The services of a third-party organization are to carry out the work of a company that has delegated the appropriate authority. That is, part of the work is transferred to specialists of another company who are professionals in a certain activity. Thanks to this, it is possible to save significant funds.
At the same time, third-party agreements are concluded on the performance of work or the provision of services with the company acting as the customer. Most often, a legal entity or individual entrepreneurs transfer accounting, maintenance, selection of qualified personnel, advertising, and printing to other companies.
When to use the services of a third-party organization
This is a very important issue. The services of a third-party organization are resorted to in cases where the company does not have an employee of the required qualifications and its hiring will be too expensive. This is especially necessary if one-time work is required or if it is rarely needed. Then it is much easier to entrust these functions to the contractor, which is the role of an external organization.
Kinds
One of the advantages of such services is the ability to transfer different processes to the executor. Depending on the need, companies use the services of third-party organizations that are engaged in the following activities:
- Industry.
- Conducting accounting and tax accounting.
- Providing legal services.
- IT.
- Logistics.
- Labor protection.
- HR management.
- FEA.
- Print.
- By advertisement.
- Calling potential customers (call-centers).
Briefly consider each of these species.
Industrial
A third-party organization may be required to provide accounting, stocking, maintenance, logistics, and transportation of finished materials, equipment, or products. The production process itself can also be transmitted. This service is especially in demand when the company executes urgent orders.
Accounting and tax accounting
Third-party 1C services are among the most common types. This option is perfect for individual entrepreneurs and legal entities whose activities require a minimum number of accounting documents, especially when working on specialized taxation systems (for example, “simplified”). It is much more profitable to turn to an accountant from outside than to hire an employee, equip a place for his work and buy professional licensed programs. You can trust a third-party organization to maintain the entire volume of documents or individual functions.
Legal Services
These services are also popular. Only large, highly profitable companies can afford to hire a highly paid lawyer. Individual entrepreneurs and small companies often use the services of third-party organizations. This is required, for example, to perform certain tasks in the field of labor, civil or tax law. At the same time, contracts are drawn up, conflicts with suppliers, contractors, buyers, and so on are resolved.
IT Services
Work in the field of IT services may consist in setting up, repairing and maintaining a PC, or is associated with the creation and implementation of software or special systems at enterprises in various fields of activity. These specialists can carry out all the work or partial processes of programming, technical support, hosting and other professional tasks.
Personnel Management
The functions are relevant for large companies that have a lot of employees.A third-party organization performs the necessary processes in relation to the selection of personnel, the preparation of relevant documents, payroll, assessed contributions, bonuses and other tasks.
Occupational Safety and Health
Regardless of whether the company is engaged in trade, production or the provision of services, the safety of employees must be ensured. To this end, a specialist of the necessary qualifications educates and instructs them in safety measures and accident prevention. Often, companies prefer to transfer these functions to third parties. This allows you to reduce the cost of performing mandatory work.
Logistics
If the company sometimes requires logistics services, it is most advantageous to contact the fleet, which contains a third-party organization. This option will be much simpler and cheaper than the maintenance of the necessary equipment, the occupation of all the moments associated with the transportation, and the presence in the state of its own driver.
FEA
It is more convenient for an enterprise exporting and importing goods rarely or one-time to contact the customs declarant or the appropriate third-party organization specializing in the provision of these services. But if such transactions are carried out on a regular basis, it is more profitable to hire a specialist in the state.
Printing Services
In this case, the services of third parties are to produce printed products. At the same time, the design and printing of forms is developed, images of layouts are scanned and processed, offset or digital printing is performed.
Advertising activity
Whatever activity the company is engaged in, advertising is one of the most important components for building a successful business. In this case, the services of third-party organizations are often used not only by small-scale companies, but also by rather large “players” in the market. They are provided by advertising agencies that create and promote a particular brand, develop an advertising strategy, and conduct marketing campaigns.
Call centers
Specialized contact centers are also frequent performers that companies use to advertise a new product or service. These third-party workers make “cold calls” on existing bases and can call a large number of people in a short period of time.
Collaboration with such organizations
The following options for cooperation with a third-party organization are possible:
- Full (maximum) - in this case, the transfer is not of individual functions, but of the whole process.
- Partial (selective) - only certain functions are transferred to the company.
- Improved - certain functions are transferred to the company, and the main company distributes them.
- Intermediate - tasks are transferred to a third party, which has established itself as a highly specialized performer.
- Transformational - at the same time, specialists are involved in providing certain types of services, in which the company’s division is reorganized, new systems, knowledge and other necessary elements are introduced. After that, the unit returns to its standard tasks.
- Combined - an agreement is signed with several service companies.
- Joint organizations - the customer and the supplier create a company in which each of the parties performs its functions, and the profit is divided in half.
Advantages and disadvantages
Attracting third-party organizations is beneficial not only from a financial point of view. By transferring tasks to others, full-time employees can concentrate on performing core functions. But such cooperation has both positive and negative sides.
The benefits include the following:
- Saving money on salaries, contributions to funds, sick leave and vacation pay, equipping work places.
- Performing highly specialized tasks at a professional level.
- Focusing employees on core business processes.
At the same time, the work of a third-party organization is not without flaws. These include the following:
- There is a risk of loss of confidentiality, which may affect the company's competitiveness indicator.
- The risk of providing work results of inappropriate quality is increasing.
- The rate of obtaining information for management processes is reduced.
- Uncertainty of legal liability in case of violation of obligations due to imperfection of the legislative framework.
- If the contractor is given too many powers, there is a danger that the success of certain activities will be reduced.
