The State Fiscal Service has informed Brain Source International that the company has been included in the list of the 1,500 biggest taxpayers in Ukraine, and that as of Jan. 1, 2019 BSI will report to the office of big taxpayers at the service.
Our correspondent met with the group’s CEO, Andriy Kryvokorytov, to talk about what is going on in the company today.
C: Andriy, so your company is one of the biggest taxpayers in the country now, do you see this as an achievement?
A.K: Certainly, it means that the group is generating revenues, thanks to our customers.
C: Andriy, could you remind the readers about the group’s main services?
A.K: BSI was set up in 2000 as a recruitment company, and now operates four business units: recruitment, staff leasing, out-staffing and BPO (business process outsourcing).
С: What is the group’s raison d’etre? Why does your company do what it does, what is the purpose of its existence – apart from making money?
A.K: Our purpose is really quite simple and straightforward: We exist to support our clients, both employers and professionals, helping them to achieve big goals. In doing this, we also happen to be setting new standards for the whole industry.
Our business formula is very simple: we provide services of high quality at an optimal price. Most of our clients are famous multinational companies. They value this approach and trust us their HR needs for recruitment, staffing, payroll or BPO.
C: A lot of multinational companies who work with out-staffing companies have lately reported a growing number of requests from the state regulatory bodies regarding leading providers of out-staffing services in Ukraine. Why is this?
A.K: Personally, I have great respect for people who work to uphold the law. Their job is to ask questions, and I’m glad that they’re doing their job. They may have got interested in the out-staffing industry because it generates pretty high revenues. I think they simply don’t yet understand our business very well.
For example, in the letter we got from a regulatory state body, they asked us questions such as if we have a license to provide staffing services, if we have recruiters, and a candidate database to find candidates whom we later lease out to our clients, and if we pay salary taxes.
All these questions were very easy to answer. There is no procedure for issuing licenses for staffing services, so no company in Ukraine has ever received one. Our company is 18 years old, and we have 16 recruiters in-house and our database of candidates consists of 50,000 white-color professionals. We certainly do pay all the salary taxes – it’s simply impossible for a bank to transfer payroll funds to the account of an employee unless all taxes have been paid by the employer in advance.
Any of our clients at any time can request an official report from us on any issue related to an employee’s HR and payroll books.
C: What would you recommend companies to do when asked questions by the regulatory bodies regarding out-staffing contracts?
A.K: Simply be open and take a skeptical view of anything that the regulatory bodies may be telling you. These guys tend to see plots in anything they don’t understand. Unfortunately, the regulatory authorities very seldom remain entirely ethical in their statements and actions.
I also have to say that in Ukraine any company, regardless of the origin of its capital, or its size and form of incorporation, can face unethical treatment from the state regulatory bodies. Business ombudsmen here are overloaded with claims from businesses against state regulatory authorities.
The best piece of advice is to follow the law. At BSI we have always been doing our business in full accordance with Ukrainian legislation.
C: Brain Source International is a family business, right?
A.K: Yes, we’re a family-owned company. My family loves working and living in Ukraine. My long-term goal is to continue steadily growing our business, and one day transfer it to a successor from the family. BSI is a member of the FBN, the international family business network. We’ve also been a member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine since 2007 and the SUP (Unity of Ukrainian Businesses), and are a candidate member of the CEO Club.
C: What are the plans of the BSI group for the next few years?
A.K: We will continue doing what we love to do, i.e. support our clients in pursuing their goals.
C: Thank you Andriy, and good luck to your business!
Brain Source International Managing company
3 Sportyvna Sq., 2nd floor
Kyiv, 01601, Ukraine
tel.: +38 044 390 50 10 (ext. 112)
mob.: +38 067 247 57 70
e-mail: [email protected]
