The balance sheet date is months back, the accounts are not prepared, and the bank, the investor or the Federal Office of Justice are asking. We provide the specialists who clear the backlog – and make sure the current month does not pile up while they do.
Bookkeeping is behind, accounts are unreconciled, the tax adviser is waiting for inputs, or the person who used to prepare the accounts is gone. At the same time a deadline is running: the preparation deadline under the German Commercial Code (HGB), a loan agreement demanding audited figures, a funding round with an empty data room, or the disclosure procedure with an administrative fine pending.
The most common mistake at this point: the existing team works off the backlog and creates a new one, because the current month is left lying.
First the stocktake: which periods and accounts are open, which documents are missing, which valuation questions are unresolved, which deadline is the hard one? From that, a work plan with a realistic duration emerges in the first week – instead of a hope.
Then two separate tracks: an interim financial accountant works off the backlog in defined packages – bank reconciliation, receivables, payables, clearing accounts, closing entries – while the internal team keeps the current month going. Where valuation or priority decisions are missing, a head of finance or interim CFO takes over closing leadership and coordination with tax adviser and auditor.
At the end stands not only the completed accounts but a closing calendar, so that it does not get this far again next year.
Record open periods, accounts, documents and reconciliations per entity. Process a sample, extrapolate the effort, determine the hard deadline. Result: work plan with duration and roles.
Work packages by account and period, day-to-day operations staffed separately. Missing documents are requested, open valuation questions are kept in a decision list.
Account documentation, accruals, provisions, fixed asset schedule. Delivery to tax adviser or auditor in the form expected there. If an audit is required: preparation for the auditor's questions.
Closing calendar with fixed delivery dates, ongoing account reconciliation, handover to the internal team. The aim is a monthly close from which the next annual accounts emerge without a rescue operation.
For an entity with clean ongoing bookkeeping, in four to eight weeks. With unresolved prior periods, missing documents or several entities, correspondingly longer – the stocktake in the first week delivers a reliable range.
Small corporations must prepare their annual accounts within six months of the balance sheet date, medium-sized and large ones within three months. Disclosure is due at the latest twelve months after the balance sheet date; after that the Federal Office of Justice imposes administrative fines.
It depends on the cause. If documents and approvals are available and only capacity is missing, interim financial accounting is enough. If valuation questions are open, prior periods unclear or nobody is accountable, a leadership role is needed on top.
Financial accounting EUR 850 per day, head of finance EUR 1,300, interim CFO EUR 1,400 to 2,500. Three days of accounting a week over three months comes to around EUR 33,000 – far less than an administrative fine plus a lost bank meeting.
No. The tax adviser continues to prepare or review the accounts and the tax returns. We deliver the reconciled bookkeeping they need for that – and accelerate exactly the part where things usually get stuck.
Through a closing calendar with fixed delivery dates and ongoing account reconciliation instead of a year-end scramble. That belongs in the final weeks of the mandate.
The service: Interim bookkeeping. If closing leadership is missing as well, see Head of Finance on a fixed term; day rates by role are on the pricing page.
Related articles: Closing backlog and fast close and The first statutory audit in Germany.
Related situations: Interim bookkeeping or tax adviser? and 13-week cash flow forecast.
All triggers for an interim CFO engagement at a glance: triggers overview.