BBP & Partners

BBP & Partners is an accounting practice set up as a private limited company on Tremelobaan in Keerbergen, Flemish Brabant. It is an accredited accounting practice subject to the ethical rules of the former Professional Institute of Accredited Accountants and Tax Experts, now part of the ITAA. Its story begins in 2000, when Marc Baumans and Yves Buekenhout founded Baumans, Buekenhout en Partners and soon took over another practice's client base of about fifty files. In 2011 Jan Proost joined and BBP & Partners took over the client base, which has kept growing since.

The practice now manages more than 200 files, a mix of companies and sole traders, with a team of five file managers. Clients come from the wider Keerbergen, Mechelen, Leuven and Aarschot area and from a wide range of sectors: hospitality, construction, including architects, bricklayers, plumbers, joiners and electricians, car garages, property companies, consultants, management companies, lawyers, insurance brokers, hairdressers and beauticians, newsagents, retail and even private investigators.

In bookkeeping, BBP & Partners supports clients from A to Z: setting up and optimising the accounting and administrative organisation, processing documents monthly or quarterly, VAT and intra-community returns, the annual VAT listing, account reviews and filing of annual accounts for companies. The practice has long used the ExpertM accounting software, which it considers reliable and always up to date, linked to web applications for annual accounts and tax returns, and able to import sales invoices from most invoicing packages. It regularly reviews interim figures with its clients.

In tax, the practice files and optimises corporate income tax and personal income tax returns using a tax database, aiming for a long-term strategy rather than quick wins. It lists several optimisation tools: liquidation reserve, individual pension commitments with backservice, tax-efficient investments, tax shelter, car taxation, property taxation with usufruct or split purchase, and salary optimisation. Its bookkeepers complete at least forty hours of continuing education a year.

For start-ups, BBP & Partners offers a free introductory meeting on choosing between sole trader and company, then prepares the financial plan, drafts the deed of incorporation, registers the business with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, applies for the VAT number and social security status, arranges enrolment with a payroll office and helps set the new entrepreneur's salary with fringe benefits. A start-up specialist works in-house.

The practice also advises on estate planning, financing, mergers, demergers and liquidation, and relies on a network of professionals for questions outside its field. It works for a fixed fee, so clients know in advance what their bookkeeping will cost.