What does an authorized accounting firm mean?
Authorization is a status granted and monitored by the Finnish Association of Accounting Firms, not a marketing word. The association sets requirements for how a firm operates and who is qualified to do the work, and inspects its members regularly.
What it means
The firm is a member of the Finnish Association of Accounting Firms and meets the requirements it sets. The association also checks that they go on being met. The status is not a one-off stamp.
The work follows the industry's good practice. In practice that means the bookkeeping is current and documented well enough for somebody else to continue from it. It is also the reason changing accounting firm is possible without drama.
What it does not mean
It is not a licence from an authority. Offering bookkeeping services is not licensed in Finland, and authorization is the industry's own arrangement, but that is exactly why it is the only thing on this page we did not award ourselves.
It does not promise there will be no errors. It promises that requirements exist, that somebody monitors them, and that when something goes wrong there is a way of handling it.
What follows from it for you
These are the parts a client actually notices: not the association's requirements, but their consequences.
- A named accountant whose number you know. Holidays and illness are covered by a colleague in the same office, because the material is in Fennoa rather than in one person's inbox.
- Bookkeeping somebody else could continue from. That sounds obvious until you change accounting firm, which has a page of its own.
- Prices that are written down. Our price list is public, and there are no lines in it that only become clear on an invoice.
- The same firm handles the corporate law filings, so a trade register notice does not depend on somebody remembering to make it.
Ask us anything about this
If you are considering changing accounting firm, authorization is one question among several, and rarely the most important one. A free conversation, about 30 minutes, committing you to nothing.
Frequently asked
- Can anyone call themselves an accounting firm?
- Yes. Offering bookkeeping services is not a licensed activity in Finland, and the words accounting firm require nothing at all. That is precisely the difference authorization makes: it is granted and monitored by someone other than the firm itself.
- What is KLT?
- KLT is the Finnish professional qualification in financial administration, which requires both passing the examination and documented work experience.
- How can I check whether a firm is authorized?
- The Finnish Association of Accounting Firms keeps a register of its members on its own site. That is the fastest way to confirm it, whatever anyone's website says.
- Does authorization guarantee there will be no mistakes?
- No, and nobody honest claims otherwise. It means requirements have been set for how the firm works and that somebody other than us checks they are met. When a mistake happens, what matters is how it gets corrected.
Tell us what you need, and we will work out what it actually takes.
A free conversation, about 30 minutes: we go through document volumes, the number of people on the payroll and the services you need, and tell you the exact price. We do not charge for preparing a quote, and the conversation commits you to nothing.