Category Archives: blog

The problem of negative equity

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company bookkeeping

A few years ago, I wrote in my blog that the registration of a limited company without share capital is possible in several countries. The aim is to lower the threshold for entrepreneurship and it has certainly done so. Now that we look at it from a practical point of view, the flip side of the ease of incorporation has been highlighted by the difficulty of closing the company. In other words, if a limited liability company has been set up without a clear plan for its future, or if circumstances have changed irreversibly as a result of covid-19, the idea of dissolving the company may have arisen. The associated liquidation process, with its costs and the time it takes, has come as a surprise to many entrepreneurs. The country-specific corporate law usually states that if the Board of directors finds that the company’s equity capital is negative, they shall without delay take action. For example, in Finland you must make a notification to the Trade Register of the loss of share capital. There is more time in some countries to correct the balance, for example by the next annual closing of the company bookkeeping.

In practice, negative equity usually appears when the “total equity” line in the company bookkeeping balance sheet shows a figure under zero. Many small company has been set up without share capital, has no other equity invested and might be making a loss. In such a case, a loss of even one euro results in negative equity, which could lead to problems. It is quite easy to make a loss and the issue of negative equity can sometimes come as a surprise to the entrepreneur. The traditional situation is that of a start-up company with a short first financial period, financed with a loan. There may be liquidity for payroll and other expenses, but sales invoicing has not really started yet. The outcome for the period is a loss = negative equity. I encountered a slightly more peculiar situation recently in the connection of a car finance. A small company that employs its sole owner well and is able to pay a normal salary. In addition to the cash salary, a car benefit was utilized by buying a car on the company’s balance sheet with 100% financing. Some EBITDA margin is generated and there is enough cash to cover the repayments, but the annual depreciation of the car will bring the result down so badly that the equity is strongly negative.

There are a number of situations, as described above, where a small business can run into a negative equity problem. There are also accounting means that can be used to improve the situation without stepping into the grey area. For example, expense entries should not be aggressive and the overall periodization of costs can make a difference; whether it is actually an expense for next year or an investment for future years. The periodization of income and expenses for companies receiving various project grants is an art in itself, and expertise in this area is important in avoiding negative equity. However, the easiest action point is to invest sufficient equity in the company as early as possible. This does not have to be in the form of share capital since there are more flexible ways to be utilized. Alternatives can be sought, for example, by bookings a meeting with Digibalance Consultancy Service, where the issue can be examined directly on the basis of the client company bookkeeping.

Why should a negative equity be avoided? It is difficult to give an exhaustive answer to this question, but first of all it creates the situation mentioned at the beginning, where further action is required. If the notification to Trade Register is needed, there is also a need for further action to remove the entry in the register at a later date. This will entail accounting work and costs, i.e. it will also be an administrative burden. The notification in itself may also create complications to run the business. Purchasing goods or services on invoice may become more difficult. If you go to the bank to apply for a loan, this entry in the trade register may put an end to all discussions. The same result is faced if you show a balance sheet showing negative equity, even if there is no registration requirement for that. There might also be the risk that board members will be personally liable for damages or other problems the company may have.

The conclusion is very clear: even a small company should avoid negative equity because of the effort and risks involved. However, it does not automatically remove all the conditions for doing business.

Author Mikko Ilves the Chairman of the Board of Digibalance Group

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AutoAccount is compliant with Wise

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AutoAccount - Wise

A well functioning payment system is an absolute cornerstone of business operations. Since cash is not a modern option, a bank account has always been a self-evident and crucial tool and also a basis for bookkeeping. In recent years, however, entrepreneurs have increasingly come across a new problem: the bank refuses to open a bank account or closes an account that has been in operation. New solution: AutoAccount is compliant with Wise.

There are several types of problem situations. For example, a startup entrepreneur goes to open an account at a bank branch or an online bank, where he gets to fill out a questionnaire including questions about political activity to difficult details about how many and what types of transactions the bank account will have. The result may be that the entrepreneur is not a welcome customer and the account is not opened. More and more common is the situation where an operating company receives a questionnaire related to the background of beneficial owners. If the form is not returned, the bank will close the account completely after a few warnings. Or despite returning the form, the bank decides to close the account.

