer and contractor) are at a distance from each other. That is, remote work is professional employment outside the office using Internet technologies.

Remote work as an accountant - when you don’t have to go to the office every day

This method of employment is interesting to many. It is especially popular among those who are tired of working “for someone else” but are unable to open their own business. There are many remote workers who are pensioners, women on maternity leave, and students.

This type of income can be considered both as a main and as a part-time job. Working from home remotely saves you time and money!

Once you start working from home, you will no longer have to waste time traveling from home to the office, stand in traffic jams, or adhere to the dress code adopted by the company. You can save on transportation costs and lunches in cafes.

More and more programmers, designers, marketers, and accountants are becoming members of the remote workers community.

I am a professional accountant with more than 10 years of experience in freelancing, so I will talk specifically about how to work as an accountant remotely.

Where to start - step-by-step instructions

You can get the desired result in any business only by conducting high-quality preliminary preparation.

You don't know how to organize work remotely? How to start working as an accountant from home? Then my step-by-step instructions will come in handy!

Step 1. Organize your workspace

I recommend that anyone who wants to provide accounting services remotely first set up their own mini-office at home. Yes, yes, only this way and no other way!

If you don't do this, you can end up in a very unpleasant situation.

Example from life

My friend Olga, who worked for many years as a chief accountant at a large plant, decided to leave for free work. No sooner said than done!

Old connections helped her find her first clients: she once taught accounting courses for aspiring entrepreneurs at the city employment fund. Some of them became her customers.

“Clients are the most important thing, everything else is secondary,” the aspiring freelancer was sure. She believed that she had a table, a chair and a computer, which meant that she was ready to work as an accountant remotely.

The first working day in a new capacity has arrived. Olga enjoyed the silence, leisurely going about her business. Suddenly the unimaginable began: one client asks to urgently pay for materials, another to receive goods into the warehouse, a third to arrange a vacation.

And here’s the problem: the computer freezes, the table is far from the outlet, and the extension cord, as luck would have it, is unknown where, the cartridge in the printer is slightly “alive”, in the accounting program of one of the companies the former accountant did not enter invoices for almost ten days.

Late in the evening, Olga, almost exhausted, telling me about her misadventures of that day, no longer doubted that a properly organized workspace is important!

For an accountant's home office, I recommend purchasing the following items:

Reliable computer. It is better to consult with computer specialists. Perhaps the one you use to communicate on social networks is suitable for your needs. Or maybe your “old man” will not run all the necessary programs, and you will have to either upgrade it or buy a new one.
MFP (printer+copier+scanner). An essential item, even if you mainly deal with electronic documentation. Firstly, it is often necessary to send a scan of a document with signatures and seals, which means that it must, first of all, be printed, formatted properly, scanned and only then sent. Secondly, the paper archive of the “primary” has not been canceled. Thirdly, your employees may probably need a copy of their work record (for example, to obtain a bank loan). And here you can’t do without a photocopier. Believe me, there will be many such cases, every day.
Calculator. Calculating on a phone or an online calculator is inconvenient, but it has been tested in practice.
Table+chair. Of course, the table and chair can be anything, but we want to conduct business, not as we have to, but with comfort. Remember how your back and neck hurt when you have to sit all day at an uncomfortable desk. After just a couple of hours you don’t want to think about anything. You dream of finishing everything quickly and warming up.
Stationery. In this category I included not only pens, pencils and erasers, but also a stapler and hole punch. All these are little things that you can’t do without!

This is the most necessary thing. Decide on the rest as you go.

Check the quality of communication and Internet. Decide in advance on the services in which you will have to keep accounting records. Even if you are familiar with their functionality, don’t be lazy to test it again. This way you will save your strength and nerves when the turnover hits you.

Step 2: Write a resume

I’m sure no one will argue about the importance of the ability to present oneself. After all, future employer-customers must somehow find out about your basic skills, education, practical experience, strengths and weaknesses, professional achievements, etc.

This is how a resume will become a presentation for a remote accountant.

A resume is a document containing reliable information about education, practical experience, professional skills and other information necessary for consideration of a candidacy for employment.

Now there are special companies that, for a fee, offer to package your information in a beautiful package and create a resume that will present you to potential employers in the right, advantageous perspective. If you don't want to bother, then this is your option!

You can create a completely effective resume yourself. The network can help you! There is no need to retell all the advice from numerous sources on this matter. You can find and read them yourself.

