How to hire a Chief Accountant without mistakes

Even the smallest mistake in Chief Accountant work may affect your EBITDA.

A brief guide on how IT companies, the Hi-Tech Park (HTP) residents, can hire a Chief Accountant avoiding mistakes and their consequences, such as penalties, fines, and court cases.

The tax penalty exceeded the annual wages of the Chief Accountant.

Case: Company A, a resident of the HTP, decided to hire a Chief Accountant without experience in the IT industry, following the belief that the HTP membership simplifies everything. Based only on a CV, soft skills assessment, and recommendations from a previous employer, Company A hired a Сhief Аccountant. After that, Company A got:

• penalty for late payment of 1% to the HTP;
• missed deadlines for submission of reports to the HTP;
• a penalty for VAT on the import of services, which exceeded the annual wages of the Chief Accountant.

Company A paid all the taxes and penalties and terminated the employment contract with the low-skilled employee. The employee filed a lawsuit against the Company A for unlawful dismissal, citing the absence in the job description of duties for calculating and paying taxes and 1% to the HTP.

About 30% of candidates with relevant experience perform 0 results when testing.

Mistake 1: interview without checking candidates’ knowledge.

Technical interviewers participate in almost all interviews with Software Engineers. In the meantime, there is often no one to check the hard skills of the Chief Accountant.

Statistics from the interviews we conducted is cruel: about 30% of candidates with relevant experience perform 0 results in test assignments when testing.

HTP membership is 22 pages of the Decree that you must add to the candidate’s knowledge.

Mistake 2: the myth that the HTP membership simplifies everything.

Based on some opinions, the HTP membership frees a Chief Accountant from knowing how to calculate taxes, because of the 0% rate for most of them.

HTP membership is 22 pages of the Decree that you must add to the candidate’s knowledge.

Minor savings at the start can result in significant losses of time and money in the future.

Mistake 3: lack of actual responsibilities in the job description.

Time is money, so in a hurry, one may follow a simple common practice and use a standard job description. But in the end, minor savings at the start can result in significant losses of time and money in the future.

How to avoid mistakes:

• select candidates before the interview by offering to fulfill a test assignment that covers your company specifics;
• complete the candidates’ knowledge assessment by having a technical interviewer involved;
• add knowledge of the HTP membership conditions to the requirements for candidates and verify it;
• split the mandatory annual audit into two stages to identify possible risks earlier;
• describe the real responsibilities of the Chief Accountant and your company’s processes in the job description.

How to find someone who will test the knowledge of the Chief Accountant?

At Tri Foundation, we help IT companies, the residents of the HTP, in hiring professionals to their administrative team.

We:

• develop a test assignment;
• select candidates for interviews;
• act as a technical interviewer;
• give a detailed assessment of all candidates;
• provide recommendations on the preparation of a real job description.

If you are looking for professionals to strengthen your administrative team, contact us at hi@trifoundation.io

Learn more about how we do it here.