The reason why we have drifted into this kind of environment is due to banking regulation, and a considerable share of the banks’ resources goes to various bureaucracies. The biggest reason for an individual company’s problems is probably the KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements, i.e. the bank must show how it assesses the money laundering risks related to its customers, how it identifies its customers and how it knows and monitors its customers’ account transactions. From entrepreneur’s point of view, the effect is clear in many cases: if there is even the slightest uncertainty, the account will not be opened or maintained. Having a foreign background always seems to increase the risk.

If a solution cannot be found in the traditional banking field, there are several fintech companies who’s services can replace a bank account. Among AutoAccount’s wide international client base, we have come across a particularly large number of Wise accounts (formerly Transferwise). There’s already a lot of experience of Wise accounts and basic payments work well. Payments and direct debits have worked in both domestic and international situations. There is also a free Visa debit card available, which of course conveniently connects to the company’s account statement.

Accounting professionals know that getting bank account transactions into accounting is critical. In AutoAccount, we avoid manual recording of transactions as far as possible. Currently, banks produce very functional account data in XML format (CAMT). However, this is not available from international fintechs like Wise. At AutoAccount, we have solved the issue with our subsidiary Digibalance Oy’s own software development, which makes it possible to import account data into bookkeeping. When there are large masses of customers in the care, the efficiency of the process is everything. AutoAccount bookkeeping is now compliant with Wise!

Author Mikko Ilves the Chairman of the Board of Digibalance Group. 

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The silence of Digibalance AutoAccount has ended

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Online service for accounting

COVID-19 has not disappeared anywhere in the world, but its effects on working life have gradually diluted. For Digibalance companies, the period of a few years has been very revolutionary and it actually normalized what we had already built years before the corona: an online service for accounting clients, remote meetings, location-independent working. The impact of the pandemic on the visibility of our operations was clear: the rush in the customer process and development projects rose to such a level that our active social media presence withered to almost non-existence. At the same time, especially micro-entrepreneurs, in their own cost pressure, found us more and more often.

As the demand exceeded the delivery capacity, we have had to evaluate our operations from new perspectives. At the beginning of this year, we made a decision that differed from the preparations that had been made for a longer time: we will not bond with venture capitalists. The decision was based on many choices related to values, meaningfulness of work and entrepreneurship in general, but as with all choices, this has both positive and negative sides.

As a long-term entrepreneur, I always see it healthier to run a business where losses do not rise to a significant level. Without large financial buffers, this is also a situation dictated by necessity, and it is clear that it has the effect of slowing down development. The management’s time and energy is spent on ensuring various practical matters, while in a hypothetical position of “never-ending cash”, this energy could be allocated to doing the so-called right things.

The above-mentioned setup can be seen now as an emphasis on profitability alongside a focus on growth. When there is no need to impress the financiers, i.e. to grow at any cost, we have been able to analyze customer profitability and invest in personnel. In practice, for the first time in my entrepreneurial career, I have been driving almost as much customers away than acting as a salesperson. The experience has been partly heart-wrenching for the entrepreneur, but on the other hand, it has also opened my eyes in a new way to the well-being of employees.

The problems of customer profitability in our operations seem to rise mainly from two subjects: 1. a low solvency of client entrepreneurs compared to the need for services 2. additional stress for personnel caused by customer behavior problems.

