Guideline for expert accountants

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The Expert platform by Accountable is designed exclusively for accountants, providing a secure and efficient way to manage fiduciary organizations and client data. Accountants can access client documents, edit and customize client entries, and validate documents to lock them for clients. The platform also enables accountants to export key documents, submit VAT declarations, and manage their clients' tax filings all in one place. This streamlined process simplifies preparing and submitting filings on behalf of clients, including VAT returns (XML file) and client listings.

1. Step-by-Step Guide – Assigning Seats in Accountable for Accountants

With Accountable for Accountants, you can easily assign seats (licenses) to your clients.

🎟️ Assign a seat:

1️⃣ Go to Client List
2️⃣ Search for the client you want to upgrade (must be on the Free plan and share access with you)
3️⃣ Click on Upgrade
4️⃣ A window will open → client selected
5️⃣ Click on Assign
✅ Seat assigned!
📧 Admin + client will receive a confirmation by email

🎟️ Assigning Multiple Seats:

Option 1 – Via Client List

1️⃣ Go to Client List
2️⃣ Select the clients you want to upgrade (or use the Free filter)
3️⃣ Click on Assign Seats
4️⃣ Confirm with Assign (or purchase extra seats if needed)
5️⃣ See assigned clients in Seat Management
📧 Admin + clients will receive a confirmation via email

Option 2 – Via Settings
​

1️⃣ Go to Settings > Seat Management
2️⃣ Click on Assign Seats
3️⃣ Search for the client (Free plan + access shared)
4️⃣ Optionally, add extra clients
5️⃣ Click on Assign
6️⃣ See assigned clients in Seat Management
📧 Admin + clients will receive a confirmation via email

2. How to get access to your client's account 📥

Accountable’s Expert platform allows you to access and manage your clients’ accounts. You can either be granted access directly by your client or send them a request to connect. Here’s how to get started:

2.1. Client sends you an invitation ✉️

To access your client’s account, they first need to send you an invitation. This will be done via the email address you provide to them, which you'll use every time you need to access their account.

Here’s how your client can send the invitation:

Step 1: Your client needs to go to Settings → “Data access” and click on “Give access” to someone.

Step 2: They should enter your email address (the one you’ll use to access their account).

Step 3: As an accountant, you’ll receive an email with an invitation. Click the link in the email and enter your details to create your expert account.

Step 4: After creating your expert account, go to expert.accountable.eu and log in using the same email address you registered with.

Step 5: You’ll receive a magic link via email. Once you click on it, you'll have direct access to your client’s account.

2.3. How to register on Expert

If you'd like to register for Expert Accountable without being invited by a client, simply visit expert.accountable.eu and click on Sign Up.

Next, fill in your details and click on Create Account to complete the registration process.

2.4. Invite clients yourself ➕

In case you want to invite your client first, you can simply do this by clicking on "Add your clients to Accountable". Enter their email and send the invitation.

2.5. How to invite colleagues to the client’s account 👥

To allow your colleagues to access your clients' accounts, follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to Settings.

Step 2: Go to Members and invite your colleague.

1.6. How to remove clients?

In case you want to delete a client or remove access to their account, simply click on the three dots and select Remove access.

3. How to manage your client's expenses 💸

As an expert accountant, you have the ability to manage and validate your client’s expenses. Here’s how to do it step by step:

3.1. Uploading expenses 📤

To upload expenses on your client’s behalf:

• Click on Upload expenses.

• Then, click on Select a file and choose one or more expenses to upload.

3.2. Creating manual expenses or credit notes 📝

If you need to create an expense manually or a credit note:

• Click on the three dots (options menu) to create an expense or credit note manually.

3.3. Viewing the expense dashboard 📊

For a complete overview of your client’s expenses:

• Click on the chart icon to access the dashboard.

• This will give you a full overview of all expenses categorized by suppliers and categories.

3.4. Viewing deductible costs and quarterly overview 💼

On the left side of the page:

• You’ll find an overview of deductible costs for the current year.

• Next to it, you will see the amount related to the current quarter.

3.5. Filtering expenses 🔍

To filter expenses by different criteria:

• Click on the filter icon to select from various filter options, helping you sort expenses based on your needs.

