
Ask HN: HR and accounting software for a fast growing saas company - kull
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.<p>Is Zenefits still the best way to go?
What about accounting? We need to see clearly where money goes. Freshbooks?
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philiphodgen
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.

