A client called us in a panic in March. Her IRC estimate had come back higher than expected, and she wanted to know why nobody had warned her sooner. The answer was simple and a little uncomfortable. Her accountant had spent January and February chasing December's bank statements. By the time the numbers were complete, there was no time left to plan, only time left to react.
This happens more than owners think. Not because the accountant is slow, and not because the owner is careless. It happens because nobody wrote down the list of what is actually needed, and when. So documents arrive whenever they turn up, usually in a bundle, usually late.
Here is the list most contabilistas certificados in Portugal are quietly waiting for every month.
Every sales invoice. If you use certified invoicing software, these are already reaching the AT and showing up in e-fatura. Your accountant still needs the file or the export, because e-fatura shows totals, not the detail behind them. If any sales still happen outside that system, receipts issued by hand, for example, those need to be sent separately and clearly marked.
Every purchase document with the company NIF. Not personal receipts, not anything without the company's tax number on it. An invoice for office supplies that only has your own name means the deduction may be lost and the document may come back unusable. This is the single most common reason a close gets delayed.
Bank statements for every account the company uses. All of them, including the one you rarely touch. A missing statement means a missing month, even if the account had almost no movement.
Proof of what was paid, not just what was invoiced. An invoice tells the accountant what is owed. A receipt, a transfer confirmation, a card slip, tells them what actually left the account and when. Without this, VAT and cash position can both be wrong at the same time, in different directions.
Payroll changes. A new hire, a departure, a raise, a change of hours. These affect Segurança Social contributions and the DMR, and they need to reach your accountant before the run, not after.
None of this is complicated on its own. What makes it hard is timing. Invoicing files should go over on the day your accountant sets, usually early in the month. Purchase documents and bank statements should be in before the month closes, not after. And nothing, ever, should be handed over at the quarter end all at once. A contabilista certificado who receives four months of bank statements the week VAT is due cannot do careful work. They can only do fast work, and fast work misses things.
In Spain the shape is the same, even though the names differ. The asesor is building toward modelo 303 each quarter, filed with the AEAT. Businesses using Verifactu have some of the same advantage as e-fatura gives in Portugal: the invoice data is already flowing to the tax authority as it is issued. But the asesor still needs the purchase invoices, the bank movements and the payroll file, on a rhythm, not in a rush.
We are not going to state a specific day of the month here, because that day is set between you and your accountant, and the legal deadlines around VAT and IRC filing change. Check the current dates with your accountant, and ask them to write down, in one line each, what they need and by when. Most will be glad you asked.
A worked example. A small events company in Lisbon, four people, roughly forty invoices a month. When they handed everything over on the 5th, complete, their accountant closed the month by the 12th and flagged a VAT position with time to plan for it. One quarter, a change of software delayed their bank export by three weeks. The close slipped to the 28th, right against the filing date, and there was no time left to check a duplicate payment that had gone out twice. It was caught eventually, but only because someone happened to look. That is the difference a complete month on time actually buys: not just a tidy file, but a window to catch things before they cost money.
What we don't know, because it depends on your business: whether you need weekly document handoffs or monthly ones, whether your accountant wants raw bank exports or a reconciled file, and whether your invoicing software already talks to your accounting system or still needs a manual export each month. Ask your accountant to tell you their ideal calendar, in writing, once, and then follow it.
This is exactly the kind of routine that runs quietly in the background with Cifrova Business: sales invoices, bank feeds and purchase documents arriving on their own schedule, with someone still saying yes to each one. If you want to see what your bank already connects to, check bank coverage before you set up the routine.
FAQ
What documents does a contabilista certificado need every month? Sales invoices, purchase documents with the company NIF, full bank statements, proof of payment, and any payroll changes. The exact list can vary slightly by accountant, so confirm it directly with them.
Does e-fatura mean I don't need to send invoices to my accountant? No. E-fatura receives totals from certified software, but your accountant still needs the underlying files or exports to reconcile and prepare filings.
How is this different for a company in Spain? The categories are similar: sales, purchases, bank movements, payroll. The filing is quarterly toward modelo 303 with the AEAT, and Verifactu changes how invoice data reaches the tax authority, but the asesor still needs the same documents on a steady rhythm.