To choose an accountant for a Singapore company, start by listing the work your company actually needs: monthly bookkeeping, GST returns, payroll and CPF, the Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) and Form C-S, financial statements filed with ACRA in XBRL, and possibly an audit. Anyone may keep your books or prepare your tax returns, but only a public accountant registered with ACRA may audit your financial statements. Then compare providers on scope, access to your data, who does the work, and how cleanly you can leave. Get everything agreed in a written engagement letter.
Raffles Corporate Services works with a panel of experienced Singapore law firms who offer cost-effective and efficient legal service and advice. This article is general information only and is not legal advice.
This guide is for founders and directors hiring their first accountant, and for owners who are unhappy with their current one. It does not rank firms or quote fees. It explains what you are buying, who is allowed to do which parts, and how to avoid the problems that most often surface at year end.
What work does a Singapore company actually need done?
Many owners hire “an accountant” without knowing which tasks are included. If you are unsure where bookkeeping ends and accounting begins, our explainer on the difference between bookkeeping and accounting is a useful starting point. The table below sets out the recurring work for a typical small private limited company.
| Work | When | Who may do it |
|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeping and bank reconciliation | Monthly or more often | Anyone, in-house or outsourced |
| GST returns (if GST-registered) | Each accounting period, usually quarterly | Anyone the company authorises |
| Payroll, CPF and IR8A | Monthly, and yearly for IR8A | Anyone the company authorises |
| ECI to IRAS | Within 3 months of financial year end, unless waived | Anyone the company authorises |
| Form C-S, Form C-S (Lite) or Form C | By 30 November each year | Anyone the company authorises |
| Financial statements and XBRL filing with the annual return | Yearly | Anyone, but directors approve the statements |
| Statutory audit (if not exempt) | Yearly | Only an ACRA-registered public accountant |
IRAS confirms the ECI is due within 3 months of the financial year end, with a waiver for companies whose revenue is not more than S$5 million and whose ECI is nil, and that the annual corporate tax return is due by 30 November (IRAS ECI filing). Which of the three return forms applies depends mainly on revenue and the company’s circumstances. ACRA requires most companies to file financial statements in XBRL; a smaller company that is not publicly accountable, with revenue and total assets each not exceeding S$500,000, may file simplified XBRL with a PDF of its statements (ACRA XBRL requirements).
Who is allowed to do what?
The legal line that matters is the audit. ACRA states that auditing and reporting on financial statements is a public accountancy service that requires registration as a public accountant, and that practising without registration is an offence. ACRA also lists bookkeeping, general accounting work, and tax preparation and advice as services that do not need public accountant registration (ACRA public accountant requirements).
In practice this means:
- Your bookkeeper and tax preparer do not need a licence. Their quality varies, so ask about qualifications, experience with companies like yours, and who reviews their work.
- Your auditor must be a registered public accountant practising through a registered accounting entity. If your company needs an audit, confirm this before engaging them.
- Your auditor and your accountant should usually be different people. An auditor reviews the accounts; preparing them and then auditing them raises independence issues that a registered auditor has to manage under professional rules.
- Your company stays responsible. Outsourcing the work does not move the legal duty. The company must keep proper accounting records under the Companies Act 1967, and IRAS requires records to be kept for at least 5 years (IRAS record keeping). Directors sign off the financial statements and answer for late filings.
For how the accountant, tax agent and corporate secretary divide the work around the year end, see how the corporate secretary, accountant and tax agent work together.
In-house, freelance or an accounting firm?
| Option | Suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| In-house bookkeeper or accountant | Companies with daily transaction volume, inventory or many staff claims | Single point of failure; leave and resignations; still need tax and year-end support |
| Freelance bookkeeper | Very small companies with simple transactions | No backup if they are unavailable; records kept on personal devices; limited tax knowledge |
| Accounting or corporate services firm | Most SMEs wanting bookkeeping, GST, payroll, tax and filings under one engagement | Who actually does the work; staff turnover; scope gaps between “bookkeeping” and “year-end” packages |
| Hybrid: in-house bookkeeper plus outside firm | Growing companies | Clear split of who closes the month and who reviews |
How do you compare providers? Seven steps
- Write down your volume. Approximate monthly transactions, bank accounts, currencies, employees and whether you are GST-registered. Quotes based on guesses produce disputes later.