Solvency problems are easier to understand from these two. When the entrepreneur’s own business has experienced difficulties due to the pandemic, he/she has started looking for more efficient and more affordable solutions. At the same time, however, it is easy to forget that the purchased service model differs from the previous one. Regular coffee breaks, stacks of papers and calls to your own  accountant are not part of the basic service of an online accounting office. Instead the service models are made for a different world. There is certainly still a place for old-fashioned services, but Digibalance companies do not produce such services. We have consistently built affordable digital online bookkeeping services for micro and small entrepreneurs. We combine needed expertise and the ease of use of DigibalanceApp application or online browser service. Almost without exception, a new client for us gradually adapts the new operating model, even if they have been working with their accountant in a different way for years. Effortless and affordable. That’s our unbeatable AutoAccount service combination, but I also feel that it is important to distinguish from “doing bookkeeping is now easy for you” type campaigns that unnecessarily raise the threshold of entrepreneurship. The majority of entrepreneurs would not like to participate in bookkeeping at all, and we emphasize that the applications are only part of our effortless service process for the customer. In AutoAccount sales, the most challenging thing is often to get the entrepreneur to understand how small is the required customer contribution for us to collect the necessary data to produce the books. And the accounting is done by AutoAccount on behalf of the customer.

When analyzing customer profitability, the most surprising thing to me was the fundamental behavior problems in a large customer base, which stress our employees. The phenomenon is the same as what you could read about in the media during the pandemic, for example in supermarkets: various very outrageous insults directed at employees increased when the shouters were able to hide behind a mask. Psychologically, it’s a very interesting topic, which is certainly related to many reasons from difficult times to upbringing and inequality. In practice, remote and online service create the same illusion as a face mask: the feeling that I, as a customer, can communicate however inappropriately. The same phenomenon is well known from social media discussions. On a practical level, it has been quite surprising to have to intervene in individual situations where the customer’s communication to accounting or even to an individual accountant is constantly rude and disrespectful. In some cases, it has been a question of the customer’s inherently aggressive way of communicating. In other cases, there is a misunderstanding where the accountant is seen as an enemy who always does things wrong, whether there was a factual reason for it or not. The customer may have been quite surprised when I brought up such a problem, and often the cooperation has continued in a more positive spirit after that. However, there are individual cases where we have not wanted to continue the service ourselves. It’s good to remember that behind all automation there are important people who make our effortless services possible!

We have had to increase minimally the reimbursements of software suppliers’ increasing customer-specific costs. However, our fight against inflation and price increases continues, and we will not raise our own monthly service charges for the time being!

The silence has ended and you will hear about our activities again through numerous electronic and social media channels in the future. Feel free to comment, share or like our updates😊

Published by Linked on 23/09/2022Digitase Oy - AutoAccount - DigibalanceApp

Digitase Oy – AutoAccount – DigibalanceApp

Author Mikko Ilves is an entrepreneur and the Chairman of the Board of Digibalance companies.

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Accounting service

Entrepreneur’s Money is Wanted | Accounting Service Needed

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Accounting service

Entrepreneurship is a fancy kind of sport where one needs to be even more strict regarding money than in his or her personal life. An experienced entrepreneur with accounting service already knows how to deal with different kind of other services which are offered almost as mandatory, although the only certain thing is that they cost money. The rumba begins already when you register your business and at the same time give your contact details. The amount of incoming e-mails, phone calls or even paper mail increases at once. It’s not even guaranteed to be avoided from the bombarding of telemarketers when leaving the phone number box empty since they can carelessly track your current employer’s number given to you. Today there are still companies which take their own privilege to interrupt anyone’s work day and start to sell their products with an endless monolog. However you can’t really give an advise to a start up entrepreneur not to take calls from unknown numbers. Blocking telemarketer’s phone numbers is instead advisable as unnecessary contact attempts start. It’s also recommended to end irrelevant phone calls as quickly as possible and save time for both. However I try to do my best to be polite in these situations since the caller is just doing his or her work and trying to earn a living.

What is Entrepreneur’s Money Desired For? 

First comes to mind insurances, spots for advertisements, phone and telecommunication, electricity contracts, different kind of software and administration services like accounting services. Before I comment on the software and accounting services very familiar to me, I want to pay attention to mystical “business subscriptions”. The only specialty seems to be their higher price compared to consumer subscriptions. Let’s take internet connection subscriptions as examples. It is very hard to get the seller to accept that one wants to buy a similar connection for a company use which is aimed for a private use. ”Well, it is basically our consumer sector’s products which can’t be sold in this case” kind of explanations have become very familiar to me. In the business subscription there are either more services than you will ever need or it might be so that there is no real difference at all when it’s compared to consumer subscription. The only difference is the price which is higher for companies.

