Learn how eAuditor Office, an online provider of solutions and services, helps startups and SMEs hire virtual CFOs

• ByStartupStory     |    December 26, 2022

”I can’t stress this enough, please do not register a company or GST, until and unless your product is ready for the market or you’re aware about all necessary compliances & filings and ready to spend for that.” -Sathish Ramalingam Co-founder eAuditors Office, in an exclusive interview with Startup Story.

Founders’ Journey

Sathish Ramalingam and Karthick Subramaniam, worked in a traditional accounting, auditing, and taxation firm before starting the eAuditor Office. They are both commerce graduates.

Ideation of eAuditor Office 

The founders, Sathish Ramalingam and Karthick Subramaniam, recognized the need for an affordable Chief Financial Officer for Startups and SMEs only a half-decade ago. They frequently ask themselves how large companies survive or grow, and discover that it is all due to a strong team that includes a CFO who involves and provides more financial aspects that are required for each and every decision making.

Since startups and SMEs cannot afford a CFO, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs frequently strikes them off because of non-compliances. Karthick and Sathish come up with the idea of eAuditor Office to solve such a large problem. It offers 76+ comprehensive legal solutions to startups and SMEs. The name eAuditor Office is inspired from email.

The eAuditor Office’s team has over ten years of experience serving startups and SMEs. They served offline until 2018, and then began serving online under the brand name eAuditor Office in 2019. It took them two months to get their first online client. They now serve customers from over 20+ Indian states. Our clients include many NRIs from North America, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Europe, and Singapore.

 Mission and Vision

The mission of eAuditor Office is to make Virtual CFO + professional legal services more accessible and affordable to 10,000+ startups and SMEs. It wishes to assist them in creating at least five work opportunities and ensuring that these startups and SMEs can sustain and grow. It will ensure that your company is legally sound and compliant while you are busy growing it.

In India, 7 out of 10 companies get strike off by the Ministry of corporate affairs due to non-compliance by the founders. This is because of lack of knowledge and negligence. Financial compliance awareness and knowledge is necessary for each and every startup founder in India.

The startup’s vision is to assist new startups and SMEs in dealing with this issue of CFOs. As new startups do not require a full-time CFO, they can hire eAuditor Office as their Virtual CFO, who will be a game changer for their business by acting as a CFO at fractional hours every month.

From September 2022 they started providing free 30 mins Startup Enlightenment sessions for newly incorporated companies. Under this, they will enlighten the startup founders with the following:-

  Do’s & Don’ts after registering a company

1.  Grants & fundings available for their company

2. Compulsory compliances & filings to be done for their company

3. Benefits, solutions and precautions for their company

 Healthy Working Environment

The eAuditor Office team is made up of humble, honest, and hungry individuals. It has over 40 in-house and remote teammates. They prioritize customers and teammates. The board team is confident in its ability to strike a healthy balance between customers and teammates.

The board delegated complete authority to their teammates, in whom they have complete faith. They will take care of the rest. The board simply ensures that they have the necessary items at the appropriate time.

 Challenges come along with opportunities

eAuditor Office excels at providing quality and timely solutions and services to startups and SMEs. It was not attracting enough clients because it lacked a strong presence and reach in digital media. As this involves SEO and digital marketing, the founders were unwilling to burn money on SEO and digital marketing. They are currently gaining clients through referrals and a limited digital presence.

Covid was not a barrier

Except for SAAS and selling necessities, all businesses were closed during the pandemic. the eAuditor continued to assist clients who required its assistance. It has a lot of SaaS and FMCG clients and was very busy during the pandemic. In the midst of the pandemic, eAuditor was developing strategies and educating its clients.

 Advice for young entrepreneurs

Please, do not register a company or GST, until and unless:

•       Your product is ready for the market or
•       You’re aware about all necessary compliances & filings and ready to spend for that.

“If a private limited company is incorporated and GST registration is done, then you need to do 36 filings + 12 months bookkeeping + little compliance in the next 1 year without fail. Even if you have transactions or not you must do it. If you’re not doing this then anywhere between 2 to 3 lakhs penalty will come. If not done for the next 3 years means then you will be disqualified as director by the Ministry of corporate affairs and you won’t be eligible to become director of any company from 4 th year to 8th year. Finally, if you do all compliances on time then happily you focus on your business and enjoy zero penalty.” said Sathish Ramalingam.

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