Firm Primer Handbook to accounting firms
Handbook and knowledge baseNot an accounting firmChecked 24 September 2026
Handbook · edition 2026

Understand What to Compare in an Accounting Firm

A handbook, not a sales page. Definitions, service boundaries, pricing mechanics, professional titles and the question sets that make provider comparison possible.

What this site isAn independent accounting comparison and research guide. We provide informational comparison content about accounting providers. We do not provide accounting, tax, payroll or financial advisory services.

Before you compare, establish

  • Which filings your company must make
  • Which tasks need a statutory title
  • Who will do the work and who reviews it
  • The closing date and the payroll cut-off
  • Who holds the software licence

What this website is

Editorial role and limits

Independent accounting comparison and research guide. This website is editorial. It is not an accounting firm, not a bookkeeper, not a payroll bureau and not a tax adviser, and it is not an official directory operated or endorsed by any government, regulator or professional association. It does not provide accounting, tax, payroll or financial advisory services, and it does not collect financial, personal or login information from visitors.

Its purpose is research, comparison, verification and shortlisting. Provider information is recorded from each provider's own published pages, with the source and the date it was checked. The final decision is yours, and it is taken on the provider's own website and terms.

Handbook contents

12 chapters · 97 minutes of reading

  1. 01 How to Compare Accounting Firms in Europe A workable method for turning a long list of providers into a shortlist you can defend. 11 min · Method
  2. 02 How to Choose an Accounting Provider Selection criteria that hold up across European markets, from scope to software. 9 min · Method
  3. 03 Questions to Ask an Accounting Firm A structured question set covering scope, staffing, data, deadlines and exit. 8 min · Method
  4. 04 Bookkeeping vs Full-Service Accounting Where recording ends and compliance, reporting and advisory begin. 7 min · Scope
  5. 05 How Accounting Firms Charge The pricing models used across Europe and what each one rewards. 8 min · Pricing
  6. 06 Local Accountant vs International Provider Trade-offs between proximity, coverage and coordination when your business crosses borders. 8 min · Structure
  7. 07 How to Compare Payroll Services Cut-offs, jurisdictions, confidentiality and the cost drivers that matter. 8 min · Service
  8. 08 How to Compare VAT Support Domestic returns, cross-border registrations and the evidence that supports them. 8 min · Service
  9. 09 Cloud Accounting Provider Comparison Platforms, licences, migration and the exit question that most buyers forget. 7 min · Technology
  10. 10 Accounting Software Support Implementation, configuration, training and support commitments. 7 min · Technology
  11. 11 How to Evaluate an Accounting Service Agreement Reading the engagement letter for scope, liability, data and termination terms. 8 min · Governance
  12. 12 Accounting Providers for Small Businesses What small companies should expect, include and refuse in an accounting package. 8 min · Segment

How firms work: service definitions

Each definition states what the service produces and where its boundaries lie

Definition

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is the systematic recording of business transactions — sales, purchases, bank movements, expenses and corrections — into a ledger that reflects the company's position. In European practice the scope commonly …

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Definition

Payroll

Payroll covers the calculation of gross-to-net pay, statutory deductions, employer social contributions, payslips, payment files and the recurring declarations an employer must make to tax and social-security authorities…

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Definition

VAT support

VAT support covers the recurring indirect-tax obligations of a business: determining which transactions are taxable, at which rate and in which country, preparing and submitting periodic VAT returns, and handling the spe…

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Definition

Tax compliance

Tax compliance is the preparation and submission of the statutory tax returns a business owes in a given country: corporate income tax, partnership or personal income tax where relevant, withholding taxes, and the relate…

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Definition

Management accounting

Management accounting turns the ledger into internal reporting: monthly management accounts, budget-versus-actual comparisons, cash-flow forecasting, margin analysis and, in larger businesses, divisional reporting with c…

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Definition

Annual accounts

Annual accounts are the statutory financial statements a company must prepare and file under its national company law: balance sheet, profit-and-loss statement, notes, and, where applicable, the management report. The wo…

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Definition

Financial reporting

Financial reporting work goes beyond the statutory minimum where a business has to report to a parent company, a lender, an investor or a regulator. It covers the conversion of local accounts into a group or IFRS reporti…

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Definition

Cloud accounting

Cloud accounting describes an operating model in which the ledger, the supporting documents and the reporting sit in an online platform that both the client and the provider access in real time. The practical benefits ar…

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Definition

Accounting software support

Software support covers the work of choosing, implementing, configuring and training staff on the accounting platform a business uses. In markets where electronic invoicing or real-time reporting is mandatory, the platfo…

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Compare by business size

Selection criteria by company size, without declaring any provider the best

Business size

Freelancers

One-person businesses, usually with no employees and simple transaction volumes.