An interesting single experience was with an IT application which was aimed for optimizing the electricity usage. The only difference between the company and consumer option was, in addition to higher price, the possibility for monthly payments instead of a single one-off payment. When there was no need for that the next argument was that this consumer subscription can’t be sold to a company. When I didn’t get an answer to ”why not” in the end, I of course made the more cheaper consumer order but under the company’s name as the use was going to be business related. There is also a trap for this topic that one of the requirements for VAT reclaims is that the expense receipt usually has to be under the business name! So when you make purchases for the company you should always try to avoid invoices and receipts with only your own name. And even if it is a tax deductible expense it doesn’t mean it’s free! This kind of misunderstood sale attitude I have also noticed in practice.

Although many offered services like all-inclusive insurances sound reasonable, an entrepreneur has a great risk to drift into a situation where different kinds of fixed administration costs are bigger than the revenues.

Entrepreneur’s Finance – Don’t Underestimate the Common Sense 

AutoAccount is selling accounting services and therefore I am slightly biased to comment on their active sales efforts. I can however say that as long as I can influence on the company we will not do so called cold calling where a number is picked from a list and one calls and tries to sell accounting services. Nowadays the services have to be brought to an entrepreneur’s attention by other means. In addition I recommend you to be very careful about what level of financial management services your size of a company needs. For example if you are a self-employed or you are managing a small company which employs a couple of persons, a basic online accounting service is probably enough. You won’t necessarily need versatile software where the most familiar feature will probably be its fixed monthly payment. It’s recommended to choose a reasonably priced accounting service which however enables to keep your financials available and in your own hands. Often it is also beneficial to brainstorm your own thoughts with someone outside your company but it is dangerous to think that an external consultant knows your specific business better than yourself. Therefore you shouldn’t underestimate yourself as the expert of your own company since no one has spent so much time thinking about your company’s matters.

Micropreneur’s financials can often be controlled by the following information: cash based accounting, bank account balance, the total balance of unpaid expense bills and estimation of the taxable income. This information can be managed and be available very inexpensively with the functions of bank services and online accounting service AutoAccount.

Author Mikko Ilves is an entrepreneur and the Chairman of the Board of Digibalance Group. More blog updates: www.autoaccount.info/blog/

 

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Starting a Finnish limited liability company (Oy) without share capital

Starting a Finnish limited liability company (Oy) without share capital

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A fairly inconspicuous change that allows starting a new limited liability company entirely without share capital took effect on July 1st. We establish companies with customers regularly and just last week postponed the registration of one. This wasn’t because the customer was unwilling to invest in their new company, but for the practical reason that online registration would needed to have been processed by the end of the week. From now on, starting a company online will always be done without share capital.

Especially new entrepreneurs have often had misconceptions about the meaning of share capital. A common one is that this so-called restricted shareholders’ equity is similar to expenses, and becomes unavailable. In practice, money invested as share capital will be immediately transferred to the company’s bank account, and can be used for normal expenses. In bookkeeping, the money has been tied and unavailable to be e.g. returned directly to the owner personally. Considering that nearly all business requires some sort of financial investment in the beginning, a share capital requirement of €2,500 has typically not been an issue. However, removing this requirement makes it easier to start a company, as an entrepreneur can complete the registration immediately and only then specify how much financial investment they need. It remains to be seen whether this is a good or a bad thing. Most likely it will be a bit of both.

Small delay can lead to harsh penalties

One aspect of share capital investing is that the small preliminary investment of shares in the company provides more incentive for the mandatory organization of the company’s administration to be taken seriously. Larger penalty payments imposed by tax authorities create a situation where even a small delay in e.g. establishing bookkeeping can lead to costs for the entrepreneur. I have witnessed situations even this year where an entrepreneur has accumulated over €1,000 of mandatory penalty by submitting reports of intra-community sales late and incorrectly written. This is only one example of situations in which a company founded easily and flexibly between friends has quickly gotten into trouble. Similar problems are sure to increase as starting a company is made easier.