3.6. Changing Tax and VAT Deductibility ⚙️

Accountable automatically sets deductible percentages for each category.

However, if you'd like to customize these percentages, you can easily adjust them by scrolling down a bit and filling in the percentage you would like.

3.6. Validating expenses ✅

After reviewing the expenses your client has entered:

You can either save and validate it, or save it without validating it.

• ⚠️ Once validated, your client will no longer be able to change the expenses.

• This is how the invoice looks on your client's account after it is validated.

• The lock icon appears on both the expert platform and the client’s interface.

3.7. How to link a payment to your expense?

You can link a payment in two ways:

• From the bank screen: Find the transaction and link it directly to the matching expense.

• From the expense itself: After adding the expense, scroll down and click on "How was this expense paid?" Then select the matching transaction with the same amount.

4. How to manage your client's revenue 💰

4.1. Create revenue invoice 🧾

-> To create revenue invoices on your client’s behalf, follow these steps:

• Click on “Create invoice”.

• From there, you can add a client.

• Either choose an existing client or create a new one.

-> When adding an item to the revenue invoice, you need to:

• Add a name to the item.

• Optionally, add a description.

• Select the right category and add the price.

• There is also an option to select from the price list, where you have everything set up, including the name, category, and price.

-> After the invoice is done, you have various options:

• Save the invoice and send it to the client.

• Save it and quit, etc.

-> Save & prepare to send

• Once the invoice is ready you can click on save & prepare to send

• In order to send the invoice through Peppol, you need to click on "Send invoice via Peppol" to activate it.

• The same applies if you want to send the invoice via email. However, you need to ensure that the client’s email is entered.

-> Save & quit

• In case you just want to save the invoice but not send it yet, you can simply click on Save & quit.

-> Status: not sent!

• If the revenue invoice is marked as not sent, it means it is a draft invoice and won't be considered in your client’s revenue.

• If the invoice was sent via external email, you can simply mark it as sent by clicking on the tick icon ✅.

• Alternatively, you can click on the email emoji 📧 to send it directly to the client.

-> The revenue invoice can also be linked to the payment afterward.

• To do this, you need to click on the revenue invoice.

-> You also have the option for “Quote” where you can create quotes before generating an invoice and send it to your client.

• Once the quote is accepted, you can click on “Make it an invoice” to automatically create an invoice from it.

-> As with expenses, once you click on the three dots, you have the option to:

• Import invoice

• Create credit note

• Import credit note

• Add a non-invoice revenue (ticket)

• Create a quote

• Schedule a recurring invoice

→ Adding a non-invoice revenue:

• You can use this feature if you make over-the-counter sales without invoices. Examples include a doctor or physiotherapist recording revenue, or a small shop owner recording a sale. For this type of sale, the name and address of your client’s client are not required. This feature applies to revenue under 250 euros, except when it’s for a daily receipt book.

• You can also use this feature to add entries from your client's daily receipt book.

• For the necessary steps on how to add this, you can follow the instructions provided in this link.

4.2. Viewing the revenue dashboard 📈

For a complete overview of your client’s revenue:

• Click on the chart icon to access the dashboard.

4.3. Viewing total revenue and quarterly overview 📆

On the left side of the page, you will see:

• An overview of total revenue excluding VAT for the current year.

• Next to it, you will see the amount related to the current quarter.

4.4. Filtering revenue 🔎

To filter revenue by different criteria:

• Click on the filter icon to choose from various filter options, helping you sort revenue based on your needs.

4.5. Managing and editing clients 👤

To manage and edit clients:

• Go to “Clients”.

• You can either search for existing clients or click on “Add a new client” to add a new one.

-> When adding a client, there are 3 types of clients that need to be added correctly:

• Business or Organisation: For every company, self-employed person, or organisation.

• Private individuals or organisations without a VAT number.

• Diplomat or diplomatic organisation.

4.6. Managing the price list 💼

To manage the price list:

• Go to “Price list”.

• From there, you can access the existing price lists, edit them, or add a new price list.

5. Overview of the taxes page 🧾

The Taxes page gives you a full overview of all tax obligations for the selected year.

5.1. Navigating between years 📅

• At the top of the page, you can select the year you want to view.

• Once a quarter is closed and submitted, it may no longer be visible by default.

