Outsourced Consultant: Do We Need an Agreement and HR Formalities Like Employees?

Hi,

We have outsourced the accounts work, and a person from the consultancy comes to our office four days a week. Does the company have to have any agreement with the person? Does HR have to provide joining formalities just like for normal employees?

You have outsourced the accounting work to an agency. Now it is up to the agency whether to assign this job to one person or more than that. It is up to them to send a person four times a week or fewer/more times than that. Therefore, there is no need to issue any appointment letter as such. However, since he will come inside your office, the general code of conduct that is applicable to all the employees will also apply to that person. Design a code of conduct and take a signature from him. Please note that this code of conduct is different from the Industrial Standing Orders of your company. Secondly, since that person will handle accounts-related work, obtain from him a non-disclosure agreement.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Outsourcing Accounts-Related Services

Your organization outsourced the accounts-related works/services to the consultant. In general, auditing, bill verification, expenses, accounting issues related to liabilities/assets, and profit and loss accounts are only outsourced. All other collection and revenue related to cash/cheques will remain with the parent firm. The consultant collects the information and presents it in a modified way to the head for further action or other issues.

In the absence of your role, it is difficult to provide any opinion. However, it is advisable to remain vigilant in monitoring the activities of the person collecting the information. Ensure proper signatures are obtained, and systems do not disclose all data; only the data required by the consultant should be shared. All other information, unless authenticated, should not be provided. When using external instruments, always ensure they are verified for virus protection. No information should be stored on external drives without proper permission from the head and must be scanned thoroughly.

Additionally, the person should not access your system from outside the organization.

All depends upon the terms and conditions...

Thank you for the reply.

So, can I have the person sign the 'confidentiality agreement' that is signed by all employees? It will be one person who will be constantly coming in, so we have issued an ID number for the creation of biometric access. I have prepared a general information sheet for the person and also requested to submit a photo and a copy of their Aadhar card. Is this okay?