The importance of a company’s bank account

An essential viewpoint into the topic is postponing the opening of a bank account. Because of requirements imposed onto banks, entrepreneurs have occasionally found it nearly impossible to open a bank account. However, starting a limited liability company currently requires such an account, and the prerequisites of opening one have been considered before registering the company in the first place. Since share capital investments are not required, a company can go into business before having a bank account. This can easily cause problems, as the company’s pay traffic is managed using e.g. employees’ own accounts or online payment services. In my Finnis blog post from 11.12.2017 I wrote about how essential being a bank’s customer is to a company. The matter can even be justified by direct cost savings by taking into account how e.g. we at AutoAccount can manage bookkeeping using digital information from banks at a much lower price than the rest of the market.

Starting a company is easy – closing one is not

Despite the previously discussed possible issues, I do not mean to decry this entire update. For instance, we ourselves have founded a subsidiary in Estonia entirely without share capital, since the nature of the business did not require new capital. When needed, the means for investing can be found from other sections of bookkeeping besides share capital. In Estonia, the option to distribute dividends is tied with paying share capital, which for Finland’s benefit does not seem to be included in the new changes.

Many business ideas are based on one’s own skills and know-how, and actual material purchases are barely needed. When a society sends a message to remove obstacles to entrepreneurship and self-employment is more common than before, the change is justified. If, for instance, one’s own employment depends on having to invoice customers through one’s own company, the possibility to easily start an LLC/Oy is welcome. However, an Oy is a less risky option than a business name of a self-employed in regards to e.g. responsibility matters, even for a one-man business.

A tip for new entrepreneurs: despite the seeming ease, do not start a limited liability company without a concrete plan for the future. Starting a company is now easy, but it brings with it a managerial burden, and shutting it down is its own expensive and arduous process.

 

Author Mikko Ilves is an entrepreneur and the Chairman of the Board of Digibalance Group. More blog updates: www.autoaccount.info/blog/

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AutoAccount starting strongly in Estonia

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location independent bookkeeping

Toomas Schipai (left) is the expert in Estonian accounting and Mikko Ilves in overseas services. There’s a skilled location independent bookkeeping team also in Finland.

AutoAccount Tallinn office started in November 2018 providing effortless location independent bookkeeping services for English-speaking micro entrepreneurs with registered business in Finland, France, Estonia or UK. Service is totally location independent and currently the customers represent dozens of nationalities worldwide. The growing customer group are the e-Resident companies registered in Estonia.

MBA Toomas Schipai started in Tallinn office in the beginning of the year. He works as an accountant and an expert of Estonian bookkeeping and taxation. As a matter of fact Toomas is quite an expert in Estonian accounting and is also giving lectures concerning the subject. He also has a long background working in international Nordic companies.

BREXIT puts many English entrepreneurs in a new unknown position how to go on with businesses within EU. UK registered companies will most likely be left out of AutoAccount scope. However e-residency and EU-company is an excellent solution how to ensure the on-going business in the future. Mikko Ilves at AutoAccount has a long experience in working with English businesses and can assist with the start-up process and the company administration.

AutoAccount location independent bookkeeping services are available online and office services, for example registered company addresses, in the heart of Tallinn at Metro Plaza business centre.

 

Author Mikko Ilves is an entrepreneur and the Chairman of the Board of Digibalance Group. More blog updates: www.autoaccount.info/blog/

 

 

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Keep your business in balance with DigibalanceApp | bookkeeping application

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Digibalance Limited has now launched the first version of the revolutionary mobile bookkeeping application DigibalanceApp, a tool for micro entrepreneurs to monitor financial performance. Research, development and piloting process of the application has taken over 12 months – Especially younger entrepreneurs are used to taking care of their daily affairs through mobile devices. That is why we want to offer small business owners the chance to handle business matters by mobile device as well. DigibalanceApp works both-ways between Digibalance and the client. The client can send us information and we in turn produce reports and other content for the service. The idea is that when the micro-entrepreneur opens the mobile service, they see directly a view that reveals both the present situation of the business and a financial forecast. We also generate taxation forecasts in the service. Later, other services, in connection with entrepreneurship offered by various cooperation partners, can also be added to the service says the Chairman of the Board Mikko Ilves.

