Changing accountants: your books stay with you
What happens to a business's books and access when it moves from one accounting firm to another on Achekam, and the handover the two firms should agree.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Changing accountants is one of those decisions business owners put off for longer than they should. The service has slipped, or the business has outgrown the firm, but the thought of the move is daunting. Will the old firm hand over the books? Will the history be lost? Will the new firm have to start again from bank statements?
Much of that worry comes from a world in which the accountant held the books: the ledger lived in the firm's software, and moving meant asking for a copy and hoping it was complete. On Achekam, the arrangement is different, and the move is simpler as a result. This article explains what happens to your books and access when you change firms, what Achekam does not do for you, and what to agree between the firms.
The books were always yours
When a business appoints an accounting firm on Achekam, the firm works directly in the business's own ledger. No copy is made. What the firm posts appears in the business's own accounting screens.
That is the key to changing accountants. There is no separate set of books at the old firm to retrieve, because there never was one. The ledger, the invoices, the bills, the payroll and the history are in your workspace, and they stay there.
Ending the old appointment
Either side can end an appointment. When it ends, the firm loses access to your books, and the books stay with the business.
A reason is asked for when an appointment is ended. It is kept on the record and shown to the other side. Keep it factual and brief: "moving to a new firm from the end of the month" is enough. The record helps both sides later if there is any question about when the relationship ended and why.
Plan the timing. Ending an appointment in the middle of a month-end close, a VAT return or a payroll run creates avoidable gaps. Pick a natural break, such as just after a month's books are closed, and tell the old firm before you end the appointment in the app.
If your old firm set up and pays for your books
Some businesses never signed up themselves: their accounting firm set up the books for them and pays for them. If that is your situation, take the books over on your own Business plan before ending the arrangement. An accounting firm can set up and pay for books for a client with no workspace of its own, and the client can later take them over on its own plan.
There is a reason to do this first. If the firm's plan lapses while it is still paying for your books, they turn read-only for you. Taking them over on your own plan removes that risk before you start the move.
There is no managed handover
Achekam has no managed handover between an old and a new accounting firm. The business ends one appointment and invites the new firm. Nothing in the app transfers the old firm's working papers, notes or knowledge to the new one.
That matters because not everything an accountant holds is in your ledger. The old firm may have tax computations, correspondence with the tax authority, payroll filing references, workings for the last financial statements and notes on judgements it made. Those belong in the handover, and you need to ask for them.
Inviting the new firm
You appoint the new firm the same way you appointed the old one: by its Achekam address or firm code, choosing its role (accountant, auditor, tax practitioner, payroll provider or adviser) and an access level. The firm then accepts or declines.
The new firm must already be on Achekam. A business cannot appoint an accountant who is not already on Achekam, so if the firm you want is not, it needs to sign up first.
Choose the access level deliberately. Bookkeeping access covers the accounting but not your users, settings or payment gateways. Review access is read-only, which suits an adviser or an auditor who should see but not change. You can give the new firm the level its role needs, which may differ from what the old firm had.
A handover checklist to agree between firms
Because the handover is not managed in the app, write it down and send it to both firms:
- Cut-over date: the last period the old firm is responsible for and the first for the new firm.
- Open work: returns in progress, queries from the tax authority, payroll filings due.
- Tax records: the latest computations, assessments and correspondence, with references.
- Statutory filings: what has been filed for the year and what is outstanding.
- Year-end workings: the last financial statements' working papers and any adjustments still to post.
- Payroll: filing references, employer registration details and anything pending.
- Contacts: who at the tax authority or other bodies the old firm was dealing with.
- Fees: confirmation that the old firm's final account is settled or agreed.
Your new firm may also ask your old firm for professional clearance before accepting. That is a matter between the professionals, but it moves faster when your account with the old firm is settled. Professional accountants work under a code of ethics, and the IESBA's International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants sets out the fundamental principles and the framework for addressing threats to them.
For how a firm's access looks from the review side, see accountant review access. If your current firm set up your books for you, when your accountant sets up and pays for your books explains the arrangement, and businesses with several entities should read several agency entities.
Before you end anything, send both firms the handover checklist and agree the cut-over date in writing.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
