Send accounts for approval

Once any adjustments have been made and the accounts report has been generated, you must send the accounts report to your client for approval.

For partnerships and limited companies, you must record relationships for the relevant people, such as the partners or directors, before the approval stage.

Prepare the accounts for signature

Before sending the accounts report for approval, add the details of the persons who will be approving and signing them.

1. From the Clients menu, select Clients list.
2. Change the client list view to either Active clients or a custom view that includes all relevant clients and select the client you need.

If any of the entries are greyed out and you cannot select them, this is a restricted item — the parent client record has been set to Private and you do not have access. If you believe this is a mistake, contact your IRIS Elements administrator. Users who have Administrator level permissions are able to view all public and private client records, even those where they are not named as assigned users.

3. From the Accounts production widget on the Dashboard, select the required accounting period. Ideally, select the latest / newest period.

   If a relevant account period does not exist, you must create and set up one first.

4. Select the Approval tab.
5. Select Ready for client approval. This process moves the accounts into read-only mode preventing any further changes from being made. If you need to make any changes, you must clear Ready for client approval.

   If you clear Ready for client approval after adding signatories or dates, these are then removed and you must start the process again.

6. Add the details of the persons who approve and sign the accounts. Select Add signatories then select the relevant approvers. Select Save.

   If you know the date the client will be signing (for example, if they are physically with you), select or enter the date. In most circumstances, the date must be completed later.

   For limited companies, you must select signatories for both the balance sheet and the director's report. Make sure the signing date for the director's report is entered before submitting to Companies House. If this date is missing, HMRC rejects the CT600 tax return even if Companies House accepts the filed accounts.

   

7. Select Refresh report to add the signatures.

   

Send the accounts for approval

Do one of the following:

• Download the accounts report and either print and post, or email to your client for their signature.
• Add the document to the client portal and send to request their signature
• Select Send to OpenSpace

  All files sent to IRIS OpenSpace always go to the primary contact of this client record. If one is not found, you are prompted to create a primary contact first before attempting to resend the document.

  An email notification is sent to the recipient confirming a new document is available to them. If the contact does not exist in IRIS OpenSpace, a registration email is automatically sent for them to create the account first. Both emails are sent from noreply@irisopenspace.co.uk — you must add this email address to your safe list. If the emails cannot be found, check the junk or spam folders.

If you subscribe to IRIS Elements Tax (any level) or IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts, download a copy of the accounts in iXBRL format, then attach to the applicable tax return.

Once the accounts have been signed

Once you have received the signed copy of the accounts, you must enter the date the signatures were added.

1. On the Approval tab, select Edit.

   

2. Enter the date the accounts were signed for each signatory, then select Save.
3. Under Accountant's signature date, enter the date you signed the accounts, then select Confirm. The accounts are marked as Ready for submission (view only).

Next step: Submit the accounts (limited companies only).