Basic → Advanced
Everything this office does, in the order a business meets it.
A shop opening next month and a company answering a scrutiny notice need different things from an accountant. They are laid out here as four stages rather than as packages, because a business does not choose its stage — it arrives at one.
Getting started
A business that does not exist on paper cannot open a current account, raise a tax invoice or bid for work.
Who is usually at this stageNew proprietors, first-time partners, a shop about to open
The work
- ✓PAN and TAN for the business
- ✓GST registration, and the decision of whether you need one yet
- ✓Udyam (MSME) registration
- ✓Shop and Establishment registration
- ✓Choosing the form — proprietor, partnership, LLP or company — before it is expensive to change
- ✓Opening the books, so the first year is not reconstructed from a carrier bag of bills
Keeping it running
The monthly work. Nothing here is difficult; all of it is dated, and a missed date costs interest and a late fee.
Who is usually at this stageAny registered business, from the month it starts trading
The work
- ✓Bookkeeping — purchases, sales, expenses, bank
- ✓Bank reconciliation, so the books and the statement agree
- ✓GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, and the input credit reconciled against GSTR-2B
- ✓TDS deducted, paid and returned on time
- ✓Payroll, PF and ESIC where they apply
- ✓Professional tax
Closing the year
Twelve months of entries become one set of statements, and those statements are what a bank, a buyer or an officer will read.
Who is usually at this stageEvery business, once a year — and every director and partner personally
The work
- ✓Financial statements — balance sheet, profit and loss, notes
- ✓Income tax returns for the business and for its owners
- ✓Tax audit under section 44AB where turnover requires it
- ✓GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C annual returns
- ✓ROC filings for companies and LLPs
- ✓Statutory, internal and stock audits
Deciding with the numbers
The work that is not a filing. This is where a set of accounts stops being a compliance cost and starts answering a question.
Who is usually at this stageA business raising money, growing, restructuring or being handed on
The work
- ✓Projections and CMA data for a bank or NBFC facility
- ✓Costing and margin analysis — which lines actually earn
- ✓Cash-flow planning, and why a profitable business runs out of money
- ✓Capital structure, partner admission and retirement, succession
- ✓Due diligence, valuation support and scrutiny assessments
- ✓Notices, appeals and departmental representation
You are probably not at one stage.
Most businesses are at two at once — running the monthly returns while closing last year, or closing the year while raising money against it. The stages describe the work, not a queue you have to wait in.
The reason to set it out this way is that the order matters more than most businesses are told. A registration taken in the wrong form is expensive to undo two years later. Books written up monthly make a year-end a close rather than a reconstruction, and a reconstruction is where both the cost and the risk sit. And a projection for a lender is only worth preparing from books somebody trusts — which is the whole argument for the earlier stages being done properly.
Ask before it becomes a deadline
Ring any of the four numbers, or send the notice, the return or the balance sheet on WhatsApp and say what you need done with it.
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