Board and tax packs: what they include today
What the board pack and tax pack in Achekam's financial statements Studio are, what their cards say is missing, and what the firm adds by hand.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
One set of annual statements usually has several audiences. The shareholders and the company registry need the statutory set. The board wants something it can discuss: the statements with commentary, key figures and the questions the year raised. The tax team, whether inside the firm or at the client, wants the statements together with the schedules that feed the return. Firms often produce all three by copying the statutory set and adding pages around it, and then lose track of which copy carries which version of the figures.
Achekam's financial statements Studio offers a board pack and a tax pack alongside the statutory set. This article explains exactly what those packs are today, how to read the card that says what is missing from each, and how to complete them without breaking the link to the issued figures.
Why firms prepare different packs from one set
The underlying figures are the same for every reader; what changes is what surrounds them.
| Reader | What they need beyond the statutory set |
|---|---|
| Shareholders, registry, lenders | Nothing beyond the statutory set |
| The board | Commentary, key ratios, comparison with budget, matters for decision |
| The tax preparer | Tax computation, rate reconciliation, schedules of allowances, a detailed income statement |
The principle that keeps this safe is simple: one set of figures, issued once, with every pack built around that issued version rather than around a working copy.
The packs are the statutory set under another name
In Achekam today, the board pack and the tax pack are the statutory set under another name. Choosing one does not yet produce a different document with extra board or tax content; it produces the same statements the statutory set contains.
That set is substantial. From a mapped trial balance, the Studio builds a draft with every figure calculated in code: the directors' report, the four primary statements, accounting policies, notes and a detailed income statement. The detailed income statement in particular is useful to a tax preparer, because it shows expenses at the level a computation starts from; it is covered in the detailed income statement.
So the honest position is: the packs give the board and the tax preparer the full statutory set, and anything specific to their purpose is added by the firm.
Reading the card that lists what is missing
Each pack has a card in the Studio, and the card lists what is not yet included in that pack. Read it before promising a client a "board pack" or a "tax pack" from Achekam. It is the product's own statement of the gap, and it will be more current than any summary written elsewhere.
When the card lists something the reader needs, plan to supply it separately. Do not describe the pack to the client as including it.
What to add by hand for the board or the tax return
Statements come out of Achekam as an A4 PDF made on Achekam's server. Achekam does not export financial statements to Word or Excel, so additions are prepared as separate documents, not typed into an exported copy of the statements.
For a board, a short companion document usually works best:
- A one-page summary of the year: revenue, profit, cash and net assets against last year.
- Key ratios the board follows, such as gross margin, debtor days and gearing.
- Comparison with budget, where the client has one.
- Matters for the board's attention: going concern, covenants, significant judgements, and anything the auditor or reviewer raised.
For tax, the companion pack is the computation and its schedules. What a return needs differs by country. In Nigeria, for example, the NRS's page on company income tax sets out which companies must file a self-assessment return, the deadlines, and what the return must contain: audited or taxpayer-attested accounts, tax and capital allowance computations, proof of payment and the effective-tax-rate computation. Build the tax companion around what the relevant authority requires, and reference each schedule to the line of the statements it comes from.
Keeping every pack tied to the issued version
The packs only stay reliable if they are built on the issued figures. Issuing in Achekam stores the final PDF with a fingerprint and locks that version, so the issued set is a fixed thing to point to.
Sign-off comes before issue. Each set of statements names a preparer, a reviewer and an engagement partner; only a user with a partner role can sign, and the person recorded as preparer or reviewer cannot issue the set. Prepare board and tax companions after that point, not from a draft that may still change.
Practical rules for the companions:
- Put the issue date and version of the statements on the first page of every companion document.
- Take every figure in a companion from the issued statements, and note where any figure, such as a budget, comes from elsewhere.
- File companions with the issued statements, so the pack is complete in one place.
- If the statements are ever reissued, redo the companions; do not edit the old ones.
How issuing and locking work is covered in issuing and locking the final PDF.
A worked example in words: a client's board meets two weeks after year-end statements are signed. The manager reads the board pack card, sees that commentary and ratios are not included, and prepares a three-page companion with the year's summary, ratios and the matters the review raised, each figure taken from the issued PDF and the issue date on the cover. The firm's tax team receives the issued statements with the detailed income statement and builds its computation as a separate, referenced schedule.
Set expectations in the engagement letter
If the firm promises clients a board pack or a tax pack, define what that means in the engagement letter: the issued statutory set from Achekam, plus the companion documents the firm prepares. Clients then get what was agreed, and the figures in every pack are the figures that were issued.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
