5 effective administrative and business tips for startups and scaleups

Startups are often unaware of the unnecessary costs and the unnecessary risks they take. That is why Annelie Snijder, founder of online administration office SFAA, shares five tips for (fast) growing companies.

SFAA is a challenger in the administration market. The company (mainly) works for scalable and fast-growing companies, such as The Avocado Show, 5miles, Boatsters.com, Colorful Rebel and GreenHome.

“By sharing these tips, I hope to save start-ups from making common mistakes. Like many of my clients, SFAA is a (digital) challenger. Thanks to our cloud solution, we are competitive. We share the best and worst practices of our clients so that they can learn from each other. By transferring expertise in this way, even more startup and scaleups learn from each other’s mistakes”, says Annelie Snijder.

#1 Make sure that HR policy is in order

“Costs for personnel are always higher than just the wages for an employee. Even in the case of gross pay, a surcharge must be charged, which is due to employer’s contributions. And always pay attention to employees without a contract. A person who receives monthly wages, without a contract, is (according to Dutch law) an employee with a contract for an indefinite period.”

#2 Organize liability of employees

“Few employers consider the liability for their employees. For example, if someone is cycling somewhere during working hours, the employer is liable if he or she has an accident. So organize the liability for employees. Insurance is often very cheap; it is, therefore, a shame to take this unnecessary risk.”

#3 Professionalize the accounting

“Don’t wait with professionalizing and automating the accounting. As a result, investors will know what they are investing in and funding can be raised quicker. Without professional accounting, the recoverable VAT will not be obtained and fines will have to be paid more often. Start-up and scale-ups often have poor financial results in the beginning, but the directors are liable and have to deposit the annual accounts on time. That is why accounting is also very urgent for founders.”

#4 Do not focus on tax-deductions

“Taking your friends out to dinner always sounds like a great plan – especially if the tax-deduction is the desert. Nevertheless, catering costs are only party deductible from the profit. Above all, such expenses are not superb for the future of your business. These expenses go out as cash, so your company ‘feels’ them directly on the balance sheet. Do not focus on a deductible taxes, such as catering costs.”

#5 Hiring of one-time staff

“As a company, you can hire one-off personnel, for example for a promotion. Process this administratively in the right way. A special (IB47-) form must be signed by the person who carries out the work. The form must also be kept in the administration and reported once a year to the tax authorities.”