Filing every month doesn't mean you're protected.
It means you're on record.

Philippine corporations are legally required to file audited financial statements annually with the SEC, prepared and signed by an independent CPA. They must also maintain BIR-registered books of accounts, file all applicable BIR tax returns on schedule, and register any accounting systems under the BIR's CAS protocol. The AFS must be signed by an external CPA. An in-house accountant cannot sign it. A accounting firm is not optional for incorporated businesses. It is a legal requirement.

Notify your outgoing firm in writing and request the handover of your engagement letter, all filed returns with acknowledgment receipts, copies of your BIR-registered books, prior-year audited financial statements, and any open BIR correspondence. Our onboarding review, included in the first month, is specifically designed to surface any historical exposures before they become our problem too. Most business owners switch because something went wrong. Our first job is finding out exactly what.

Yes. We handle monthly employee withholding tax (BIR Form 1601-C), expanded withholding on professional fees (1601-EQ, quarterly), BIR Form 2316 for all employees annually, and the annual information return (1604-C). Payroll tax mismatches are one of the most common triggers for BIR discrepancy notices: the BIR cross-references what employees declare with what employers remit. A accounting firm reviewing your payroll structure annually catches these before they become a multi-year exposure.

For a well-organized business with clean books, AFS preparation typically takes 2–4 weeks from the date year-end records are submitted. For businesses with incomplete records or multi-entity structures, 6–8 weeks. The SEC deadline for annual AFS submission is 120 days after fiscal year end. Businesses that wait until the last 30 days consistently face rushed work and higher error risk. Engage your accounting firm in the first month of your new fiscal year.

Bookkeeping is the systematic recording of financial transactions: encoding receipts, tracking invoices, reconciling bank statements. It is a data function. Accounting (what a licensed accounting firm performs) is the interpretation, classification, and legal certification of that data. In the Philippines, bookkeepers are not licensed. CPAs hold a PRC license and are legally accountable for the work they sign. For any business that files taxes or holds a corporate registration, that distinction determines who can stand between you and the BIR.