When another firm's officer compiles or signs

How a firm has another firm's officer compile its statements under ISRS 4410 (Revised) or sign as accounting officer, and which version is issued.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya

Not every firm that prepares annual financial statements is the firm whose name goes on the practitioner's report. A bookkeeping practice may do the work on the trial balance and the notes, and then rely on a professional accountant in another firm to compile the statements and report on the compilation. A small practice may lean on a colleague's firm when its own signing partner is not the right person for a particular client. And some entities need a named accounting officer who is not part of the team that kept the books.

These arrangements are common and perfectly proper, but they create a practical question that causes real disputes: which version of the statements did the outside officer actually stand behind? This article explains how Achekam answers that, and where the arrangement still needs paper between the firms.

Two roles an outside officer can take

In Achekam, a firm can have another firm's officer do one of two things with statements the first firm has prepared:

• Compile them under ISRS 4410 (Revised). In a compilation the practitioner applies accounting and financial reporting expertise to help management prepare and present the financial information, and reports on that work. It gives no assurance: the report says so, and it does not express a review conclusion or an audit opinion. IFAC's article on ISRS 4410 explains why compilation engagements under the revised standard matter to small practices and how the standard is structured.
• Act as accounting officer and sign them. Here the outside officer takes on the accounting officer role for the entity and signs in that capacity.

The difference matters for the wording of the report that goes into the statements. Achekam's Studio builds the practitioner's report to follow the level chosen for the set: audit, independent review, compilation or none. Choosing the right level before the draft is built saves rewriting the report page later.

Setting the external officer

The arrangement is set on the statements themselves, under Presentation & disclosures, using the option "An external officer signs off". Setting it there, rather than agreeing it in a covering e-mail, means the arrangement is recorded on the set itself rather than in someone's inbox.

Your own firm's people are still named on the set. 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 it. The external officer arrangement does not remove the need for your own review before the statements go across.

Only the officer's released version is issued

This is the control that settles the "which version?" question. When an external officer is set, the statements are issued only in the version that officer released.

In practice: your team prepares the set, completes its own review and sends it to the officer. The officer works through it, raises points, and the team makes changes. When the officer is satisfied, they release a version. That released version, and no other, is the one that can be issued. When it is issued, Achekam stores the final PDF with a fingerprint and locks that version, so the document the client receives can later be matched to what the officer released.

A late change after release, say a director spotting a typing error in the directors' report, therefore goes back through the officer. That can feel slow at year-end. It is also exactly what protects the officer, and your firm, when a client later disputes what was signed.

How this differs from an independent review

An external officer compiling or signing is a different arrangement from sending statements to another firm for an independent review or an audit.

If the client actually needs assurance, the arrangement you want is the one described in sending statements to another firm for review. A compilation report is not a substitute for a review the law or a lender requires.

Agree the roles in writing

The software records who released which version. It does not record the commercial and professional arrangement between the two firms, and that is where disputes start. Before the first set goes across, agree in writing:

1. Which entity, which year and which role: compiler under ISRS 4410 (Revised) or accounting officer.
2. Who has the engagement letter with the client, and whether the client knows the officer is from another firm.
3. What your firm will deliver to the officer, and by when: the mapped trial balance, supporting schedules, the draft set after your own review.
4. How the officer raises points and how your team responds, and how long each side has.
5. Who keeps which working papers, and for how long.
6. Who may contact the client directly.
7. How fees are agreed and billed between the firms.

Point four is the one that most often goes wrong. If the officer's points arrive by phone and the changes are made without a record, the released version may be right but nobody can show why.

Next step

Before the next season, list the clients where an outside officer compiles or signs, confirm the role for each, and set "An external officer signs off" on their statements at the start of the job rather than at the end. The written agreement between the firms can then be checked against what the set itself shows.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.