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One of the most common questions growing businesses ask is: When should we hire an accountant?
In reality, there is no universal milestone that applies to every company. The need to build an accounting team depends on revenue size, transaction volume, operational complexity, and management requirements.
In the early stages, business owners can often manage financial oversight themselves while relying on outsourced accounting services. However, as revenue grows, financial data becomes more complex and decision-making needs to happen faster. At that point, businesses need to gradually build a more structured finance function. Read more about What Accounting is here.
Below is a practical roadmap commonly seen among ecommerce businesses and SMEs.
1. Stage 1: Small Revenue: Owner-Led Financial Management with Outsourced Accounting
In the early stages, businesses typically operate on one or two sales channels, handle a limited number of transactions, and maintain a relatively simple cost structure.
At this point, the most effective model is for the business owner to directly oversee cash flow, revenue, and expenses, while outsourced accounting providers handle tax filings and regulatory compliance.
The goal at this stage is not to build a complete finance department but to establish financial discipline and maintain visibility over cash flow while ensuring compliance with tax obligations.
This approach is cost-effective and works well when transaction volume remains manageable. However, as order volumes, suppliers, and payment activities increase, manual financial oversight becomes increasingly difficult.
This is often the point where businesses move to the next stage.
2. Stage 2: Growing Revenue: Combining Outsourced Accounting with a Part-Time Accountant
As revenue grows, transaction volume increases significantly, making it difficult for business owners to manage both operations and financial administration.
A part-time accountant often becomes the most practical solution.
Typical responsibilities include:
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Collecting and recording invoices and supporting documents
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Reconciling bank statements
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Tracking revenue and expenses
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Preparing periodic financial reports
Meanwhile, outsourced accounting providers continue to manage tax compliance and statutory reporting.
This structure improves data accuracy while keeping personnel costs under control. However, as financial information becomes increasingly important for management decisions rather than simple recordkeeping, limitations begin to emerge.
Reports are often generated weekly or monthly, making it difficult to monitor business performance in real time. In addition, growing supplier balances, inventory management requirements, and increasing demands from banks or business partners often require dedicated financial support.
3. Stage 3: Revenue Between VND 1–5 Billion Per Month: Building an In-House Accounting Function
Once a business reaches monthly revenue of approximately VND 1–5 billion, accounting evolves beyond simple bookkeeping.
At this scale, companies often operate across multiple sales channels, work with numerous suppliers, manage larger product portfolios, and support growing teams. Hiring a full-time in-house accountant becomes a necessity rather than an option.
Unlike previous stages, an in-house accountant can continuously monitor financial data and proactively identify operational issues such as:
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Unusual increases in advertising costs
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Excess inventory levels
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Overdue receivables or payables
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Supplier billing discrepancies
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Potential financial leakage
In many cases, the value generated by a capable accountant exceeds the cost of hiring them. For example, identifying incorrect supplier charges or shipping costs can save businesses millions of Vietnamese dong annually.
At this stage, accounting becomes more than a reporting function. It has become an essential tool for financial control and operational optimization.
4. Stage 4: Building a Financial System for Growth
As a business enters a period of rapid growth, the biggest challenge is no longer capturing and recording data.
Instead, businesses need answers to more strategic questions:
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Which sales channels generate the highest profitability?
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How will cash flow evolve over the next three months?
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Should businesses expand into new markets?
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How should marketing budgets be allocated?
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What are the true profit margins of individual product lines?
Answering these questions requires a finance function capable of analysis, forecasting, and strategic decision support. Management dashboards, real-time reporting systems, and automated reconciliation processes become critical operational tools.
Many businesses at this stage also begin working with a fractional CFO, gaining access to senior financial leadership without the cost of a full-time Chief Financial Officer.
Finance is no longer a back-office support function. It becomes a strategic capability that helps guide growth and manage risk.
5. Your Accounting Team Should Evolve with Your Business
There is no single accounting structure that fits every stage of business growth.
A newly established business does not need a sophisticated finance department. At the same time, a company generating billions of VND in monthly revenue cannot continue relying on spreadsheets and basic financial controls.
As businesses grow, their financial function must evolve accordingly. The journey typically begins with owner-led oversight, progresses to part-time accounting support, expands into a dedicated in-house accounting team, and ultimately develops into a strategic finance organization capable of forecasting, planning, and supporting executive decision-making.
The value of accounting is no longer measured by its ability to record transactions. It is measured by its ability to transform financial data into timely and informed business decisions.
6. How Sliner Supports Businesses at Every Stage of Growth
Every stage of business growth comes with different financial and operational challenges. Yet one issue remains common across businesses of all sizes: financial data is often scattered across multiple systems, making reconciliation difficult and limiting visibility for decision-makers.
At Sliner, we help businesses build finance operations that match their stage of growth. Our services range from accounting support and financial process design to data standardization and management reporting. Read more about: Scaling E-commerce: When to Build Your In-house Accounting Team?
In addition, businesses can leverage platforms such as GenBook - an Ecommerce Accounting & Finance Operating System that connects accounting, finance, and operational data into a single source of truth.
By centralizing data from multiple platforms, automating reconciliation processes, and providing real-time financial dashboards, GenBook helps businesses improve visibility, strengthen control, and make faster, more informed decisions.
