Switching accountant – how it works
Most businesses put off switching accountant because they assume it is complicated. In practice it is simpler than people expect, and we handle most of it. Greenleaf takes care of the whole handover: the notice to your current firm, the contact the law requires us to make with them, system access, retrieving your history, and a clean start with us.
When is it worth switching?
The reasons we hear most: an accountant who is slow to answer email, no advice beyond the bookkeeping, a price that has risen while the service has not, poor visibility in the accounting system, or a sense that the business has become too small or too large for the firm. If any of that sounds familiar, it probably is time.
How the process runs
1) A short conversation to map the business, and agreement on price and start date. 2) You give notice to your current accountant – we give you the template. 3) We contact your previous accountant, as section 5-1 of the Norwegian Accountants Act requires. 4) We get access to the accounting system and take over documents and history. 5) We take over day-to-day work from the agreed date. The whole switch usually takes two to four weeks.
Is there a best time of year?
Many assume you have to wait for the new year. You do not. A switch can happen at any time, though it is often practical to move at the start of a VAT period, or once the year-end close is finished. If it is urgent, we can take over at short notice.
What about work in progress and the year-end close?
We agree explicitly with your previous accountant who files the last VAT return or completes the year-end close. The usual practice is that whoever did the work for the period files it. We make sure nothing is dropped. Around the cut-off date it should be in writing who finishes the bookkeeping, runs payroll, files the employer's report, reconciles the VAT period and submits the return. Do not assume the outgoing firm will simply take care of it.
What do we collect from your previous accountant?
We normally collect the general ledger and trial balance, customer and supplier ledgers with open items, bank reconciliations, documentation of balance sheet items, the document archive, the fixed asset register, payroll data, VAT documentation, previous annual accounts and tax returns, and relevant agreements. When we ask for it, your previous accountant can give us information and documentation that matters for the assignment. Their duty of confidentiality does not prevent this.
Can the old accountant hold your records?
The starting point is that the material has to be handed over. Under good accounting practice, accounting material and accounting data are to be handed over as soon as possible when the engagement ends, so that the business can meet its retention and electronic access requirements. Unless something else has been agreed, the accounting data is transferred in SAF-T format. If you disagree about the fee, that should be handled separately from the handover. Note that you keep the legal duty to retain the records either way.
What actually has to move to the new accounting system?
When the accounting system changes, we move no more history than the business actually needs. The scope is weighed on cost and benefit, on what day-to-day operations require, and on how the historical accounting material is to be retained. What we normally assess bringing across: – opening balances for the current year, and where needed last year's trial balance – open customer and supplier items – other opening items needed to keep operations running – the fixed asset register, if it is kept in the system or depreciation is run there continuously. Otherwise depreciation is often handled in the year-end close. This is our practical assessment, not a legal requirement. The law does not require all history to be imported. It requires the accounting material to be stored in an orderly way and in readable form, and to be available for inspection throughout the retention period. Older material can therefore be exported and archived outside the new system, as long as the retention duties are met, the audit trail is intact and the information is electronically accessible where that is required. We plan this part before the old system is shut down. A SAF-T file can carry the recorded data, but SAF-T is not a complete backup, and the document archive has to be secured separately.
What happens to payroll when you switch?
A change of accountant can also mean a change of payroll system. When it does, we plan that move separately. Employees and employment relationships have to be carried over correctly, accrued holiday pay and other necessary balances have to be reconciled, and the old system has to be closed down properly before payroll continues. In the a-melding, employment relationships have to be carried over in the way the Tax Administration describes for a change of payroll system. We agree in advance which payroll run is the last one in the old system.
Authorisations, access and the register
A change of accountant touches more than the accounting system: Altinn authorisations and system access, online banking and payment authority, payroll and invoicing systems, bank integration, e-invoice receipt and any other integrations. Do not remove old access before checking that it will not stop a filing your previous accountant still has to make. Once the handover is finished, unnecessary authorisations should be withdrawn. If the business uses an external accountant, that is also recorded in the Register of Legal Entities, through a coordinated register notification. That is separate from the Altinn authorisations, and both should be checked.
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost to switch accountant?
The handover is agreed in the quote. If the accounts are up to date there is usually little extra work, and you pay the ordinary monthly price from the agreed start date. If there is a backlog, we scope and price the clean-up before you decide.
How much notice does an accounting agreement require?
There is no statutory notice period for accounting services – the term is in your own agreement. Three months' written notice is the common one and is the term in Regnskap Norge's standard delivery conditions, but other terms can be agreed. Read your own contract. We can start in parallel so the business keeps running through the notice period.
Can I switch part-way through a financial year?
Yes. We retrieve the history from your previous accountant or directly from the system, and carry on from there.
What if I am in dispute with my current accountant?
That is one of the most common situations. Section 5-1 of the Norwegian Accountants Act requires us to ask your previous accountant whether there is anything that suggests we should not take the assignment on. Under good accounting practice they should answer without undue delay. That does not give them a veto over your switch – the point is that we know the case before we take it over.
Do I have to give notice before we talk?
No. Talk to us first. We settle price and fit, and once you are comfortable, we help with the notice.
Ready to switch?
We make the process simple. Send us a message and we will take a short call about how the handover would look for you.
Contact us