Audit and Accounting: The Difference
Two functions that cannot be combined
Go to the Statutory Audit serviceChecked against the official source:
Accounting and audit are connected but play opposite roles: the first produces the financial statements, the second checks them. This leads to the key practical consequence — the two functions cannot be combined within one organisation.
What the accountant does
Records transactions, calculates taxes, and prepares and files the reporting. The accountant works continuously, either inside the company or serving it under a contract, and is responsible for the correctness of the data itself.
What the auditor does
Examines financial statements that have already been prepared and expresses an opinion on their reliability. The auditor works periodically, must be independent of the audited company, and is responsible for the soundness of the opinion rather than for the accounting itself.
Why combining them is prohibited
An auditor who keeps a company's books would be checking the result of their own work — by definition there is no independence in that case. The independence requirements are set by Article 34 of the Law on Auditing Activity (ZRU-677), and breaching them devalues the audit report.
The practical conclusion for a company is simple: the firm that keeps your books cannot carry out your statutory audit. These services are ordered from different providers.
Comparison
- Purpose: accounting — to produce information and financial statements; audit — to establish the reliability of the statements (Art. 32 of ZRU-677).
- Performer: accounting — the company's accounting department or an outsourcing provider; audit — an audit firm listed in the Register (Art. 27).
- Output: accounting — financial statements; audit — the auditor's report (Art. 39).
- Regulation: the Law on Accounting and the accounting standards; the Law on Auditing Activity and the ISAs (Art. 9).
What may not be combined
An audit firm may keep and restore accounting records and prepare financial statements as a related service (Art. 33), but in that case it may not audit the same client for the same period (Art. 34). In practice: if a firm restored your accounting for 2025, the 2025 audit must be performed by another firm.
Separate the functions correctly
We will advise on how to organise the work without conflicting with the independence requirements.
Go to the Statutory Audit serviceFrequently asked questions
Our accounting is handled by an audit company — can it audit us?
No, not if it also keeps your books. In that case the statutory audit must be performed by a different audit firm.
Can an audit firm provide bookkeeping?
Yes, as a related service (Art. 33), but then it is not entitled to audit that same period (Art. 34).
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