Help With Founding The First Steps. Wrong help is worse than no help. One of the entrepreneur’s first tasks is to choose his external helpers attentively when setting up a company. This article illustrates which collaborators will assist you with your entrepreneurship project and what manner.
The entrepreneur is an expert in his field, otherwise he would not dare to take the step into self-employment. But not every professional is also an expert in setting up a company and in running a company. Those who have sufficient economic knowledge can dare to do it alone. Everyone else needs professional help.
So test your business skills extremely carefully. You ought to at least have practical skills to succeed as an entrepreneur. However, you do not need to prove detailed knowledge of setting up a company and accounting. If you lack knowledge in these areas, however, you should resort to external help and plan the costs for it from the start.
Start-up assistance from start-up consultants
The wave of start-ups in recent years has resulted in a great demand for special help in the start-up phase. That is why quite a few management consultants have specialized in clients who want to become self-employed.
Start-up consultants are highly specialized in providing support in every phase of the start-up of a company, from the initial idea through to opening and beyond. Some even help with brainstorming. The following tasks are typical for start-up consultants:
Examination of the qualifications of the entrepreneur,
Examination of the business idea,
Analysis of the basic feasibility,
Preparation of the business plan,
Planning and implementation of start-up financing (including subsidies),
Advice on legal form / location,
Support in registering with authorities,
Drawing up the marketing plan,
Planning the opening.
When deciding whether you want to call in a start-up consultant, the only question that matters is: What are the advantages for me? The question of whether expert help is useful or even necessary can only be answered using the benefit analysis.
The tax advisor: help with and after the establishment
You will still use at least one advisor after the establishment: the tax advisor. The tax advisor specializes in tax issues. Many tax advisors have also included advising small companies on economic issues in their offerings. Many have also gained experience with business start-ups that can be used. Since advice on tax issues and also in economic matters will be necessary in the future, everything speaks in favor of using a tax advisor during the start-up phase.
The task of the tax advisor must be assigned to the phases of formation and normal business.
During the start-up phase , advice has the same content as that of a pure start-up advisor. The fact that the focus is on tax optimization shouldn’t really be a problem.
After the establishment (i.e. in the later, normal course of business), the tax advisor will support you in all tax matters, from monthly sales tax reports to wage tax payments to the company’s tax return.
In addition, the entrepreneur will ask economically complex questions after the establishment. The tax advisor can clarify this too.
As a service, the tax advisor can also take over the bookkeeping of the young company. If the scope is not yet very large and if the financial results are not needed immediately, the founder’s lack of knowledge of accounting issues can be compensated flexibly and inexpensively in this way.
This also applies to the execution of the payroll for any employees of the new company, which the tax advisor is happy to take over. In this way, the new company saves itself having to purchase an employee’s knowledge in the area of payroll accounting.
Since the connection with the tax advisor should last as long as possible, the selection must be made with great care. Please note the following:
The tax advisor should have experience with companies in the same sector and of a similar size.
Private experiences that the entrepreneur has with the tax advisor play an important role: Is the chemistry right? Is the collaboration fruitful? Also check whether your tax advisor really has experience in advising companies. If he has previously dealt mainly with private customers, he usually lacks the routine to advise companies quickly and optimally.
They become less common over time, but they still exist: personal contacts between the tax advisor and the client. In order to reduce the effort as much as possible, tax advisors and companies should not be too far apart. The spatial proximity also ensures that the advisor can include developments at the location (in the community) in his advice. In addition, costs are an important parameter when choosing a tax advisor. That is why you make it clear from the start which services he can sell to your company in the future. The larger the order volume, the more likely your tax advisor will be willing to make price concessions when advising start-ups.
Tax consultants are required to bill their services according to the applicable fee table. In practice, however, it is customary to make individual price agreements with the tax advisor for different services (e.g. the tax statement including tax return, bookkeeping and / or payroll). The pure start-up advice is usually billed at daily rates that are lower than those of the start-up consultants. A lump sum payment (e.g. per month) can be agreed for later support in economic matters. However, the scope of the activities paid for with it should be described. Otherwise there is always potential for conflict in the future.
