Choosing an accounting consultant
A good accounting engagement is about more than entering transactions. Clarify competence, responsibilities, communication, systems and scope before you choose a partner.
Start with the scope
List what you want to keep in-house and what you want the consultant to handle: day-to-day bookkeeping, reconciliations, VAT, payroll, year-end work, tax returns, reporting or advisory support. A clear scope makes offers easier to compare.
Clarify responsibilities
Even when professional help is engaged, the business remains responsible for ensuring that its bookkeeping is properly maintained. Agree who supplies documentation, who approves payments or payroll, who submits reports and what happens if information is late.
Bookkeeping – how it works, Verksamt (Swedish) →
Ask about professional qualification
A FAR-authorised accounting consultant has met FAR's requirements for education, practical experience and examination and works under Reko, the Swedish standard for accounting and payroll services. Ask who will be responsible for your engagement and which parts are performed by other team members.
Why engage a FAR-authorised accounting consultant (Swedish) →
Ask how quality is controlled
Ask how reconciliations, review, documentation, deadlines and deviations are handled. Reko includes requirements for engagement agreements, understanding the client's business, planning, delivery, reporting and completion.
Agree how you will communicate
Decide who your contact person is, how often you will receive reports, how questions are escalated and which deadlines apply to each party. A technically correct service can still work poorly if the information flow is unclear.
Compare what the price actually includes
Compare scope rather than only hourly rate or monthly fee. Check what is included, what is charged separately, how year-end work and advisory questions are priced and what assumptions the offer is based on.
Review systems and access
Clarify which accounting, payroll and document systems will be used, who owns the data, which access rights are required and how information will be handed over if the engagement ends.
Consider the support you may need later
If the company is growing, ask whether the consultant can also support budgets, cash-flow forecasting, management reporting, system changes or coordination with other specialists.
Make the handover part of the decision
Before changing provider, agree a cut-off date, the information to be transferred, open items, reconciliations, upcoming deadlines and who is responsible during the transition.
Let’s talk about your business.
Tell us what you need help with, and we will discuss a suitable approach.
Sources and scope
General information, not an assessment of an individual engagement. The choice of roles and working methods is editorial guidance.