- List the deliverables you need using the table above, including who files and who only prepares.
- Ask who will do the work and who reviews it. A named person and a named reviewer is better than “our team”.
- Ask which accounting software they will use and who owns the subscription. Our guide to cloud accounting software explains what to look for.
- Ask how they access government portals. They should be authorised through Corppass for IRAS and other agencies, not by borrowing a director’s Singpass. Our article on letting others use your company bank account or Singpass explains why sharing log-ins is risky.
- Ask about deadlines. When do they need your documents each month and before year end, and what happens if you are late?
- Read the engagement letter before you pay anything.
What should the engagement letter cover?
- The exact services, with frequency, and what is excluded (for example, audits, GST registration, IRAS queries or back-dated catch-up work)
- What the company must provide and by when
- Who owns the books, the software file and the working papers, and how they are returned when the engagement ends
- How fees are charged for out-of-scope work
- Confidentiality and personal data handling, especially payroll data
- Notice period and a handover obligation on termination
- Who is responsible for filing and for approving each filing
Red flags to watch for
- No written engagement letter, or one that describes the service only as “accounting”
- The provider holds the software subscription in its own name and will not give you administrator access
- Requests for your personal Singpass credentials
- Filings submitted without you seeing the figures first
- Bank reconciliations that are never shown to you, or that carry large unexplained differences
- Reluctance to say who your auditor is, or an offer to both prepare and audit your accounts
- Records released only when an unrelated fee dispute is settled
Switching accountants: a handover checklist
Switching is easiest straight after a financial year end has been filed. If a bookkeeper has already left without a handover, see our guide to recovering records and access after a bookkeeper leaves. Otherwise, ask the outgoing provider for:
- The accounting software file, with administrator rights transferred to a company-controlled account
- Trial balance, general ledger and bank reconciliations to the handover date
- Last filed financial statements, XBRL file, tax computations and IRAS notices of assessment
- GST returns filed and working papers for the open period
- Payroll records, CPF submissions and IR8A files
- Fixed asset register, loan schedules and any capital allowance claims carried forward
- A list of open items: unpaid IRAS balances, pending queries, GIRO arrangements
Then remove the outgoing provider’s Corppass access and software log-ins on the handover date.
Example: A hypothetical three-year-old design company used a freelance bookkeeper who kept the books in a software subscription under her own email. When she stopped replying, the directors had to rebuild nine months of records from bank statements before they could file their ECI. On engaging a new firm, they put the subscription in the company’s name, gave the firm user access only, and wrote the handover obligation into the engagement letter.
Frequently asked questions
Does my accountant need to be qualified?
Not for bookkeeping or tax preparation, which ACRA lists as services not requiring public accountant registration. Only audits require a registered public accountant. Qualifications and supervision still matter, so ask.
Can the same firm do my bookkeeping and my audit?
This creates an independence problem that the auditor must manage under professional rules, and many companies avoid it by using separate firms. Many small private companies qualify for audit exemption under the Companies Act, so check whether your company needs an audit at all.
If my accountant files late, who is penalised?
The company, and in some cases its directors. Outsourcing does not transfer the legal obligation, which is why the engagement letter should set deadlines for both sides.
Who should own the accounting software subscription?
The company. Give your accountant user access. That keeps your records available if the relationship ends.
How long must the records be kept after I switch?
IRAS requires records to be kept for at least 5 years, and changing provider or software does not shorten that. Make sure you can still retrieve old data.
Need help with your company’s accounts?
Raffles Corporate Services provides bookkeeping, GST returns, payroll and CPF, ECI and corporate tax computations, financial statements and XBRL filing for Singapore companies, and coordinates with your auditor where an audit is needed. We also take over from previous providers using a structured handover. Email us at [email protected] or WhatsApp +65 8501 7133 to discuss the scope your company needs.
Kevin Yeo, Raffles Corporate Services