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Ask HN: HR and accounting software for a fast growing saas company

4 points by kull 10y ago

Hi, we are a fast growing saas company with a team both in US and Europe (8 and we are hiring aggressively). Still paying people based on 1099 contracts, but need to switch to hiring full-time asap. We also need to take care of our finance reporting. Is Zenefits still the best way to go? What about accounting? We need to see clearly where money goes. Freshbooks?

philiphodgen 10y ago
You need a person, not a software selection. I say this as a tax lawyer, finance guy, and small business owner. I have lived (and continue to live) in this problem space. HR. I am sorry, but software will not solve your problems. Governments (and you are dealing with more than one) tend to be actively hostile to employers. California (where I am) is the worst. You will make mistakes. A single overtime claim can cost you tend of thousands of dollars. For HR I hired a consultant to document everything. The consultant's work was cross-checked by a labor lawyer. We do quarterly reviews of the employee manual and all procedures. You have to live by the rules you write. I hate being an employer. I really like the people who work with me. They are great. You, as a founder, should preserve your attention. You should also protect your reserve of courage -- don't have incipient, nagging fear that you are doing it wrong. I suspect you are there now, by your comment about converting your people from contractor to employee. Accounting. Hire a really, really good bookkeeper. At your size you need someone in house, at least part-time. We have have our outside accountant and two part-time bookkeepers (a junior day-to-day person and a senior manager-level person) feeding data to our accountant. Software: Xero. My personal opinion is that QuickBooks is shit, but you use the tool that the craftsman favors. Our senior bookkeeper loves QuickBooks Online and can make it sing. International. I happen to be an international tax lawyer. I know about the complexity of having employees in other countries. This simply means that the true cost of having a distributed team is higher than you think.

4 points by kull 10y ago

philiphodgen 10y ago

You need a person, not a software selection. I say this as a tax lawyer, finance guy, and small business owner. I have lived (and continue to live) in this problem space. HR. I am sorry, but software will not solve your problems. Governments (and you are dealing with more than one) tend to be actively hostile to employers. California (where I am) is the worst. You will make mistakes. A single overtime claim can cost you tend of thousands of dollars. For HR I hired a consultant to document everything. The consultant's work was cross-checked by a labor lawyer. We do quarterly reviews of the employee manual and all procedures. You have to live by the rules you write. I hate being an employer. I really like the people who work with me. They are great. You, as a founder, should preserve your attention. You should also protect your reserve of courage -- don't have incipient, nagging fear that you are doing it wrong. I suspect you are there now, by your comment about converting your people from contractor to employee. Accounting. Hire a really, really good bookkeeper. At your size you need someone in house, at least part-time. We have have our outside accountant and two part-time bookkeepers (a junior day-to-day person and a senior manager-level person) feeding data to our accountant. Software: Xero. My personal opinion is that QuickBooks is shit, but you use the tool that the craftsman favors. Our senior bookkeeper loves QuickBooks Online and can make it sing. International. I happen to be an international tax lawyer. I know about the complexity of having employees in other countries. This simply means that the true cost of having a distributed team is higher than you think.