At year end, an accountant takes your records for the closed period and turns them into finished accounts and tax filings. The work runs in a fixed sequence: review the records, resolve queries, make accounting adjustments, prepare the accounts, calculate the tax, get your approval, then file. Knowing the sequence explains both what you are paying for and why the state of your records decides how long it all takes.

Step one: reviewing and reconciling your records

The accountant starts by testing whether the records are complete. Bank balances are agreed to statements, the VAT account is checked if you are registered, payroll totals are matched to the payroll reports, and the year’s transactions are scanned for anything odd: duplicates, mispostings, personal items, round-sum surprises.

This stage generates the queries. Every unexplained transaction becomes an email to you, and every slow answer stretches the timetable. The practical way to shorten it is to prepare before the accountant starts, which is exactly what the year-end checklist for small businesses is for, alongside the full list of what an accountant needs from you.

Step two: the adjustments that bookkeeping does not capture

Day-to-day bookkeeping records transactions. Accounts describe a financial position, and getting from one to the other needs adjustments the software does not make by itself:

  • Accruals and prepayments: costs belonging to this year but billed in another, and payments made this year for things that belong to the next
  • Depreciation: spreading the cost of equipment and vehicles over their useful life
  • Stock and work in progress: valuing what you held at the year-end date
  • Debtor review: recognising amounts genuinely unlikely to be collected
  • Director’s loan accounts: confirming what the company and its directors owed each other, which carries tax consequences if wrong

These judgements are a large part of why year-end accounts are an accountant’s job rather than a printout.

Step three: preparing the accounts

With the numbers settled, the accounts are assembled. For a limited company that means statutory accounts in the format the rules require (GOV.UK sets out the framework), ready for Companies House and for the tax computation. For a sole trader it means the finalised figures that feed the Self Assessment return. If you receive management accounts during the year, note that these year-end accounts are a different, formal document; the distinction is explained in annual accounts and management accounts.

A careful accountant also reads the finished accounts before sending them to you: do the margins make sense against last year, does anything look wrong, is there something the numbers are trying to say? That read-through catches errors and occasionally catches opportunities.

Step four: calculating the tax

The accounts feed the tax work. For a company, that is the Corporation Tax computation and the Company Tax Return; for a sole trader, the business figures within Self Assessment. The accountant applies the reliefs and allowances the business is entitled to, checks the treatment of anything unusual from the year, and tells you what is owed and when. Current deadlines and thresholds are on GOV.UK. The accountant’s job is making sure your filings land inside them with figures you can stand behind.

Step five: approval and filing

Nothing is filed without you. The accountant sends the accounts and returns with an explanation of the numbers, answers your questions, and files once you approve. For a company that typically means filings to both Companies House and HMRC on their separate timetables; for a sole trader, the Self Assessment return. You then receive confirmation and a note of any payments due.

What a good accountant adds beyond the mechanics

Year end is also the natural annual conversation. The accounts are fresh, the full year is visible, and questions surface: is the structure still right, did margins move, what should change next year, is there planning worth doing before the next year end rather than after it? Firms that skip this conversation are doing the compliance and leaving the value. Where year end fits in the whole relationship is set out in what an accountant does for a small business.

Frequently asked questions

How long does year-end work take?

Elapsed time depends mostly on record quality and how quickly queries are answered. Clean records with prompt answers can be turned around in a short cycle; a year of unreconciled entries takes much longer. The accountant’s active working time is usually a small fraction of the calendar time, so it is worth checking your own records against the bookkeeping problems that most often delay year end.

When should I send my records in?

Soon after the year-end date. Early submission means you learn your tax position early (useful for cash planning) and there is slack in the timetable if anything is missing. Leaving it late removes every margin for error.

Do I need to do anything before my year-end date itself?

Ideally, yes. Some decisions only help if taken before the date, and stock needs counting on it. A short pre-year-end conversation with your accountant is the cheapest planning meeting of the year.

What gets filed, and where?

For a limited company: accounts to Companies House, and the Company Tax Return with accounts to HMRC. For a sole trader: the Self Assessment return to HMRC. Requirements and deadlines are on GOV.UK.

Can my accountant file without my approval?

No. You approve the accounts and returns before submission. The figures are yours and the legal responsibility for them stays with you, which is why the walkthrough of the numbers matters. Ask about anything you do not understand; a good accountant expects the questions.

How we can help

Our company accounts service runs this whole sequence, from review and adjustments through to accounts, tax and filing, with a clear request list at the start and a proper conversation at the end. Request a quote to get your next year end handled this way.