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Last year, the international standards for small and medium-sized entities were updated. These standards also form the basis for Estonian accounting guidelines. Local rules will soon change as well. The most significant amendment relates to the accounting treatment of returned goods.

New unique artificial intelligence–based assistants are now available to everyone on the Grant Thornton Baltic Estonia website. These tools help accountants, CFOs, auditors and other interested parties navigate the field of accounting more effectively.

At the beginning of 2025, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) adopted an updated consolidated text of the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs). The updated IFRS for SMEs therefore necessitates a review and update of the EFS and the RTJ guidelines.

When closing a financial year, it can turn out that a company’s equity (net assets) does not meet the requirements set forth in legislation and so the equity must be brought into conformity with the law. Often auditors and lawyers receive queries about these topics, but their perspectives can sometimes vary.

Companies’ credit agreements generally contain customer-specific conditions called covenants. December is the last chance to check whether the company is indeed in compliance with these covenants, especially considering how companies’ financial results have been impacted by the current ultra-rapid economic growth, rising prices and supply chain problems.

According to the registrar's statistics, 95% of companies registered in Estonia have chosen a financial year that runs from 1 January to 31 December. However, a company’s fiscal year should reflect the cycle of the company’s operating activity and year-end procedures should be conducted at a time when volumes of activity are lowest.

When outsourcing accounting services, you can be sure that the work won't be left undone in case the accountant falls ill or goes on vacation.

Companies are running out of time to start this year’s ESG report process – in fact, a business starting today might not make it in time. “That doesn’t mean they should just forgo submitting a report. It’s worth making the effort and getting at least half of it done,” said Grant Thornton Baltic partner and Head of Audit and Assurance Services Mart Nõmper.

A long-awaited legislative amendment has finally arrived: the thresholds for audit and review obligation will rise by 25%.

How has the auditors’ market changed and why is it hard to find sufficiently qualified specialists? What sorts of trends will global competition, workforce shortage and sustainability reporting requirements bring about?

Business operators are hard-pressed to find an auditor to go over their annual report, since there are fewer and fewer auditors every year, but the amount of work just keeps on growing. The worsening quality of the work done by auditing companies is also a concern.

There’s consensus among business people who are required to order an audit, review or other audit engagement: it is hard to find an auditor and the prices of audit services have risen significantly.

It is currently a golden era for fraud but harm caused by bad actors is preventable if you regularly perform checks on business partners and clients and keep alert to specific warning signs, panellists on the Äripäev business daily radio programme “Kasvukursil” said.

In an era when new and profitable opportunities keep on presenting themselves for investing and many of these are not supervised by Financial Supervision Authority or other regulator, be on the lookout for specific red flags in order to prevent fraud.

An increasing number of companies in Estonia cross the threshold of turnover and balance sheet volume that requires them to order an audit or financial review of their 2021 annual report. On the other hand, the number of auditing companies has decreased compared to last year. How to cope with a situation with fewer service providers, increasing numbers of customers, and increasing troublesome findings regarding the quality of service provided by audit firms?

The representatives of the board of the Auditors’ Association met Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice Tõnis Saar and Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice Viljar Peep in February on the topic of developing the Commercial Register and updating register data.