The accountant is a professional whose role goes far beyond the drawing up of the company’s accounts. He’s the manager’s true partner, and will provide him with legal, tax, social, accounting and even wealth advice.
The role of the accountant is crucial for the company, whether in its creation, development or transfer.
The accountant is such a good advisor to executives that he has become a key partner for many small and medium-sized business executives.
To contribute to the effectiveness of your accountant’s assignments, you need to define what you expect from them in order to remove any ambiguity about everyone’s expectations, assignments, and roles. In this article, we describe the roles and functions that can be delegated to a chartered accountant.
The accountant’s role in setting up the business
The accountant can play an important role in the establishment of the enterprise and can intervene beyond the framework of the execution of the intermediary balance sheet of the entrepreneur.
In particular, on the basis of figures from forecast documents, the accountant can advise business starters or buyers on certain decisive phases of the project:
-Advise the entrepreneur in the choice of his legal status
-Guide entrepreneurs on their social status
-Participate in the tax optimisation of the project
-Advise entrepreneurs in their financial choices
The accountant can therefore play a much more important role than merely taking stock of a company’s finances; he acts as a guide for future entrepreneurs. Of course, the contractor must determine the points where the accountant must intervene, because it must not be forgotten that in return, a remuneration corresponding to the requested benefits will be paid by the accountant.
Main tasks of accounting officers
The main tasks of accountants are of course of an accounting nature, which is broken down into three tasks:
Presentation of annual accounts
Here, managers choose to entrust all or part of their accounts to their accountant. These include keeping accounts, revising accounts, drawing up annual accounts and filing tax and social security returns.
Limited Annual Audit Engagement
In the context of a limited examination mission, the accounting officer is required to ensure that he has not identified any element that does not call into question the sincerity and regularity of the annual accounts and the honest image of the company.
Contractual audit engagements
As part of his contractual audit duties, the accounting officer is required to ensure that the accounts are kept in a proper manner and that the company’s image is optimal.
An advisory function
He may also act as an adviser to the head of an undertaking. He will then be responsible for helping the manager find the best legal status for his company, guiding him in the tax options of his company, encouraging him to equip himself with appropriate management tools to maximize the profit of the structure.
Preparation of balance sheet and taxes
At the end of the accounting year, the so-called balance sheet must be prepared, reflecting the company’s accounting status. It gives you an overview of the company’s financial situation and is a key factor in decision-making.
On this occasion, the accountant will also draw up your company’s tax statement. This balance sheet provides up-to-date information on your company’s tax situation and presents your company’s taxable results.
Other tasks of the accountant
In addition to these main tasks, accountants may perform other tasks on an ancillary basis, that is to say, complementary to the accountancy tasks.
As a general rule, the public accountant is required to carry out the legal procedures of the heads of enterprise: holding an annual general meeting, relocation of the registered office, capital increase, or provision of tax services to individuals or social interest groups.
Accountants may also be called upon to perform lawful functions, that is to say, those imposed by law, such as those of the board of directors or of the valuation of assets on which a State mission is based.
In addition to maintaining the company accounts, the primary role of the public accountant is to be the partner of the entrepreneur, with whom he advises in depth from the creation or takeover to the disposal of the company.
How do you choose your accountant?
Now that you have learned a little about the accounting profession, let’s look at how to choose the right accountant. To choose your accountant, first check if he is on the list of accounting orders. Next, assess his geographical situation, ensure his availability, and consider the requested fee.
Guarantee that he meets your expectations. Can he occupy the position of pay manager? Can he create dashboards? Can he accompany you in ad hoc legal proceedings? Does he work with computer tools that are compatible with yours?
Accountant and public accountant: what is the difference?
Finally, accounting has two different but complementary functions: the accountant function and the public accountant function.
Both types of accountants are specialists. The accountants, who have been trained for three years, are mainly responsible for day-to-day accounting management. They are interested, for example, in the preparation of the company’s VAT returns, the creation of the balance sheet, the drawing up of the payroll, and current accounting operations.
The public accountant is also a metric technician, but he has over eight years of training and is registered with the national order of accountants of management professions.
In concrete terms, they can also provide current accounting management, but its shares are covered by a “civil liability insurance” that insures the company in case of detection of accounting errors during a tax audit. If they are an auditor, they can also confirm the company’s accounts.
Conclusion
Accounting is an area that requires curiosity and motivation to always clarify unanswered questions. A good accountant builds on a relationship of trust: trust in your accountant’s abilities, trust in his or her keen sense of data collection, trust in the accuracy of your accounts, etc.
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