Do I need an accountant?
There is no law stating that you must use an accountant to keep your accounts. You are responsible for ensuring that your enterprise's account are kept correctly. If you have the necessary knowledge, time and interest, you are free to prepare your own accounts.
Does your accountant have authorization?
If you decide to use an external accountant, you must ensure that you purchase the service from an authorised accounting firm. The Financial Supervisory Authority maintains a register of authorised accounting firms. If you are unsure whether they are authorised, you can check the Financial Supervisory Authority's registry of licenced entities yourself.
Authorized accountants (Finanstilsynet's registry)
External accounting
When you use an external accountant, you must notify the Register of Legal Entities of the person who will act as your accountant. You can do this either when you register your company or at a later date by giving notice of a change in the registered information. Notification of both the registration and the change is given using the form entitled Coordinated register notification. In the notification, the accounting firm must confirm that it has accepted the assignment by signing the notification electronically.
Accountants Act (in Norwegian only)
Internal accounting
If you employ a person and pay them a salary for keeping your accounts, the person concerned does not need to be state authorised as an accountant. Authorisation is only required when you purchase the service and receive an invoice for the assignment.
