KNAEPEN LAFONTAINE, Réviseurs d'Entreprises

Knaepen Lafontaine is a firm of registered company auditors, incorporated as a limited liability company and based on rue du Fort d'Andoy in Wierde, a district of Namur right next to the E411 and N4. The firm is a member of the Institute of Company Auditors. It has a reputation and network throughout French-speaking Belgium, with an international outlook. It presents itself as a trusted, independent and pragmatic partner drawing on more than thirty years of experience in audit and company law.

The firm was founded in 1988 by Léon Lafontaine, honorary company auditor with degrees in law and accounting, who remains in charge of legal questions and staff training. Since 2016 it has been led by Philippe Knaepen, a company auditor since 2012 and graduate of UCL Mons and HELMO, who co-heads the audit department and runs the occasional statutory assignments and contractual assignments departments. Florence Constandt, an auditor since 2020 and signing partner since 2023, co-heads the audit department. The team also includes an office manager, a trainee auditor and auditors.

Permanent statutory assignments are the statutory auditor mandates required by company law. The firm audits the financial statements of commercial companies, non-profit organisations and public sector companies, for the benefit of shareholders, directors, union delegations and other interested parties. These audits may stem from a legal obligation or be requested voluntarily. The firm considers that an audit of the annual accounts by an independent expert creates value and makes a company more attractive.

Occasional statutory assignments arise at particular moments in the life of a company: contributions in kind and quasi-contributions, mergers and demergers, dissolution and liquidation, conversion of the legal form and changes to the rights attached to share classes. These reports are required by the Code of Companies and Associations and are addressed to shareholders as well as creditors.

The firm also takes on contractual assignments when a company faces a complex situation, a crisis or an organisational need: company valuations, due diligence, technical advice in disputes, attestations on the quality of financial or non-financial information, assessment of internal control and administrative organisation, consolidation support and certification of subsidised expenditure. It also offers advice on company and association law, first-line tax opinions and ongoing support for businesses and entrepreneurs.

The values it highlights are objectivity in reviewing financial information, quality of service, confidentiality towards every client and genuine interest in the business and context of the audited company, in line with professional standards. The firm recruits regularly and presents a team with a variety of personalities and skills.