Guide · Choosing an office
Updated: · 7 min read · By Agnieszka Saladra, Certified Accountant
More and more entrepreneurs face a choice: keep their books themselves in an app or entrust them to an accounting office. Both solutions have advantages, but they differ on one key point - who actually runs the settlements and keeps track of the deadlines. In this article we give an honest comparison of both worlds and show how Luno-Group combines the best of each.
In short
Self-service accounting apps are convenient tools: you can issue an invoice in them, enter a cost, and the system calculates the tax and ZUS (Polish social security) contributions. For many sole traders this is a tempting option, because the cost of the subscription is known up front, and you have everything to hand on your phone.
The problem is that an app is a tool, not the person doing the work. It is you who decide how to record a given document, which VAT rate to apply and whether a given expense can be treated as a cost at all. The program will suggest a pattern, but it will not take responsibility for your decision.
An accounting office works the other way round. You hand over the documents, and an experienced accountant takes over running the books: classifying costs, calculating taxes, preparing and filing returns and watching the deadlines. This is an important difference - it is the accountant who takes over running the settlements, and who does this day in, day out for many businesses. Before the tax office you remain the taxpayer, and the office's liability towards you follows from the contract you sign.
A regular accountant does not only settle the past. They know your industry, pay attention to unusual situations and flag risks before they become a problem. An app cannot replace this advisory layer, because a program reacts to what you enter, not to what you do not know.
At first glance an app looks cheaper. But on top of the subscription you have to add your own time: learning the tool, entering documents every month and keeping up with the rules. For an entrepreneur who earns from their own business, a few hours a month spent on bookkeeping is a real cost in lost income.
The other side of the coin is the risk of error. In self-service bookkeeping, a mistake in a VAT rate or a wrongly recorded cost is your problem and any interest or correction is on you. In an accounting office the same error is corrected and explained by the accountant, and the office is liable to you on the terms set out in the contract - before the tax office, however, you remain the taxpayer. Fewer mistakes mean fewer sleepless nights.
It is also worth remembering about tax efficiency. An experienced accountant will calculate the tax under different scenarios and explain the rules on reliefs and deductions. An app calculates the tax according to its settings, but will not point it out when an error appears in the settlement or when something is missing.
An audit or verification activities are a test you cannot pass by clicking in an app. What counts is complete, consistent documentation and someone who can explain every settlement to the authorities. Here a self-employed entrepreneur is left alone, often without knowing how to answer the officials' questions.
An accounting office gives real support in such a situation: it prepares explanations, gathers documents and conducts the conversation with the authorities. For many businesses this is the most important argument for working with an office - peace of mind in a situation that can weigh heavily on a company's finances.
The choice need not come down to a compromise. At Luno-Group we combine both worlds: you get a modern online client panel where you can conveniently hand over documents and check settlements from anywhere, and behind the panel stands a regular, experienced accountant who runs your books.
This is online accounting in the full sense: you have the convenience and availability of an app, but the settlements, the deadlines and support during an audit are handled by a person who knows your business. You are not writing back to an anonymous helpline - you are in touch with a regular accountant.
A self-service app works well when you run a very simple business, have only a handful of documents a month and like to control everything yourself - provided you have the time and knowledge for it. The more transactions, industry-specific nuances and tax risk, the more the value of an accounting office grows.
If you care about peace of mind, time to grow your business and the certainty that your settlements are handled by someone who does this professionally, an office with an experienced accountant is often the more convenient solution. And if you also want to keep the convenience an app gives, Luno-Group gives you both at once.
The subscription alone is often lower, but you have to add your own time spent on the work and the risk of errors. With a larger number of documents the time needed for self-service bookkeeping grows, while an accounting office saves those hours of work and limits the risk of penalties.
With a self-service app you do everything yourself - it is you who answers to the authorities for any mistakes. In an accounting office the settlements are run by an experienced accountant, and the office is liable to you on the terms set out in the contract - before the tax office you still remain the taxpayer.
An app will provide the data, but it will not explain the settlements to the authorities or conduct the conversation with an audit. An accounting office prepares the documents and explanations and gives you real support throughout the audit process.
You don't have to. Luno-Group gives you a modern online client panel where you hand over documents and check settlements, while your books are run by an experienced accountant. It is the convenience of an app and human care in one.
Yes. An experienced accountant will analyse your situation, compare the forms of taxation and explain the available reliefs - the decision is yours. An app calculates the tax according to its settings, but will not tell you whether your settlements are correct and complete.
For very simple businesses with only a few documents a month, when you have the time and basic accounting knowledge. At a larger scale, with industry-specific nuances and higher tax risk, an accounting office is the safer choice.