Legal
Your adviser has the papers and you don't
Delegating the admin does not delegate the duty: if you are asked, you are the one asked — and the answer sits in another office.
It is the commonest arrangement in a small company: **the firm handles everything**. It works perfectly for years, until the day someone asks about a document on a Friday afternoon and the answer is «our accountant has that» — a sentence that sounds like an excuse even when it is true.
What changes and what does not when you delegate
| What to look at | Handled by the adviser | Still yours |
|---|---|---|
| The admin and the deadlines | Yes | — |
| The technical knowledge | Yes | — |
| **The obligation** | **No** | **Yes, always** |
| Being able to produce it on request | Sometimes | **Yes, and that is what fails** |
Important
**You can delegate who does it; you cannot delegate who answers.** It is the line almost nobody sees clearly until they cross it. Your adviser represents you and works well, but the request arrives in your name, the deadline runs for you, and if the adviser is on holiday the deadline runs anyway. Keeping a copy of what goes out in your name is not distrust: it is that you are the addressee of the question.
The minimum worth holding in your own house
- 1
A copy of what is filed in your name
Each filing, when it is made, not when you ask for it.
- 2
The contracts and documents underpinning the business
Those are yours at source, not a product of the bookkeeping.
- 3
An index of what sits at the firm
So you can say where it is even without holding it.
- 4
And knowing who to call there, not just the switchboard
A deadline runs in August too.
Watch out
The moment this stops being theoretical: **when you change adviser or the adviser closes**. That is when you discover years of documentation existed in one place only, that the handover depends on the goodwill of someone you may be parting from badly, and that rebuilding what is missing costs more than keeping it would have. It is the same problem as changing systems, and it is prevented the same way: by keeping a copy while things are going well.
Worth knowing
What documentation a company must retain directly, for how long, and what liability survives delegation depends on the subject and the applicable rules. **Your adviser settles that — ask them, it is a ten-minute conversation**; here we explain why a copy is worth having even when the answer is that they already keep it.
›If my adviser holds it, is that enough?
To operate yes; to answer on the spot, keep a copy.
›Do I have to keep the same as them?
Not all of it: what underpins your business and what is filed in your name.
›What if I change adviser?
That is when it shows. Hence the copy while things are going well.
A real case
The situation
A request arrives on a Friday and the firm is closed until Monday.
What you do
- Keeps a copy of what is filed in their name, as it is filed
What you get
The response starts on Friday rather than Monday.
The situation
You change adviser and years of documentation exist only in their office.
What you do
- Keeps a copy while the relationship is going well
What you get
The handover stops depending on anyone's goodwill.
The situation
A client asks for an old contract and nobody knows whether the company or the firm holds it.
What you do
- Maintains an index of what is where
What you get
You can say where it is even without holding it.
The situation
A deadline runs in August and only the firm's switchboard number is known.
What you do
- Records who to call there, with a name and direct contact
What you get
The deadline is met even in holiday season.
The situation
The company assumes the firm also keeps its commercial contracts.
What you do
- Separates what is theirs at source from what the bookkeeping produces
What you get
The documents underpinning the business are where they should be.
The situation
The firm closes on retirement with a month's notice.
What you do
- Requests and keeps periodic copies instead of waiting for the handover
What you get
The closure is a change of supplier rather than a loss of memory.
This article answers
- my accountant holds all my documentation
- asked for papers my adviser holds
- what documentation should i keep myself
- delegating bookkeeping and liability