Accountable launches in Germany

It is now official: this week, Accountable launches in Germany. We have always envisioned Accountable as a European champion, with strong roots in Belgium. This is a necessity if we are to help the largest number of self-employed professionals optimize their taxes, at a competitive price. In that regard, expansion to the largest European economy was only a matter of time. Going abroad in our second year aligns with this mission we set ourselves. We are extremely enthusiastic about being able to help more of the European self-employed today, hard hit by the current crisis.

Why now?

Our solution had achieved the milestones that we had set as conditions for further expansion. Our users receive personalized tax tips and have their VAT returns generated automatically, they can connect their bank account, and... we are now gradually rolling out Accountable Web. In the last weeks, working remotely has not been a constraint on the team's productivity, on the contrary. On the product's side, the road was wide open. All these achievements in Belgium were prerequisites to even talking about expansion. We also feel that the features we bet on from the onset, such as digitalization and intuitive view on cash available, prove especially relevant in this unexpected and challenging context. We pushed for expansion as we saw, in the last months and strikingly during the lockdown, that our value proposition of reducing costs & optimizing taxes had gained strong, increasing, traction in Belgium. In 2019, our user base consistently doubled every quarter and is now representative of the language and professions’ breakdown observed among the self-employed in Belgium.

Why Germany?

Of course, the size of the German market makes local expansion extremely attractive: 5 times the size of Belgium, backed by a strong economy. Secondly, German self-employed professionals present strong similarities with their Belgian counterparts in terms of professions, levels of income, and needs. They may claim they have the most complex tax system. We can now tell you it's not the case: Belgium wins this battle. Last but not least, Accountable closed the loop earlier this year with the hiring of Tino Keller, as Managing Director for Germany. His strong entrepreneurial background and his unmatched fit with our company culture alone would justify going to Germany...

What's next?

We will naturally be looking at replicating the best practices in place in Belgium: we build further the product together with a loyal user base and quickly develop a strong network of local partner accountants and tax advisors. As demand grows in Germany, we will make sure we grow the local team accordingly, starting with the functions that require a deep understanding of the German market. Product development is meant to stay primarily in Belgium.   We could not wait to share this news with you: we are extremely excited by what the future offers us. Onward & forward, Nicolas, on behalf of the entire team