Who can open an accounting office?
While the mere establishment of a business that takes into account the PKD code 69.20.Z (accounting and bookkeeping activities; tax consulting), does not require any special authorization, it is worth remembering that the very provision of tax consulting or bookkeeping services can only be engaged in by a person who:
- Has full legal capacity;
- She has never been convicted of specific crimes:
- Against the credibility of documents;
- against property;
- against economic turnover;
- Against money and securities trading;
- Treasury;
- For the act specified in Chapter 9. Law of September 29, 1994. about accounting;
- Has liability insurance (third party liability).
Important!
If the activities of your accounting firm are to be limited only to the maintenance of income and expense tax books and assistance in filing tax returns and declarations, liability insurance is not needed.
So if you meet all the conditions listed above, you can open your own accounting office without any obstacles. However, in order to provide quality services, one must first answer the question: what kind of services can an accounting office provide and what do its potential clients – entrepreneurs – require?
What can an accounting office do?
Accounting offices offer their clients services of varying scope. Among the most popular are:
- Bookkeeping – an accounting firm can take care of creating and systematically completing tax books of income and expenses, but also full bookkeeping;
- Inventory of the company’s liabilities and assets – from time to time, an inventory should be carried out in companies to verify the balances of assets and liabilities listed – for example – in the computer system and compare them with the actual balances;
- Valuation of the company’s liabilities and assets – the inventory of liabilities and assets can (and should) be expanded to include the valuation of liabilities and assets. It further allows to determine the financial result of the company in a given period, which from a business point of view is of great importance for many companies;
- Preparation of financial statements – companies that keep full books are required to prepare financial statements at the end of each fiscal year. This time-consuming and tedious duty, however, can be entrusted to accounting offices, which – thanks to properly formulated cooperation agreements – will assume the risk of irregularities in the reports. This approach requires reliability, but it is also paid accordingly;
- Record keeping – accounting documents, invoices, contracts and all other documents specified in the the law of September 29, 1994. about accounting – It is the entrepreneur’s responsibility to segregate and store this documentation, unless he uses an accounting firm for this purpose. In such an arrangement, the duty shifts to the accounting office, which takes another sizable burden off the entrepreneur’s shoulders;
- Auditing, making available and announcing financial statements – accounting offices may also offer businesses the possibility of verifying financial statements that have already been created (for example, those that contain or may contain errors), as well as submitting reports to registries or making them available in situations provided by law.
How to set up an accounting office step by step?
Since an accounting office is in fact a business like any other, the process of setting one up is no different from registering any company. To set up an accounting office, simply register it as one of the available forms of business. The accounting office can be operated under:
- one-person business;
- civil partnership;
- general partnership;
- partnership;
- limited partnership;
- joint-stock company;
- limited joint-stock partnership;
- limited liability company;
- cooperatives.
So, all you need to do is go through the standard procedure of setting up a business (CEIDG entry, VAT declaration, company registration or KRS entry) – nothing prevents you from setting up an accounting office via the Internet – you can find more information on all the necessary applications by clicking on the links below:
- CEIDG registration;
- VAT registration (VAT-R);
- Company registration in the S24 system;
- KRS registration.
Important!
Only a few types of companies can be registered through the S24 portal – those that do not require a notarized deed agreement, i.e. general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company or simple joint stock company.
When registering a business, use the PKD code 69.20.Z – accounting and bookkeeping activities; tax consulting. Codes may also prove useful:
- 70.22.Z – other business and management consulting;
- 82.11.Z – service activities related to administrative office services.
What is an accounting certificate and what is it needed for?
An accounting certificate is a document once issued by the Minister of Finance to confirm the professional qualifications of accountants. However, the issuance of certificates was halted on May 9, 2014, and since then the accounting profession has not been subject to any restrictions or generated special powers.
If you have an accounting certificate issued by May 9, 2014, you can still use it, but it serves more of a representative function. You can use the information about having a certificate to provide assurance about your qualifications.
