When a client wants to edit its own statements
What to do when a client asks for a Word copy of its statements to reword: take changes as comments, make them in the Studio, keep one version.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
"Can you send us the statements in Word? We only want to tidy up the wording." Most practices hear some version of this every year end, usually from a financial manager who has spotted an out-of-date description of the business, or a director who wants a sentence added for the bank.
The request is reasonable. The statements belong to the directors, and they are entitled to see their business described properly. The difficulty is what happens next. Once an editable copy leaves the firm, there are two sets of statements: the one in the firm's file, and the one on the client's laptop with changes nobody at the firm has read. If the practitioner's report travels with the client's version, the firm's name is attached to words it never saw.
What follows is a way to give clients a real say in the wording without losing control of the set.
Why clients ask for an editable copy
Find out what the client actually wants to change before deciding how to handle it. In practice the requests fall into a few groups:
- Facts about the business: a new product line, a branch that closed, a director who resigned during the year.
- Tone: a directors' report that sounds gloomier than the board feels, or a phrase a lender might misread.
- Labels: a row called "Other income" that the client would rather call "Rental income", or an expense heading the owner does not recognise.
- Reuse: a client who wants to lift paragraphs into a funding application or a tender.
The first three are wording changes the firm should welcome and make. The fourth is really a request for a document, and the right answer is usually the issued PDF.
There is also a practical point. Achekam does not export financial statements to Word or Excel; they come out as PDF only. So when a client asks for an editable copy, there is none to send. Rather than improvising one by converting the PDF, use the routes that keep the changes inside the set.
Taking their changes as comments on the review link
The client already has a channel for telling you what should change. When the draft is ready, the client receives a link to a frozen copy, and on that page they can comment, confirm or ask for changes. Their decision moves the set on or back. The link goes only to the client's authorised review contact, through the firm's own mail connector; if no connector is set up, nothing is sent and the record says so.
Ask the client to put each wording change as a comment against the part of the statements it concerns, rather than in a separate e-mail. A comment that says "replace the second sentence of the nature of business with the following" is far easier to act on, and to evidence later, than a marked-up printout. The client needs no Achekam login for this: there is no client sign-in or portal account, and the link is the way in.
The review link itself is covered in getting the client's approval on draft statements.
Making the changes in the Studio so they survive rebuilds
Once the comments are in, someone on the team makes the changes in the Studio. Two kinds of change are common, and both are kept when the set is rebuilt later:
- Narrative blocks. When a person edits a block of text, such as the nature of business or a note's wording, that edited block is kept when the draft is rebuilt from the trial balance.
- Row titles and lines. A firm can change the wording of any row title and add its own statement lines and groups, and later builds keep those choices. Each custom line still totals into a standard line, so renaming "Other income" to "Rental income" does not upset the notes or the cash flow. Adding your own statement lines and wording explains how far that goes.
Figures are another matter. Every figure in the Studio is calculated in code from the mapped trial balance, so a client cannot change an amount by rewording a sentence, and nor should the team. If a comment is really about a number, it goes back through the trial balance or an adjusting entry, and the draft is rebuilt.
Wording the client may change and wording it may not
Not every sentence in the set belongs to the client. A simple split helps when a client pushes back.
| Part of the set | Whose words | How to handle a requested change |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of business, directors' report narrative | The directors' | Make the change if it is accurate and consistent with the figures |
| Related parties, events after year end | The directors', from facts only they hold | Make the change and keep the client's answer on file |
| Row titles and line labels | Shared | Rename if the new label still describes what is in the line |
| Accounting policies | The directors' choice, framed by the reporting framework | Discuss; the preparer checks the wording against what the client really does |
| Practitioner's report | The practitioner's | Not open to client editing |
The last row is the one to hold firm on. Whether it is an audit report, a review report or a compilation report, it is the practitioner's statement, and its wording follows the engagement and the standard. For compilations, the IAASB's announcement of ISRS 4410 (Revised) explains how the standard clarifies the accountant's role when compiling financial information for smaller entities, a useful reference when explaining to a client why some words are theirs and some are not.
Keeping one controlled version
After the changes are made, send the client a fresh review link to the new frozen copy. Do not lean on an earlier confirmation if the wording has moved since, and do not issue a set the client has not seen in its final form.
When the set is issued, Achekam stores the final PDF with a fingerprint and locks that version. That issued PDF is what the client should hand to its bank, attach to its tender or keep for its records. If a client still edits a copy by hand afterwards, say in writing that the edited document is not the set the firm issued and that the practitioner's report does not attach to it.
A short routine for these requests:
- Ask what the client wants to change, and why, before discussing file formats.
- Route wording changes through comments on the review link.
- Make narrative and label changes in the Studio; send figure changes through the trial balance.
- Resend the link once the changes are made and wait for the client's confirmation.
- Issue once, and give the client the issued PDF.
The next time a client asks for "the Word version", treat it as an invitation to talk about the wording rather than a file request. Most clients are content once they see their comments reflected in a set they approved.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