Key features

The key features of the application are:
• The vital business financials and key data always easily available and shown as simple graphs
• A quick access to the income statement; a thorough overview of what’s in the books and how the business is doing. The app opens also the break-down of expenses.
• Forecast of 12 month’s key financials is served as simple graph, it helps also to keep up with the taxes.
• The application will remind the entrepreneur to pay the VAT bills and gives notifications of interesting news and blog updates
DigibalanceApp is now downloadable on Google Play and AppStore. All the features are available to Digibalance clients without additional fee. The application can be used also as a demo version which shows the basic features and gives access to all the blogs and news.
Visit www.digibalanceapp.com and download the app on Google Play or AppStore.

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Running small business in France – 5 steps for accounting

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We have made a brief and practical list regarding accounting if you’ve decided to start a business in France.

  1. Select your business form
    • The options are basically to operate as a self-employed or to register a limited company SARL. There are also other less common business forms.
    • Evaluate if you need to be VAT registered. It is not necessary if your annual turnover doesn’t exceed certain limits.
  2. Choose the most suitable income tax regime
    • SARL corporate tax is always based on the actual taxable profit it shows. The corporate tax rates are from 15% to 33,3%.
    • The self employed can opt to be taxed on certain percentage of the turnover of the business (tax status of micro-entrepreneur). The turnover means the gross revenues without any deductions. They also need to pay considerable social security payments based on the turnover.
    • The other option for the self employed is that the taxable income is based on the actual profit of the business.
    • The amount of income tax is assessed on a household’s total taxable income which means in practise that if your family lives permanently in France the tax is based on the total income of the family. The system is quite complex and there are also a lot of possible tax reductions and credits. The tax authorities calculate the accurate tax amount. Altogether the total of income and social taxes can be very high compared to many other European countries.
  3. Open a business bank account
    • You have a liability to open a separate bank account for your business purposes. It is important to keep the private transactions and business transactions apart from each other.
    • When choosing the bank group it is advisable that you make sure the bank can produce you the bank statement in XML format. That’s the standard confirmed by EU and it can be a basis for an effortless and affordable accounting.
  4. Organise the accounting
    • Invoicing software is very important tool if your sales are mainly based on billing the customers. Be sure to choose a modern digital invoicing software which is location independent and cost effective.
    • Basic bookkeeping is an essential part of the accounting and business management. It is smart and advisable that you organise your books to understand what is the real profit of your business, whatever is the taxation regime applied to you.
    • AutoAccount by Digibalance is an effortless and affordable bookkeeping system which is based directly on the transactions in your business bank account.
  5. Archive
    • The accounting of the business is based on the documents to confirm the transactions. It is important to remember to archive the documents. Most of them can nowadays be saved as electronic files on cloud services.
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Article about Digibalance in Finnair’s Blue Wings magazine

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We are happy to announce that Digibalance Ltd. was featured in this month’s issue of Blue Wings magazine by Finnair, published on 3rd March 2017.  The article gives a brief explanation of our priorities in accounting and why we think utilising automation is useful. The article also mentions our upcoming mobile application. If you don’t have access to a physical copy of the magazine, you can read the article below:

Image of Digibalance article in Finnair Blue WingsDigibalance produces digital bookkeeping services for European micro-entrepreneurs

The Finnish company Digibalance has already developed a completely digital bookkeeping service for European small businesses. Now, this pioneering company will also launch a mobile app for small businesses; a tool for business owners to monitor financial performance that can be carried in your pocket.

