VANDELANOTTE

Vandelanotte is an accounting and audit firm founded in 1948 by Roger Vandelanotte, a schoolteacher who left teaching to start his own practice single-handed. The business has stayed in the family for three generations: his sons Koen and Hein joined in 1971 and 1987, and his grandson Nikolas in 1998. Shareholding was opened to non-family partners in 2007. The group now has more than 800 staff and counts itself among the top ten accounting and audit firms in Belgium. This office is on President Kennedypark in Kortrijk.

Bookkeeping remains the starting point. The group's accountants handle day-to-day bookkeeping, advise and report, aiming to support the business through every stage of its life. Clients use myVandelanotte, a digital platform launched in 2022 that brings documents and figures together. The firm also offers Vandelanotte Quickstart, a fully online company formation service: the client fills in a questionnaire and the company can be set up within ten days, without a physical visit to the notary. A subsidiary, Vandelanotte France, supports businesses expanding across the border.

Audit is handled by Callens Vandelanotte, created at the end of 2022 when the audit department merged with Callens, Pirenne & Co. The group describes it as the union of the two oldest independent family firms in the sector, with more than 160 years of combined experience. The auditors hold statutory auditor mandates, carry out assurance and attestation engagements, prepare the legal reports for contributions in kind, mergers, demergers and liquidations, and assess business losses after fire. The firm is one of the few outside the Big Four approved by the National Bank to audit payment institutions, and it is approved by the FSMA for investment, insurance and pension funds.

The Tax & Legal team covers tax optimisation, formalities and documentation, support during tax audits and disputes, with a preference for negotiated settlements with the tax authority before any litigation, and legal advice: contracts, choice of company structure and related formalities. The Advisory team supports strategic decisions affecting both the business and private wealth, especially acquisitions and successions. The website publishes regular updates on VAT, the UBO register, e-invoicing, cross-border employment and Flemish inheritance tax.

The Digital team helps companies analyse their processes, select an ERP or CRM, improve reporting and secure their systems, working with partners for custom applications and publishing articles on NIS2 and ISO 27001. The Risk & Benefits team deals with risk management, prevention, insurance advice and employee benefits. In 2022 the group also co-founded the fintech company ai-GUST with BDO and Van Havermaet.

The client stories published on the website show a very varied client base: a medical partnership, a pharmacy handed over to a new owner, a butcher's shop, a chip shop franchise, a recycling company and a manufacturer working in aviation. The "Part of Vandelanotte" model also lets other firms join the group while keeping their own identity. The website is available in Dutch, French and English.