I want to draw attention to just a few particularly important nuances of this process:

Always provide only reliable facts. Remember - all important information can be easily verified;
structure the information. I recommend using resume templates. For example, on the website hh.ru, by registering as a job seeker for free, you can easily create a good resume;
Pay attention to the style of presentation of information. A resume is an official document, your business card. Creativity in drawing up this document is acceptable if you are a candidate for an animator, show host, etc. When applying for a job at a bank, a large company's liberties can play a cruel joke on you;
Don’t imagine yourself as L. Tolstoy, don’t write your resume in several volumes. 1-2 standard sheets are enough;
and, no matter how trivial it may be, write correctly. Errors in a resume are unacceptable.

Step 3. Find a customer

Workspace and resume sorted out! All that’s left to do is find a customer.

And here almost all means are good:

Don’t hesitate to contact your friends, tell them that from now on you are a freelance accountant.
Make inexpensive, high-quality business cards; you may need them at any time (for example, when you are waiting in line at the tax office, know: the people next to you are your potential clients. Communicate, talk about your services, leave business cards).
Subscribe to groups on social networks that post similar vacancies - they are not difficult to find.
Place advertisements in newspapers that publish vacancies.

If you weren’t able to find a job using “guerrilla” methods, turn to professionals—specialized resources. Read about them in detail below.

When setting out on a search, weigh your strengths. Clearly determine how much work you are willing to take on. Identify your priority taxation systems, that is, those with which you are ready to work first. Find a company that uses such systems and begin your first steps in freelance accounting.

Even if you are a super professional, do not recruit many clients at once. Remote work is not like working in an office; it has its own rules that you will still have to get used to.

Where to find remote work as an accountant

So, let’s determine the places where employers are found - customers who are ready to cooperate with remote accountants.

There are many such places: freelance exchanges, specialized job search services, message boards on the Internet, recruitment agencies, etc.

Let's get acquainted with the most popular:

1) FL.ru is a place where performers and customers from all over Russia and the CIS countries meet. The service began its work in 2005. Over the years, the number of registered users has reached more than 1.5 million people. Programmers and designers, accountants and copywriters, consultants and tutors can find work via the Internet at home, secure decent income.

Exchange Features:

2) Weblancer is another Freelance Exchange where accountants can find a remote customer for their services. The service was created in the early 2000s, but still occupies a leading position.

Advantages of Weblancer Exchange:

ease of access to the resource;
quality assurance;
the benefit of the customer and the contractor is guaranteed by internal arbitration;
availability of the “safe transaction” service.

By registering, you can not only place your ad, but also respond to customer offers. However, this is only available on paid plans. You can only view vacancies for free.

It’s nice that you can find both permanent and project work here. The choice is yours!

3) Avito is one of the most famous online free message boards in the Russian Federation. As of June 2017, more than 35 million different advertisements were posted on the site.

A variety of advertisements are posted here: about the purchase and sale of things, equipment, real estate, vacancies, offers of services. We are interested in the “Services” section. Of course, the service has a special “Work” section, but the proposals of accountants are printed here. To gain access, you must complete a simple free registration.

And then everything is simple! Place a catchy advertisement offering accounting services remotely, attach your certificates and diplomas related to accounting (if any) and wait for your first clients. You will learn that your proposal has received a response from a message sent to the email address you provided during registration.

Want to speed up the process? Order paid promotion of your services.

What it takes to become a successful work-at-home accountant

To become a successful remote accountant, you need to have some key qualities. Don't confuse them with professional competencies. Their presence is not discussed!

We are talking about:

communication skills. It is very important to be able to communicate with people and win them over. Communicative specialists find customers faster and conclude more profitable contracts;
self-organization. When people go freelance, they relax. They stop planning and correctly distributing time between work and rest. It seems to them that they didn’t have time today, they will do it tomorrow. This is how the days pass. And now, on top of one task, ten more were layered. All of them require urgent solutions;
self-control. There are no bosses over you anymore, no one controls your affairs. How your career will turn out now depends only on you;
desire to self-develop. Accounting and tax accounting is perhaps one of those areas that is constantly changing. Nobody writes instructions and regulations for remote workers, monitors legislation updates, or cares about improving their professionalism. Only a personal desire to develop yourself will allow you to withstand competition and become successful.