Digibalance is a Finnish-owned accounting firm, established in 2008. Its vision is of producing Finnish origin online bookkeeping for small businesses in the entirety of the EU. The company’s primary target group consists of European start-ups, micro-entrepreneurs, and businesses of 1-4 employees in size. “This target group includes many people that employ themselves as entrepreneurs in unfamiliar environments. At the moment, we at Digibalance offer online accounting services in Finland, Estonia, France, the UK, and Italy, but our goal is to duplicate our services in all of the European SEPA countries. We are the best in on-going monthly accounting. For special taxation questions and Financial Statements, we use local expertise”, says the Chairman of the Board Mikko Ilves.

Automation keeps costs down

In practice, what does ‘digitalised bookkeeping services’ mean? “In the AutoAccount service we have replaced the arduous paper phases of accounting with automation. The service is effortless and affordable for the entrepreneur. Thanks to the digitalisation and automation of the process, the client does not pay for anything unnecessary. The service is also ecological and location independent, because all documents are transmitted online. In spite of the digital process, the client also gets assistance in case of need; since contacts with our team are conveniently handled online, for instance through Skype, and the service language is English.” Ilves reveals that online accounting, at its least expensive, costs € 40/month. “In addition, the monthly fee does not depend on the number of transaction documents; hence, a growth in business activity and the number of transactions does not automatically raise the monthly fee. This brings predictability into the everyday life of the entrepreneur.”

Online monitoring in your pocket

Now Digibalance is launching a mobile application – Digibalance mobileApps, a tool for small business owners to monitor financial performance. “Young entrepreneurs are especially used to taking care of their daily affairs through mobile devices. That is why we want to offer European small business owners the chance to handle business matters by mobile device as well.” Ilves says that Digibalance mobileApps works both-ways between Digibalance and the client. “The client can send us additional information and we in turn produce reports for the service. The idea is that when the micro-entrepreneur opens the mobile service, they see a view that reveals both the present situation of the business and a financial forecast. As a new feature, we also generate taxation forecasts in the service. Later, other services, in connection with entrepreneurship offered by various cooperation partners, can also be added to the service. We will launch the mobile service for clients during the spring.”

Text by Mia Heiskanen / Blue Wings.

 

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Starting Micro-entrepreneur Business in Finland – 7 Points to Take into Account

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Image of a start-up meeting

We have made a brief and practical list of things you need to think through if you have decided to start a business in Finland.

  1. Select your business form
    • The options are basically to operate as a sole trader called “toiminimi” or to register a limited company called “osakeyhtiö”. There are also other less common business forms.
    • The registration process depends on which business form you selected.
    • Be sure to register in prepayment register (“ennakkoperintärekisteri”) and also in VAT register if you know your business is VAT liable. The employer registration is not recommended if you are not employing other people on a permanent basis.
  2. Organize the accounting
    • Basic bookkeeping is an essential part of the accounting and financial management. You should start co-operation with an accounting agency which utilises digital tools to keep your bookkeeping affordable and effortless.
    • Taxation is based on the books and can be handled by the same accounting agency electronically when you have given the appropriate authorization.
    • Invoicing software is very important tool if your sales are mainly based on billing the customers. Ask your accountant contact for help when choosing the software.
    • If you’re planning to employ other people it makes sense to choose an accounting company who can also offer payroll services.
  3. Open a business bank account
    • You have an accounting liability concerning your business. As a part of that it is important to keep the private transactions and business transactions apart from each other.
    • Choose the bank group and appropriate bank services based on your accountant’s advice.
  4. Make the insurance agreements of at least the obligatory pension insurance (YEL)
    • Your accountant might be able to recommend you an appropriate insurance company.
    • If you will be employing you need also other obligatory insurances
    • As a part of risk management it might be wise to consider other voluntary insurances.
  5. Have a look if you’re entitled to the start-up grant
    • More information at the TE Office
    • Note! If you apply for the start-up grant you cannot start your business before the application is handled.
  6. Be sure of other possible permits
    • Some entrepreneurs see Finland as a bureaucratic country, some don’t. It depends on the line of business you are in. Find more information on the necessary permits especially if you are, for example, in the restaurant business.
  7. Start
    • Remember that the most important thing is to know what you sell and to find customers! You also need to keep your archives in order and respect the deadlines of invoices. There is support available for business administration but you have to be careful and buy only affordable services.
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