Business preparation guide · 29 October 2026
How should a business hand over its bookkeeping?
Use this guide to prepare a focused business enquiry and agree a useful professional engagement. It covers information gathering and project planning. Entity-specific tax, legal and accounting conclusions require qualified review of the facts and current requirements.
What should a bookkeeping handover file contain?
Include the chart of accounts, opening balances, reconciliations, ledger exports, invoice records and accounting-system details. Keep an index of files and outstanding questions. Agree a secure transfer process and do not share passwords through the public enquiry form.
How should historical bookkeeping gaps be explained?
List the periods affected, missing records, unreconciled balances and known errors. Preserve the original data. Ask the incoming team to scope catch-up work separately from ongoing bookkeeping so fees, timing and responsibilities are clear.
Who should approve opening balances in a bookkeeping handover?
Identify the business owner or finance representative responsible for approval and the source supporting each balance. Ask the accountant how unresolved differences will be recorded. Keep approval evidence with the handover file so future work has a traceable starting point.
What access should an outsourced bookkeeping team receive?
Discuss the tasks to be performed and grant only the access needed through the accounting system's user controls. Retain business ownership of accounts and define how access will be reviewed or removed. Share confidential records through an agreed channel.
Turn the discussion into an agreed scope
Write down the objective, the entity and period involved, the information already available and the decisions still needed. Ask the proposed engagement team to identify the next information request and the person responsible for each response. Keep technical assumptions separate from verified facts.
Before work starts, confirm the deliverables, review process, fees and exclusions in writing. Ask how additional work will be approved and how confidential documents will be exchanged. This preparation supports an informed proposal; it does not determine the business’s legal or tax position.
Authoritative reference
Consult the relevant authority or reporting-standard source for current requirements. This guide provides preparation steps and does not reproduce the authority’s full rules.
Prepared by DSB Chartered Accountants. Technical positions, calculations, thresholds and filing decisions should be reviewed by the appointed professional for the relevant period.
Discuss the scope with our Accounting and bookkeeping team.