4 providers record serving this segment · Selection criteria

Business size

Startups

Young companies, often funded, usually needing reporting for investors as well as compliance.

8 providers record serving this segment · Selection criteria

Business size

Small businesses

Owner-managed companies with a handful of employees and routine reporting.

9 providers record serving this segment · Selection criteria

Business size

Growing companies

Businesses that have outgrown their first provider and now need scale and depth.

5 providers record serving this segment · Selection criteria

Business size

Medium businesses

Larger private companies with departments, budgets and internal control expectations.

6 providers record serving this segment · Selection criteria

Business size

International businesses

Groups with entities, employees or sales in more than one European country.

8 providers record serving this segment · Selection criteria

Question bank

Use these directly in a conversation with a provider

  1. BookkeepingScope: Which tasks are included in the monthly fee, and which are billed separately?
  2. PayrollJurisdictions: Which countries can you process payroll in directly, and which through partners?
  3. VAT supportCoverage: In which countries can you register and file VAT returns on our behalf?
  4. Tax compliancePositions: How do you document a position you consider defensible but uncertain?
  5. Management accountingDesign: How would you adapt the reporting pack to our business model?
  6. Annual accountsScope: Does the fee cover the full statutory set, including the notes and any management report?

Full question set

Provider profiles and sources

Every profile shows its source and last-checked date

Czech Republic · National

BDO Czech Republic

Annual accounts, Financial reporting, Bookkeeping, Business advisory

  • Serves: Not publicly confirmed
  • Software: Not publicly confirmed
  • Pricing model: Not publicly listed

See all provider recordsRead the methodology

Country-by-country accounting markets

20 European markets · local titles, registers and software

All country guides

Questions about this guide

Informational answers only, never accounting advice

How does the comparison work?

Every provider is stored as a structured record with the same fields: country, coverage, services, business sizes served, languages, software, remote support, office model and pricing model, together with the official website, the source used and the date it was last checked. Filters and the comparison table read those fields directly. When you apply filters, the site shows the providers whose recorded attributes match the criteria you selected. It does not rank them, score them or choose on your behalf.

How are providers selected?

Providers are included when they are real organisations that publicly describe accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, tax-compliance, cloud-accounting or related services for businesses in a European market, and when they publish enough information for a factual profile to be written. Inclusion is not an endorsement, is not paid for, and is not a quality judgement. The dataset does not claim to include every provider in any market; it covers the organisations recorded in the directory, and the methodology page explains how to check a provider that is not listed.

Where does provider information come from?

Almost entirely from the provider's own website: service pages, business-size pages, locations, software and tools pages, pricing pages where they exist, and legal or imprint pages. Where a provider publishes nothing about an attribute, the profile records 'Not publicly confirmed' rather than an assumption. Every profile shows the source and the date it was last checked, and each profile links to the provider's own website so that you can verify anything that matters to you.

How often is information checked?

Every record carries the date on which it was last checked, shown on the profile and in the comparison table. Because provider websites change without notice, a check date is a statement about when the information was read, not a guarantee that it is still current. Where you spot a change, the corrections page explains how to tell us, and corrections are made against a fresh reading of the provider's own site.

Can pricing change?

Yes. Accounting fees depend on transaction volumes, headcount, the number of entities, the software used and the scope agreed in the engagement letter, and most providers do not publish prices at all. Where a provider does publish a starting price, the profile records the figure, the source and the date, and states that current pricing must be confirmed directly with the provider. No price on this site should be treated as a quotation.

How do I compare accounting firms?

Start with the obligations your business actually has in the country where it is registered, including which tasks are reserved to a holder of a statutory professional title. Then choose the attributes that matter to you, filter the directory on those attributes to build a shortlist, and compare the profiles side by side. The how-to-choose page and the guides go through the criteria in detail, and the question sets can be used directly in a conversation with a provider.

All questions