Institution vs Countsy: finance and back-office responsibilities

Countsy describes back-office outsourcing for startups, scaleups, and spinouts, including accounting operations and fractional leadership. Institution connects managed accounting with finance services, tax coordination, compliance, and company records. Define which operational jobs your team intends to transfer before comparing packages.

A new subsidiary, a spinout, and an established startup may each need accounting and people support, but their opening records differ. Explain how employees, contracts, assets, cash, and obligations enter the new scope. A broad outsourcing brief can otherwise hide several separate implementation projects.

Request a plan for opening balances, entity details, payroll history, bank access, and outstanding obligations. Identify the party approving transferred balances and any limitations on historical records. If a predecessor entity remains involved, name who reconciles intercompany activity.

The first reporting package should distinguish a completed reconciliation from a provisional balance. Ask the team to show how outstanding information is recorded and escalated. A calendar alone will not resolve missing source documents.

List who can prepare a payroll change, create a vendor, approve a bill, release a payment, and post a journal. For people operations, confirm who makes employment decisions and who performs administration. Those boundaries should survive staff turnover and provider changes.

Ask whether approvals happen inside your current tools or require a new workflow. Confirm access removal, backup coverage, and the records retained when a decision is approved. Important actions should be attributable to a named person.

Set milestones for systems setup, the first payroll or accounting handoff, the first reviewed close, and recurring reporting. Request the same milestone plan from each provider. Separate the implementation fee from ongoing service and specialist projects.

Before committing, ask who owns the operating calendar after setup. The useful comparison is the set of tasks your internal team still performs, how exceptions reach a decision maker, and which records remain with the company if the engagement ends.