Index02 · Method

Five movements,
one date.

The whole method exists to protect a single promise: that the books close on an agreed day and everything downstream can be planned around it.

01Week 1

Inspection

We read your books, your SARS profile and your CIPC record before we say a word about any of them.

A structured review of the existing ledger, chart of accounts, software and source documents, alongside your eFiling profile and CIPC status. You receive a written findings note listing what is wrong, what is merely untidy, what is fine, and what each costs to put right — including any returns outstanding and any penalties already raised.

Ledger review
SARS and CIPC status
Findings note
Fixed quote

02Weeks 2 – 6

Reconstruction

Backlogs cleared, returns brought up to date, the chart of accounts rebuilt around your trade.

Historic periods are reconstructed and reconciled, opening balances restated, and outstanding VAT201, EMP201 and annual returns brought current. Where filed numbers were wrong we quantify the difference and set out the options with you. The account structure is redesigned so future reporting answers your questions rather than a generic template.

Backlog cleared
Returns brought current
Accounts redesigned

03Every month

The Close

A fixed close date, held. Day six unless we agree otherwise.

Transactions allocated, banks and control accounts reconciled, accruals and provisions posted, and the period locked. Open questions arrive as a single consolidated list, never as a drip of individual messages through your week. The reporting pack follows within forty-eight hours, with every material variance explained in writing.

Day-six close
One question list
Pack within 48h

04To the statutory calendar

The Submissions

EMP201 by the seventh. VAT201 by the last business day. Nothing filed late.

Every return is prepared from a closed ledger and reconciled before it is submitted — never assembled against the deadline. You get the payment reference and the amount ahead of the due date rather than on it, and the supporting pack is already built in case a refund is selected for verification.

EMP201 by the 7th
VAT201 by month-end
CIPC by anniversary

05Quarterly

The Review

The conversation the numbers have been asking for.

Forecast against actual, pricing and margin, cost structure, cash position and the decisions ahead. Provisional tax exposure is looked at well before August and February rather than in the week they fall due. Every session ends with a written follow-up listing what was agreed and who owns it.

Forecast vs actual
Provisional tax planned
Decisions logged

The statutory calendar

What we file, and when

7thEvery monthEMP201PAYE, UIF and SDL declaration and payment

Last business dayEvery 2nd monthVAT201Category A and B vendors, on eFiling

Last business dayEvery monthVAT201Category C — taxable supplies over R30 million

31 AugAnnuallyIRP6First provisional tax estimate

31 OctAnnuallyEMP501Interim reconciliation, March to August

End FebAnnuallyIRP6Second provisional tax estimate

31 MayAnnuallyEMP501Annual reconciliation, plus IRP5 and IT3(a) certificates

31 MayAnnuallyW.As.8COIDA return of earnings

30 business daysAfter anniversaryCIPC ARAnnual return and beneficial ownership

12 monthsAfter year endITR14Company income tax return

Dates shift when they fall on a weekend or public holiday, and SARS occasionally extends a filing season. This is our working calendar, not a statement of law — yours is confirmed in the engagement letter.

Four principles

Held without exception

A ledger is a narrative

Books are not a compliance chore. Read properly, they are the most honest account of what a business has actually been doing — which is why we refuse to leave them ambiguous.

Never guess an entry

An uncertain transaction goes on the questions list. It does not go into a plausible-looking account because a return is due on Friday. Guesswork compounds, and it compounds fastest inside a VAT control account.

III

The date is the promise

A close date that moves is not a close date. Ours is agreed at the outset and held, because the seventh and the last business day do not move for anybody.

Plain language, always

If a variance cannot be explained in a sentence to someone who has never seen a trial balance, it has not been understood yet — by us.

What is asked of you

The most common worry we hear is that changing bookkeeper means weeks of the owner's time. It does not. The standing commitment after onboarding is under an hour a month.

01One ninety-minute inspection call at the start
02Read-only bank access, your accounting software, and us added as a user on your SARS eFiling profile
03Answering one consolidated questions list per close
04Approving the prepared payment run, if we run one
05Reading the pack. Ideally on the day it lands

A person signing a stack of documents at a desk — Engagement letter

It begins with someone reading your books.

Book an inspection

Five movements,one date.