- In addition, if services are provided to third parties, this may ultimately lead not to profit, but to significant financial costs.
Cost of services
Prices for the provision of services depend on the level of complexity of the work, the terms of the contract and other indicators. If the calculation is based on the tasks performed, it turns out that third-party organizations will have to pay more than full-time employees. However, considering all the costs associated with the employee, you can make sure that contacting such specialists is much more profitable.
Payment for services of third parties is prescribed in the contract. It can be done according to the results of work, as well as by the hour or for a certain worked period.
Postings
The main document that is provided upon receipt of services is the act of completion. Another payment document is an invoice, which is issued by a company paying VAT. Most often these include legal entities operating under the OSNO system.
If the service is rendered before payment is received, then data on interaction with the seller are entered first. The debit indicates the expense account, and the loan - account 60 and sub-account 01 (or “Settlements with suppliers and contractors”).
For different services, indicate their accounting accounts. When selecting a cost account, you must consider the purpose of the services. For example, when the managerial staff is maintained, account 26 is suitable, when production is used, account 20, when auxiliary production is used, account 23 or 25. At the same time, account 19 (VAT) separately takes into account the amount of tax for services of third-party organizations.
Postings on them are formed as follows:
- For revenue from debit - account 90.01 and account 62.01.
- To write off the cost of debit - account 90.02, account 20, account 23.
- For VAT - account 90.03, account 68.02.
- When paying for services by debit - account 51, account 62.01.
Each operation is carried out individually. Therefore, it is important to choose the right tax and accounting account. The financial outcome will depend on this.
Mistakes
Starting this kind of cooperation, many companies repeat the same typical mistakes that lead to significant costs. These include:
- Incorrect assessment of economic indicators.
- Invalid artist selection.
- Incorrectly drawn up contract or non-conclusion of the contract as such.
Consider these errors in more detail.
Savings Rating
The main reason why you turn to a third-party organization is the possibility of reducing costs. However, often incorrect calculations lead to increased costs. Third party payment may be high, and the quality of work, on the contrary, low. In order not to encounter a similar situation, it is necessary to monitor different companies and choose the optimal one for the price and quality of the services provided.
Before handing over tasks to outside specialists, you should study their profitability. Performers need to be trusted to carry out only those works that, when performed independently, will be disadvantageous.
Wrong contractor choice
When choosing an artist, you need to study his reputation, reviews from regular customers, work period, degree of qualification of employees, guarantees and other indicators. Be sure to provide training for a third-party organization. Do not contact those who offer the lowest prices on the market. It is possible that the results of the work will turn out to be of poor quality. It must be understood that a highly qualified specialist will not work for a low price.
Invalid contract or lack of contract
The contract should spell out all the points: the result, and the execution period, and prices, and the responsibility of the parties. Before signing it must be carefully studied. And it is generally better to refuse the verbal agreement.
How to choose
Every year, business publishers and think tanks compile ratings of the largest companies that perform certain jobs, and keep records of the services of third-party organizations. In addition to the scale of the company, their stability, fulfillment of obligations, business reputation and other indicators are taken into account. Mostly, ratings are compiled for certain types of services, for example, accounting, legal services, and so on.
You can find out what reputation a particular large third-party organization has on the online resources of IOAP (International Association of Outsourcing Professionals). Information can also be found on Russian profile sites that have appeared recently.
When choosing an executing company, it is worth paying attention to the presence of regular customers. In addition, the longer the company operates, the more likely it is to receive quality services. "Young" companies may not have enough resources to complete the task.
It also does not hurt to look at reviews about the company. This information may be contained on the artist’s website and on thematic forums. This will allow you to find out the real situation at the moment.
Registration and organization of work of a third-party company
Having examined the organization on the part of customers, you can pay a little attention to those who decide to engage in such activities themselves. In order to register a company that provides various services on the terms of the cooperation discussed above (for example, 1C services of third-party organizations), you can apply for registration of a legal entity or become an individual entrepreneur. When registering, indicate the types of activity - both primary and secondary. To succeed, you need to select areas that are in demand in a particular region.
Often, credit organizations cooperate with similar companies. The need may arise, for example, in the services of a call-center. In addition, such a company can entrust the provision of advice to customers. Then the third-party organization independently coordinates its work, according to the results of which it receives income.
Initially, you need to have start-up capital for expenses:
- To rent a room.
- Purchasing equipment and organizing jobs.
- Hiring employees who will provide third-party services.
- Postings are made in the 1C program. Therefore, you need to purchase a licensed version.
With the right approach to business, the costs pay off in a short period of time.
Hiring labor
As in any company, in this case, great attention is paid to the staff. The success of future activities and the reputation of the company as a whole largely depend on the qualifications of employees. Therefore, it is recommended to hire an experienced highly qualified specialist for the selection of personnel.
When preparing a business plan, the following information is studied:
- What clients have to work with.
- All possible services provided in a particular area.
- Quality control of the work performed.
- The possibility of expanding the scope of services.
It is important for a company to determine and gain a foothold in its niche.It is advisable to start with the provision of services in one area or for one company. Over time, it is better to expand cooperation to several companies in order to feel more stable in the market and receive higher profits.
Conclusion
Using the services of third-party organizations is a very common occurrence in modern business. But, deciding on such cooperation, you need to weigh the pros and cons. In each case, the interaction can bring both benefits in the form of benefits, and may be the wrong decision.
But when drawing up a competent business plan, as well as its careful implementation, it is likely to succeed in providing appropriate services. The main thing in this case is to find services that are in demand in the region.