Once the entity exists, someone local has to run the books and the payroll. Choosing that firm well is worth more over three years than almost any decision made during setup, and it is usually made in an afternoon.
Key takeaways
- You are buying assurance, responsiveness and early warning, not bookkeeping, which is close to a commodity.
- Meet the person who will actually handle the account, not only the partner who pitches.
- Ask for the full annual obligations calendar in the first conversation. A firm that cannot produce it is telling you something.
- Confirm e-invoicing platform readiness in any market with a live mandate.
- Agree data ownership and exit terms at the start, while everyone is still enthusiastic.
Setting up abroad is a project. Running the resulting entity is not. It is a monthly obligation that continues for as long as the market does. The firm that handles it will file your statutory accounts, run payroll, manage indirect tax returns, and be the first to notice when a rule changes. Most companies select that firm on price and a recommendation, then discover the difference eighteen months later.
What you are actually buying
Not bookkeeping. Bookkeeping is commodity work and the software is much the same everywhere. What you are buying is three things: the assurance that filings are correct and on time, a person who will tell you when something in the market changes, and a point of contact who responds in a language and a time zone you can work with.
Priced that way, the cheapest quote is frequently the most expensive. Late statutory filings carry penalties and, in some jurisdictions, director liability. A payroll error is a staff-relations problem before it is an accounting one.
Seven things worth testing before you sign
1. Who does the work, and who do you speak to?
Ask for the name and seniority of the person who will actually handle your account, and how many other clients they hold. In smaller firms the partner who pitches is often not the person who files. This is the single question that most predicts the experience.
2. Do they handle payroll themselves?
Many accounting firms subcontract payroll. That is not disqualifying, but you should know it, because it determines who answers when a payment is wrong and how quickly it can be fixed. Ask directly, and ask who holds the data.
3. What is the full obligations calendar?
A good firm can produce, in the first conversation, the list of everything your entity must file in a year with its deadline: statutory accounts, corporate tax return, indirect tax returns, payroll filings, annual confirmations, any local register updates. A firm that cannot is telling you something.
4. Are they ready for the local e-invoicing regime?
This is the question that has separated current firms from complacent ones since 2026. Belgium has required structured invoices over the Peppol network since January, Poland's KSeF clearance platform has been phasing in since February, and France begins on 1 September. Ask which network or platform they operate through, whether they have clients already live on it, and what they need from your systems. The country-by-country deadlines are worth having in front of you for that conversation.
5. How do they escalate, and in what language?
Establish the working language for both routine correspondence and formal documents. These are often not the same, since statutory filings are usually in the local language. Then establish the response commitment, and what happens when something is urgent and your contact is on leave.
6. How does the data move?
Which accounting system, who holds the licence, and, most importantly, what happens to your data if you leave. A partner who works inside a system you own is a very different proposition from one whose ledger you would have to reconstruct on exit. Agree the exit terms while everyone is enthusiastic.
7. What do they charge for the things not in the quote?
Fixed monthly fees usually cover a defined transaction volume and a standard set of filings. Ask what falls outside: additional entities, audit support, ad hoc advisory, a tax authority query, an unusual transaction. This is where quotes that looked comparable stop being comparable.
Two structural checks
Independence. If the same firm audits and prepares your accounts, check whether local rules permit it and whether it creates a problem for future investors or acquirers.
Continuity. Ask how long their average client relationship runs, and what happened the last time a client's assigned accountant left. Turnover inside a small firm is felt immediately.
Why we do not do this work ourselves
We are often asked why Nexus Notabu does not simply run the ongoing accounting and payroll in-house. The honest answer is that doing it well requires people who work in the market every day, under its rules, in its language, and on its filing platforms. A firm that claims to do that in fifty countries is claiming something implausible.
So we do the part that genuinely benefits from a single owner: strategy, structure, incorporation, registrations, hiring and workspace. Then we hand the ongoing work to firms we have already vetted in that market. You inherit a relationship we have tested rather than a search you have to run yourself, in a jurisdiction you do not know, at the point when you are busiest.
The short version
- Buy assurance and responsiveness, not the lowest monthly fee.
- Meet the person who will do the work, not only the person selling it.
- Get the full obligations calendar in writing before you sign.
- Check e-invoicing readiness in any market with a live mandate.
- Agree the exit terms and data ownership at the start.
- Select the firm during incorporation, not after the first deadline.
Frequently asked questions
What should a local accounting partner cost?
Fixed monthly fees usually cover a defined transaction volume and a standard set of filings. The more useful comparison is what sits outside the quote: audit support, ad hoc advisory, tax authority queries and additional entities are where apparently similar quotes diverge.
Should the same firm do accounting and payroll?
Not necessarily, but you should know which model you are buying. Many accounting firms subcontract payroll, which affects who is answerable when a payment is wrong and how quickly it can be corrected.
What happens to our data if we change provider?
That depends entirely on what you agreed at the start. Ask which system is used, who holds the licence, and what is handed back on exit. A partner working inside a system you own is much easier to leave than one whose ledger you would have to reconstruct.
Sources
Primary sources for the rules described above. Regulatory dates change; check the source before acting on anything here.
Written by the Nexus Notabu team. If this raises a question about a market you are considering, tell us where you want to grow.