Is an accountant mandatory for a Bulgarian company?

Companies and taxes · Last reviewed: 2026-08-23

What the law actually regulates: qualification, not headcount

The Accountancy Act creates a role — the compiler of financial statements — and ties it to thresholds. The verified thresholds are: higher accounting-economic education plus experience in accounting, external or internal audit, financial inspection, tax audits or teaching accounting and control — two years with a master's degree, three with a bachelor's, four with a professional bachelor's; other higher economic education requires five years; secondary economic education requires eight. The same applies to the managers of accounting enterprises who sign the statements.

The distinction matters for new founders. Nobody has to be hired to issue invoices, record bank movements or keep primary documents in order — you can do that yourself. But the year-end statement must be compiled by a person meeting the statutory description, and a foreign founder rarely does. In practice that means a contract with an accounting firm.

Responsibility stays with the manager

Outsourcing the work does not outsource the liability. As the Ministry of Economy's business handbook states, the manager of the enterprise is responsible for the preparation, the content and the publication of the annual financial statements. „My accountant handles it“ is therefore not a defence: the consequences of a missing or late statement land on the company and its manager. That is why the engagement contract should set out, in writing, who does what — document deadlines, filing responsibility, publication in the register.

No activity still means obligations

„The company never traded, so it needs no accounting“ is one of the expensive misunderstandings. Enterprises that carried out no activity in the reporting period must declare that circumstance in the Commercial Register; the verified rule is that this is done by 30 June of the following year and once, for the first reporting period without activity. Even a zero period produces a filing. Skipping it leaves a visible gap in the register that has to be cleared before the next bank or commercial check.

• •Annual financial statements: prepared as at 31 December and, in the cases the law provides, published in the Commercial Register.
• •Annual corporate tax return to the National Revenue Agency; the rate is 10 per cent under Article 20 of the Corporate Income Tax Act.
• •Annual activity report to the National Statistical Institute — a separate obligation.
• •Retention of accounting information for the statutory periods, which survives the closure of the company.
• •If VAT-registered: monthly returns and ledgers — the single step that increases the workload most.
• •If you employ staff: employment-contract notifications and monthly social security declarations.

Where „I will do it myself“ stops working

In a small single-member company, keeping the primary records yourself is reasonable and genuinely cheaper. The limit appears in three places: the year-end statement needs a qualified compiler; after VAT registration the monthly rhythm is unforgiving and mistakes cost interest and penalties; hiring staff adds an entire second layer of labour law and social security filings. Past any of those thresholds, doing it yourself usually costs more than the fee you saved.

One 2026 change is worth watching: the centralised administrative information system known as the Single Entry Point is expected to start operating, allowing the annual financial statements under the Accountancy Act and the annual activity report under the Statistics Act to be submitted at the same time. Follow official announcements during the transition, because the filing route can change mid-year.

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