Giving your accountant access to your accounting software

Many sole proprietors keep their day-to-day books themselves, but have an accountant review their tax return or annual accounts. The collaboration often breaks down over logistics: Excel files by e-mail, receipts in a folder, mismatched versions. There’s a better way.

The classic problem: sending files back and forth

Without shared software access, the collaboration usually looks like this:

• You export your accounting as Excel or PDF
• You send receipts one by one or in a ZIP folder
• Your accountant works from a copy that may already be outdated by the time it’s sent
• Questions go back and forth by e-mail, often with delays

That costs time on both sides – and increases the risk of errors from outdated or incomplete data.

The alternative: direct access to the same software

When your accountant has direct access to your accounting software, they see the same data you do – in real time, no export needed. In practice, that means:

• No outdated copies – your accountant always sees the current state
• Direct questions – if an entry is unclear, they can check it directly in the software
• Less work for you – no more manually exporting and sending files
• Faster closings – your accountant doesn’t have to wait for your next e-mail

What your accountant actually needs

Before access comes the question of which data is needed at all. For a year-end close or a sole proprietorship tax return, that is:

• all income and expenses for the financial year, with no gaps
• the matching receipts, tied to their entry rather than dumped in a folder
• the balance of the business account on the closing date
• the open items – what has not been paid, in both directions
• if you are VAT-liable, the returns for every period of the year
• the figures for private withdrawals and deposits, because they must not change the profit

Miss one of these and you get exactly the round of follow-up questions that makes a year-end expensive.

The division of labour that works most often

Not every sole proprietorship needs an accountant for everything. The cheapest combination usually looks like this:

You, continuously: capture receipts, issue invoices, reconcile incoming payments. These are the jobs where you know your own business best anyway – and where every delay costs double later.

Your accountant, periodically: the closing work, the tax return, judging the borderline cases. Precisely where expertise pays for itself.

This split only works if both sides look at the same state of the data. As soon as files start moving back and forth, the work shifts back to you.

What should be settled before you hand over

A year-end does not get cheaper by being handed over early, but by leaving little to clarify. Three things are worth doing first:

1. Finish the bank reconciliation. Every movement on the business account should be tied to an entry. How that works is covered in the article on booking your bank statement.
2. Fill in missing receipts. An expense without a receipt is, in case of doubt, not an expense. With document capture that is a matter of minutes if you do it as you go.
3. File the VAT periods, if you are liable – the VAT return does not belong in the year-end package, it comes before it.

What to look for when choosing software

Not every accounting tool makes this easy. Look for:

• Unlimited or low-cost additional users – some providers charge per extra user, which rarely pays off for a single sole proprietorship
• Roles and permissions – your accountant doesn’t necessarily need access to everything
• Export functions – in case your accountant prefers to keep working with their own tools

Effizo offers unlimited users at the same flat price – your accountant gets full access, at no extra cost to you.

The reverse holds too: an accountant looking after several clients can switch between companies with a single login, instead of managing a separate account per client. User management is built for exactly that.

How to set up access

1. Invite your accountant via user management using their e-mail address
2. They get their own login and see your day-to-day accounting directly
3. If they have questions, they can check receipts and entries themselves
4. At year-end, they export what they need directly from the software

What access does not change

A shared state of the data moves work, not responsibility. You sign the tax return, and the figures in it are yours. An accountant checks, classifies and calculates – but can only work with what has been recorded.

That is not small print, it is the practical reason continuous capture pays off: what was not booked in January cannot be reconstructed the following year by anyone, fee or no fee.

Conclusion

Working with your accountant doesn’t have to run through e-mail attachments. With direct access to the same software, both sides see the same state — and nobody has to ask which version is current.

Effizo offers unlimited user access at a flat price – ideal for working with your accountant. Also check out our tips for organising your accounting.