Send end-of-year accounts to a client for approval

This article explains the process of sending end-of-year accounts to a client for approval and then submitting them to Companies House and HMRC once the client has approved them.

Practice users with an Admin role can set up default settings for the practice to control whether end-of-year accounts submissions will require approvals from clients with level 7 or 8 access to their FreeAgent accounts. Approvals can also be turned on for MTD for Income Tax and VAT submissions. Read how to send an MTD for Income Tax and VAT submission to a client for approval.

These settings will be applied to all clients, including those that are linked to the dashboard. However, they can be changed for individual clients.

Send end-of-year accounts for approval

If approvals are turned on for end-of-year accounts, select ‘Switch to’ next to the relevant client to access their account.

Within your client’s account, navigate to the ‘Accounting’ tab at the top of the screen and select ‘End of Year’ from the drop-down menu.

Navigate to the year in question and select ‘Enable approvals’ in the top-right.

Choose whether you’d like to ‘Enable approvals and send email notifications’ or ‘Just enable approvals’.

If you choose to send an email, a default message will appear in the ‘Message’ field but you can edit this text if you wish. Enter your signature in the ‘Accountant’s report signed by’ field, if applicable, and select ‘Enable and send’ to complete the process.

If you chose to send an email, the client will receive an email with a link to log in to their account to approve and sign the accounts. If you chose to just enable approvals, the client can go to the End of Year area within their account to approve and sign the accounts.

Once the client has approved the submissions, you can file their end-of-year Final Accounts and Corporation Tax returns.