The accountant as a growth partner for SMEs: more than just numbers

The accountant is more than a bookkeeping machine

Many SME owners see the accountant as the person who keeps track of the tax and makes sure the annual report is filed on time. That is too narrow an understanding, and it costs businesses money.

A skilled accountant is one of your most important business advisers. The accountant sees your business from a financial perspective, knows tax law in depth and has experience with hundreds of businesses across industries. You can use that knowledge for much more than an approved annual report.

This guide is about how you actively use the accountant as a growth partner, and what you should have in order legally in return, to give the best possible basis to work from.

What the accountant does for you beyond the annual report

Ongoing advice

Most accountants offer a subscription to ongoing advice. Rather than only talking to your accountant in the accounting season, you can have monthly or quarterly meetings where you review:

• Liquidity and cash flow
• Margins and profitability per product line or customer segment
• Budget follow-up
• Lawful tax optimisation
• The financing situation

This ongoing contact gives you a basis for management, and not just a historical set of accounts.

Financing and bank dialogues

Do you need to take out a loan, extend the credit facility or apply for support? Your accountant can prepare budgets, liquidity forecasts and business cases that the bank asks for. An accountant who knows your business is a strong sparring partner in this dialogue.

Buying and selling a business

Are you considering acquiring a competitor, taking over a supplier or selling your business? The accountant plays a central role in due diligence, business valuation and tax structuring.

Succession

Have you begun to think about what should happen to the business in the long run? The accountant is among the first you should talk to about succession, as a long planning horizon is decisive for the tax optimisation.

Pay optimisation and incentive structures

What is the tax-optimal combination of salary, dividend and pension for you as an owner? For many SME owners, that is one of the most concrete questions the accountant can answer, and the answers can mean tens of thousands of kroner a year.

What you should have in order to help the accountant

An accountant can only deliver good advice from a proper basis. That requires you as the owner to have your legal documents in order.

An agreement with the accountant

Have you clarified what your accountant is actually engaged to do? Many SME owners have an unclear idea of the accountant's scope of work, and misunderstandings can arise about what is included in the fee.

A clear agreement, or at least a written engagement letter, should specify:

• A description of the task and its scope
• The fee structure (fixed price, hourly rate or a combination)
• Liability and disclaimers
• Confidentiality and GDPR
• Termination terms

A firm agreement protects both parties and sets expectations correctly.

Employment contracts as the basis for verifying payroll

Your accountant cannot readily verify that the payroll costs in the accounts are correct without access to the employment contracts. Make sure that:

• All employees have up-to-date employment contracts
• The pay terms match what is paid out
• Any bonus agreements are documented

The shareholders' agreement shows the real ownership structure

The accountant should know the shareholders' agreement and not only the articles. The shareholders' agreement governs the real owners' rights and can directly affect the accountant's assessment of, for example, shareholder loans, dividends and capital matters.

Cooperation agreements as a basis for multi-party relationships

The accountant often cooperates with other advisers, for example lawyers, banks and insurance companies, as part of the advice to the SME client. These relationships should also be regulated in writing.

A cooperation agreement ensures:

• A clear division of tasks
• A confidentiality obligation towards the client
• Fee arrangements for joint projects
• Allocation of liability

Service agreement: when is the accountant a supplier?

In some cases the accountant delivers ongoing services beyond advice, for example payroll administration, bookkeeping or accounting assistance. Here it is appropriate to have a service agreement that specifies:

• Which services are delivered
• Delivery deadlines and service levels
• Prices and invoicing frequency
• Liability for errors or delays
• GDPR and data processing

If your accountant processes employees' personal data (for example civil registration numbers and payroll data) as part of the task, the accountant is your data processor. That requires a data processing agreement under GDPR Article 28.

What does an accountant cost, and what is it worth?

An accountant's fee varies considerably from task to task and from firm to firm. The ranges below are only illustrative examples:

Service	Indicative price range
Annual report for a small ApS	DKK 8,000 to 25,000
Ongoing advice subscription	DKK 1,500 to 6,000 per month
Due diligence on an acquisition	DKK 15,000 to 100,000
Succession advice	DKK 30,000 to 150,000

For many SME owners, the accountant's fee is one of the better investments, provided you use the accountant actively and give a proper legal and financial basis to work from.

The value of good accounting assistance:

• A tax-optimal balance between salary and dividend can save some owners a significant amount a year
• A well-structured succession model can noticeably reduce gift duty
• An error in the annual report caught before filing is always cheaper than a subsequent correction

The accountant and legal documents go together

The accountant's advice is strongest when the legal documents are in place. Here is a quick overview of which documents the accountant typically asks for:

The accountant's advisory task	Legal documents that should exist
Annual accounts and audit	Articles, employment contracts, shareholders' agreement
Pay optimisation	Employment or director's contract for the owner
Succession	Shareholders' agreement, will, possibly a transfer agreement
Due diligence on acquisition	All company documents and customer contracts
Financing assistance	All key contracts and obligations
GDPR compliance	Data processing agreements with all relevant suppliers

How to choose the right accountant for your SME

Not all accountants are the same, and the accountant that fits a large manufacturing business may not be the right one for your webshop or your IT consultancy. Here is what you should look for:

Industry experience: An accountant with experience in your industry knows the particular challenges, deduction options and risks. An accountant who mainly works with restaurants and retail may have limited knowledge of SaaS business models or export-heavy companies.

Size and capacity: A large audit firm has specialists in every field, but you risk becoming a small customer in a large business. A medium-sized firm can give you more personal attention and a fixed contact person.

Digital platform: Does the accountant work with the same digital bookkeeping systems as you? Integration with, for example, e-conomic, Billy or Dinero saves time and reduces errors.

Availability and response time: What is the accountant's response time to questions? An accountant you can only reach in the accounting season gives limited advisory value.

Fee structure: Is the fee hourly, a fixed price per service or a subscription? A fixed price and subscriptions give better budget predictability, while an hourly fee can give unpleasant surprises if the scope slips.

Questions you should ask when choosing an accountant

Use these questions when you evaluate a new accountant:

1. How many SME clients in my industry do you have?
2. What is your typical response time to email and phone?
3. Which bookkeeping systems do you work with?
4. What does your standard package include, and what is billed separately?
5. Who is my fixed contact person, and what happens if they are away?
6. Do you have experience with succession, due diligence or raising capital, if that is relevant to me?
7. Can you give references from existing clients?

A good accountant will welcome these questions, as they signal that you are a client who will use the advice actively.

Digital collaboration tools with your accountant

Modern cooperation with an accountant is digital. Use it to make communication more efficient:

Shared access to the bookkeeping system: Give your accountant access to, for example, e-conomic, Billy or Dinero with a separate login, so the accountant can follow the finances on an ongoing basis and react early if there are problems.

Shared document archive: Use a secure shared drive to share vouchers, contracts and documents with the accountant. It saves time at year-end and reduces back-and-forth by email.

Digital meetings: Use video meetings for quarterly meetings with the accountant. It reduces travel time and makes it easier to hold frequent, short update meetings rather than rare, long ones.

Automatic invoice import: Most modern bookkeeping systems support importing invoices directly from suppliers' systems. It reduces manual data entry and the risk of errors.

Conclusion

The accountant is one of your most valuable advisers if you use the relationship actively and give a proper basis to work from. Make sure the legal documents are in place, agree clearly on what the advice covers, and use the digital tools to keep an ongoing dialogue rather than only talking during the accounting season.

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This article is informative and does not constitute legal or audit advice. Contact an accountant for guidance on your specific situation.