• To view all previous quarters, click on “Show all 20xx” in the top-right corner.

• This will make all past quarters visible again.

5.2. Deadlines 🕒

• Each tax obligation displays a due date to show when the deadline closes.

5.3. Downloading the XML file 💻

• If you want to download the XML file, follow the step-by-step guide linked in the article.

5.4. Managing social contributions 👛

• You can manage social contributions directly from this page.

• When the quarterly amount needs to be adjusted, you can update it here.

5.5. Managing income tax prepayments 💳

• If the estimated amount isn’t accurate, you can adjust it at any time by clicking “Change”.

5.6. Managing client listing ⚙️

• You can find the client listing for all your clients who are required to submit one in the taxes screen of the relevant year.

5.7. Managing intracom listing ⚙️

• You can find the intercom listing for all your clients who are required to submit one in the taxes screen of the relevant quarter.

5.8. Managing special VAT return ⚙️

• For franchisee or VAT-exempt clients, you can find their special VAT return in the taxes screen of the relevant quarter.

5.9. Accessing tax settings ⚙️

• Click the settings icon to open the tax settings page.

  

• From here, you can adjust:

  • Profit estimation

  • The number you want to see on the tax list

  • The year from which to start calculating taxes

  • Your VAT type

  • Tax prepayment settings

5.10. Profit estimation impact 📊

• Choosing the profit estimate for your client is important, as there are different ways of choosing the profit estimation.

• Each choice will have a different impact on your client's social contribution and tax prepayments in Accountable, either higher or lower depending on the option selected.

• This also impacts the tax banner on the taxes page, showing the tax profit for the current year and the full-year income tax based on your profit input.

• The same applies to the bank screen banner, which also impacts the cash availability.

5.11. Profit & Loss overview 📊

• Click the chart icon to view a summary of your client’s yearly profit and loss.

5.12. Manual entries ✍️

• You can manually correct or add entries, whether they are revenue or expenses.

6. Overview of the Bank page 🏦

• On this page, you can view all bank transactions linked to your client’s account.

• Each transaction can be:

  • Linked to an existing revenue or expense invoice.

  • Categorized manually under a suitable category (e.g., VAT payment, VAT return, etc.).

7. Managing the Amortisation table 🧮

• From here, you can access your client’s amortisation table.

  

• By clicking on an asset, you can mark it as:

  • Broken or lost

  • Sold

• Via the three dots, you can:

  • View the linked expense

  • Delete the asset if needed

8. Exporting documents 📁

• Click on “More” → “Export your data” to download your client’s data.

• You can choose from different export options and select a specific period.

• To export documents based on quarterly linkage, this must be done via the VAT return page.

9.How to download and understand the Profit & Loss (P&L) report:

• The Profit & Loss (P&L) report is a crucial tool for accountants, especially when processing income tax declarations for clients. It provides a clear overview of your client's financial performance over a specific period, detailing income, expenses, and profit.

• To download the P&L, simply click on “More” → “Export your data” to download your client’s P&L. Don’t forget to add the needed period before exporting!

• The Excel file provides a detailed breakdown of the financial data, making it easier to analyse and prepare the necessary documentation for tax filings.

Link to article explaining how to read the P&L

10. Access to Settings 🔧

In case you need to have an overview or want to adjust your client's settings in Accountable, here’s how to access it:

-> Go to Account → Customer details. From here, you can access:

• Personal details

• Tax settings

• Peppol

• Added vehicles, where you can also add a new vehicle.

• Make sure to select the correct VAT deductibility for your client's car. Choosing the right percentage will automatically apply the calculation to future invoices related to that car.

Helpful articles:

I'm franchisee but selected subjected to VAT in Accountable – What now?

I'm subjected to VAT but selected Franchisee in Accountable – What now?

How do I submit my VAT return with Accountable?

How and when to submit the intra-EU client listing ?

How do I submit a special VAT return or a declaration 629?

When and how do I create an annual client listing?

Selecting the wrong company type? Here’s what to do

🇧🇪 How to submit and pay my yearly income tax?

Author - Valesca Wilms

As content marketing lead at Accountable Belgium, Valesca writes about freelancing, self-employment, and taxes based on her own experience as a freelancer.

Who is Valesca ?