Estrella: A tasteful collaboration with Accountor provides efficient payroll management
From crispy chips to razor-sharp payroll management - for over 70 years Estrella has been providing Swedes with beloved snacks, and since 2008 they have outsourced their payroll administration to Accountor. Read more about how strong communication has characterized the collaboration and Estrella's positive experience of the outsourcing process.
Estrella creates Sweden's most beloved snacks
Estrella AB has been providing Swedes with snacks since the 1950s. With manufacturing and headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, they offer a wide range of high-quality snacks and foods - everything from crispy chips to tasty nuts.
As Finance Manager at Estrella, Tomas Hultin is responsible for ensuring that the company's reporting and payroll management are correct, both on a monthly and annual basis. The finance department consists of three people, who jointly handle the financial administration for Estrella in Sweden, Denmark and partly Finland. They also work closely with the sister brand in Norway, which handles its own financial administration.
"We've been working with Accountor since 2008, but then they went under a different company name. They help us with payroll and travel expenses. We are very satisfied and appreciate their expertise in several of the Scandinavian markets," says Tomas.
Less pressure and more security with external payroll management
Previously, all payroll issues were handled internally at Estrella, but as the company grew and regulations changed, it became challenging to handle it in-house.
"Firstly, we needed to keep a constant eye on legislative and labor law changes. Secondly, we needed a single employee who could devote at least two weeks a month to payroll. It was difficult to recruit someone who also had other skills to fill the rest of the time," says Tomas.
To solve these problems, Estrella has chosen to outsource payroll administration, and the choice fell on Accountor. Tomas says that there is now a whole group that can act as backup for each other
"The pressure on the individual was significant, especially given that they could not take vacation during certain weeks. Now it's not just one person who is responsible, but a whole group."
The benefits of an external partner at the forefront
Financially, this choice has not meant a direct increase in costs for Estrella. In fact, the benefits of having an external partner who is always at the forefront outweigh any additional costs. In this way, Estrella ensures that their payroll management is always top-notch, without burdening their own staff or finances.
In addition, the amount of manual work has been significantly reduced:
"Instead of spending time on manual tasks, we can now easily upload data files into our systems. We don't have to send unnecessary emails, which simplifies our everyday work. In addition, we know that Accountor handles our information correctly according to GDPR," says Tomas.
Success, progress and future prospects
In conclusion, Tomas talks about what he identifies as the most important thing for successful collaboration:
"The key to success is good communication. If there are any problems, we call to solve them, which is much more efficient than sending many emails back and forth. Accountor also visits a few times a year to discuss how they can improve their work. This makes the day-to-day work flow smoothly, and we plan to deepen our cooperation with Accountor in the future."
