Accountant vs. tax consultant: who does what?
Let's talk a bit about accounting again : tax advisor or accountant ? What differentiates the two? Which activities do you take on?
Spoiler: Accountants and tax consultants are different in terms of their responsibilities and their differences are discussed in the Tax Consultancy Act (StBerG). One can prepare annual financial statements, the other cannot.
How do accountants and tax consultants differ?
The accountant
The accountant is responsible for the bookkeeping of a company and, more generally, manages its financial health. He or she collects, coordinates and checks the accounting data: Among other things, the accountant documents and lists all of a company's transactions.
His or her tasks can be summarized in the following points. He or she:
- carries out the closing work and prepares the tax return for the tax consultant,
- checks bank transactions,
- prepares the accounting books,
- carries out payroll accounting and social declarations,
- prepares elements required for the preparation of the annual closing documents (profit and loss account and balance sheet),
- carries out management work and cost and performance accounting (break-even point, cash budget, etc.).
The tax consultant
The tax advis or supports companies and tradesmen on a daily basis in their continued existence and development. Advice and strategic orientation are therefore an integral part of the profession.
His or her tasks can be summarized in the following points. He or she:
- can prepare annual financial statements, or tax returns, and then send them out (declaration advice),
- can represent a client before the fiscal courts as well as the Federal Fiscal Court (enforcement advice),
- ensures optimal tax structuring (structuring advice),
- can also advise the company at a business management level (controlling, performance analyses, profitability, etc.).
As his field of activity is very broad, he must be proficient in accounting, tax and social issues. This is why a tax advisor requires higher costs and relies on a table to determine his fees.
Did you know that you can save money with accounting software and make life easier for the accountant/tax consultant by automatically classifying and sorting everything beforehand? In the next paragraph we briefly mention a few advantages and present our selection.
What are the advantages of accounting software?
Automation of tasks
The software increases your productivity, especially by saving time on low value-added tasks, such as Document transmission, accounting entries, archiving, etc.
Improve relationships between clients and accountants/tax advisors
By automating some of your time-consuming tasks, you gain more time to focus on your clients and use your expertise in an advisory capacity.
Data security
Accounting software also offers you the security of your data thanks to the cloud. You can transfer, exchange and archive your documents without fear.
They are real business management tools: invoicing, document management, etc. Some also integrate a CRM, such as sevDesk, which we present below.
Our software selection
sevDesk
sevDesk is an accounting software that allows entrepreneurs to manage their day-to-day accounting easily and without prior knowledge.
sevDesk also helps with preparatory bookkeeping in collaboration with your tax advisor. This not only saves you time, but also money!
Debitoor
Debitoor is an online invoicing and accounting program for freelancers, start-ups and small businesses. The software simplifies the creation of invoices for your customers and offers an interface where you can send your advance VAT return to Elster.
The tax consultant can also have access to Debitoor to send the files to DATEV.
SumUp
FastBill
FastBill is also an online invoicing and accounting software that makes bookkeeping easier for entrepreneurs. Thanks to its ease of use, quotes and invoices can be created quickly and easily, even without training.
FastBill is an opportunity for tax consultants, as the software automates all of their clients' accounting processes and creates visibility of their activities.
Article translated from German