Can an accountant check my own annual accounts?

The short answer

Yes, with a suitable engagement. Decide whether you need advice, compilation, review or audit: they give different results.

Basis: art. 2:362 and 2:393 DCC; NBA Standaard 4410

Which engagement do you mean by checking?

You can submit annual accounts you have prepared yourself to an accountant. The word 'checking' alone is too vague for a good engagement. Do you want to discuss errors in a few items, receive a compilation report, or obtain assurance for a financier? Agree that purpose in advance, so that the work and the costs can be tailored to it.

Do not supply just the PDF. Add the trial balance, adjusting entries, the previous annual accounts and support for important items. Think of loans, depreciation, the tax calculation and the valuation of receivables. An accountant cannot properly assess an amount in the report without knowing where it comes from. Also mark the items you yourself doubt and explain which choices you made. That makes a targeted engagement possible. The firm then decides whether it can accept the engagement and which additional information is needed for the agreed work.

Which source data does the accountant need?

The NBA (the Dutch professional body of accountants) distinguishes several accountant products. A compilation engagement is not an assurance engagement and therefore gives no audit opinion on the annual accounts. A review or audit engagement has a different purpose and different procedures. For a statutory audit, art. 2:393 DCC is relevant; a brief advisory check cannot replace it. So do not use wording such as 'approved by the accountant' when only a few reconciliations have been discussed. Ask which document you receive afterwards and what a bank or shareholder may and may not infer from it.

Preparing yourself can save work, but only if the preparation is usable and traceable. A report with unclear manual overwrites may actually require more investigation. So before you work everything out, discuss the desired structure and files. Show an example and ask which checks you can carry out independently. You can, for example, reconcile bank balances and organise documents, while the accountant deals with complex valuation questions. Do not expect an accountant to add a report for a small amount without doing work of their own. The report must match an engagement actually carried out and documented.

Which report do you end up with?

Record the scope in the engagement letter and ask for a price or estimate with conditions. State who processes proposed corrections, who finalises the final version and who handles the filing. The board remains responsible for the annual accounts and the information provided. So also read the adjusted version yourself and ask for an explanation of material changes. If the purpose is a financing application, first agree the required accountant product with the financier. That way you buy exactly the support you need and avoid a cheap 'check' later failing to meet the recipient's expectations.

Sources

• NBA: the accountant declares
• Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax Administration): setting up bookkeeping records

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