Expert RA
In Russia, the development of the outsourcing of accounting functions is accompanied by, among other things, the enhancement and introduction of solutions based on new technologies. Lyudmila Shusterova, the deputy general director of the BDO outsourcing division, relates modern outsourcing technologies in more detail:
– The process of accounting starts at the client's end and ends at the provider's accounting department. This is why, at this time, portal document exchange solutions and systems of automation of business and authorization processes are popular. Besides, rather often, clients have no wish to handle their own IT infrastructures and expect accounting services in a cloud. This makes hi-tech services, such as cloud solutions related to the automation of various areas of accounting very demanded, for instance, for working with suppliers or settling accounts with advance holders.
So we offer portal solutions for the automation of business trips assignment and settlements with advance holders. Here, the client's employees and managers, tourist agencies' personnel and BDO professionals have access to a common web portal. The system allows the client's employees to enter business trip assignments, have them approved by their supervisors, get ticket and hotel reservation offers from the tourist agency and select the best offer.
Further on, the software generates the documents needed for the business trip and sends a payment order to the BDO accounting department. Having returned from the business trip, the employee fills in an advance report and attaches copies of the primary documents to it. Information about the cost of tickets and a hotel room is automatically entered into the necessary forms and the advance report is either approved or returned for revision.
Documents provided by suppliers are processed the same way. They are either sent to BDO directly or passed onto the client's managers. Then they are entered into the system for being coordinated electronically and are authorized at all levels. Following this, a BDO accountant generates transactions in the accounting system. Issues related to keeping an archive of paper documents are resolved separately.
We also offer a Personal Cabinet service for employees of our clients. It is a web portal where people may independently enter and verify personal data, check wage info, generate requests for verifications, etc.
Collaboration tools are used actively. They allow clients' financial and HR personnel work simultaneously with our team. Clients' employees gain access to the system through the thin client program that allows them to enter and verify data, get business analyses and set tasks. When this is done, the principal amount of data remains in the thick client program run on the BDO servers. On the one hand, this allows to maintain a high level of data security and, on the other hand, to gain access to the system, though a secured VPN, from any place in the world where Internet is available.
Besides, at this time, the approval of electronic invoice forms allows to offer, to clients, solutions with the use of electronic digital signatures. This means that accounting centers may be located at large distances from clients' offices, because accounting is no longer directly dependent on paper documents exchange.
