A global company had incorporated a subsidiary in India and was on the verge of commencing its operations in full swing. Post incorporation, it had recruited a senior professional to manage its operations and achieve the objectives of the parent company.
This professional had serious responsibilities to deliver. He had to find office space, factory space, meet the potential customers all over Asia Pacific, recruit talent for sales, use the funds invested judiciously, find right vendors, etc. Accounting and finance being a critical function, which if not managed well from the beginning may lead to incorrect decisions, unknown state of affairs, etc.
Pozitiv was approached to help in setting up and running this function. Pozitiv had discussions with this senior professional and did a quick study of the requirements of this company. And then the finance function was setup, which is running smooth and in compliance with all the corporate law regulations for 6 straight years without a single red flag.
What were the critical steps that were identified and agreed upon? In this case study, we want to highlight our approach and not the mundane details of the processes or our scope of work. The ensuing paragraphs throw light on these matters:
Structure
Having a structure of the way things are required to be done and agreed upon procedures led to this breakthrough. We set up structure in various finance areas, like:
- Responsibility Structure: What are the responsibilities that the company has to fulfill and what we at Pozitiv will contribute? This made our relationship very transparent and expectation levels were set. For example, who is the approving authority for any expense at the company and what acts of the approving authority will indicate to us the incurring of such expense were defined.
- Payment cycles structure: Once an expense is approved, we defined payment cycles spelling out the days on which any payment will be made and we sent out a payment approval memorandum to the approving authority after verifying deduction of any advance to the vendor, withholding of taxes, etc. We also stated the fund availability, credit period, etc and once the payments were approved the payment were uploaded by us on behalf of the company.
- Protocol for expense classification: Based on the nature of the company’s business we agreed upon the classification of the expense to appropriate head to reflect the correct state of affairs. This leads to proper analysis of budget versus actual expenditure. Also reflections on whether the expenses done are justified for future or not
- Chart of accounts / Cost Centers based on the company’s global policy: The Company is headquartered in Ireland and has multiple subsidiaries. To track the performance of the conglomerate as a whole, it needs some standards and uniformity in the procedures followed by all its group entities. We incorporated these policies while structuring the accounting for the company. This enabled us to serve the management well.
- Pay structure and employee policy: We helped the management make offer letters with standard components and the company’s global pay policy. Employee policy includes leave, travel, code of conduct, sexual harassment policy, etc. We helped the company draft the policy by aligning the company’s global policy to the additional local policy.
- Management information reports structure: To adhere to the uniform MIS reporting policy of the company, we supported them in compiling the data in the required format.
Advisory
The business puzzle in the India is composed of compliance with various regulations at both federal and provincial levels. We counseled the senior professional and management on every new step their business took in India, like:
- Advisory on the matters of structuring their transaction from import and export of goods / services regulations point of view.
- Advisory on the indirect tax implications on the transactions taken up by the company in India,
- Advisory on Income Tax / international tax on the transactions proposed to be taken by the company
- Reports required as and when to help company make decisions on their future course of action,
- Advisory on transactions with parent or a group company like infusion of additional capital, etc
Compliance
We have been able to support the company in filing appropriate disclosure reports with tax (direct and indirect) tax authorities, labour law authorities, etc. In the last six years there has been no material question raised by any statutory authorities as regards non compliance.
Audit support
This Company had appointed one of the big 4 accounting firm for external audit. We have been able to provide audit support to the company and no material errors have been found in the last 6 years of its operation in India.
Payroll
This Company had foremost priority to take care of its employees well. This meant we process payroll accurately and timely on a consistent basis and also send the pay stubs, reimbursement stubs, and tax withholding forms in a timely manner.
Building strong relationships
We just don’t process data, but want the company to succeed here. At times we did go out of our way to help the company, like helped the company find a right vendor for employee insurance.