How Do You Know Whether Your Spanish Advisor Is Actually Doing a Good Job?
You know your Spanish advisor is doing a good job when the agreed work can be traced to supporting records, important decisions reach you in time, and you understand what remains outside their responsibility. For a parent company overseas, tax returns arriving and employees being paid are useful signs, but they do not show the whole picture. A practical review should tell you whether the service is working, needs a clearer brief, or warrants a closer look—before you decide to change firms.
Check what your Spanish advisor agreed to do
The first question is whether the engagement covers what your subsidiary now needs. “Our Spanish accountant handles it” is too broad to assess fairly.
Bookkeeping, tax returns, payroll, corporate administration, official notifications and reporting to the parent are separate pieces of work. An advisor can deliver the contracted pieces well while a gap remains between them. Equally, a service that suited a small operation may no longer give HQ enough information as the business grows.
Take reporting. If your parent maintains the books in its own system and the Spanish firm prepares tax returns from those numbers, someone still needs to explain differences, resolve missing information and coordinate the close. Who does each part should be explicit. Paying a tax retainer does not tell you whether parent-format reporting or work inside the group ERP is included. Evolutia’s tax and compliance service overview explains the kinds of local and parent-company work to distinguish when comparing scope.
Assess the arrangement on both sides. Does HQ provide complete information when agreed? Does it tell the advisor about new activities, changes to the team or transactions with the parent before action is needed? An advisor cannot anticipate a decision they learn about after it has happened.
The useful outcome is a clear division of work, including exclusions and client inputs. You can then judge performance against an actual agreement rather than two different assumptions about “everything”. If the business has moved on since the agreement was written, look for the signs the engagement no longer fits.
Look for evidence behind the reassuring answer
A good advisor should make the agreed work understandable and traceable. You should be able to follow a recent item from the information supplied, through any approval, to the result and any unresolved issue.
Choose one recent completed reporting period as a starting point. Ask to walk through the work already done, rather than requesting a new presentation about how the firm generally operates. The table below is a practical way to evaluate your Spanish accountant without trying to become one yourself.
| What you need to know | Useful evidence to discuss | What it does—and does not—tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Are the right tasks covered? | Current engagement, applicable obligations list, exclusions and named responsibilities | Shows who has accepted each task. It does not establish that the work was performed correctly. |
| Can completed filings be traced? | Submitted return, receipt, relevant period and payment status where applicable | Lets you follow submission and settlement separately. A filing receipt alone does not establish the correctness of the figures. |
| Can HQ understand the numbers? | Recent report, explanation of material movements, open queries and connection to the underlying records | Shows whether the report supports decisions. A polished dashboard alone does not establish that the underlying records are sound. |
| If you employ staff, can changes be explained? | Approved changes, payroll output, cost explanation and outstanding employment questions | Shows whether instructions and outputs connect. It is not a full employment-compliance review. |
| Are official notices followed through? | Confirmed access arrangements, monitoring responsibility and records of receipt and action where notices exist | Shows the process beyond forwarding a message. No recent notices does not prove monitoring is in place. |
| Could the work continue if the usual contact were absent? | Backup contact, current records, access arrangements and an explanation of upcoming work | Shows how continuity is intended to work. Test access rather than relying only on a promise. |
The distinction between evidence of completion and evidence of correctness matters. A bank payment can help establish that money moved; it cannot explain why the tax treatment was appropriate. Conversely, a technically sound calculation is not enough if nobody tells HQ when funding is required.
You are looking for an advisor who can explain these limits plainly. “This is filed, this is still being checked, and this needs your approval” is more useful than a blanket green status that conceals unfinished work.
Keep the exercise proportionate. One sample helps you see how the relationship works; it cannot certify every period or obligation. If you first need an overview of the wider operating calendar, the guide to what happens after setting up a company in Spain provides that separate context. Your own obligations still need to be confirmed for your activities and circumstances.
Check official notifications separately from tax filings
One particularly important question in Spain is whether the person filing your returns also has the agreed responsibility and effective access to receive and handle official notices. A history of successful filings does not answer it.
The Agencia Tributaria lists legal persons among those required to receive electronic notifications. Its guidance identifies access through the AEAT electronic office or DEHú and describes access by an expressly authorised representative; that notification authority requires acceptance by the representative. Ask which arrangement your company actually uses. See the AEAT’s electronic-notification guidance.
Under the general rule in Articles 41.6 and 43 of Law 39/2015, an electronic notification takes effect on access. Where electronic notification is mandatory or expressly chosen, it is deemed rejected after ten calendar days without access. Failure of the courtesy email or device alert does not prevent a notification being valid. The response deadline must be checked against the actual notice and applicable procedure; ten days is not a universal period for answering it.
That is why “we haven’t received any emails” offers little reassurance. The operational question is whether the relevant official channels are checked and notices reach someone who can act.
A forwarded PDF is the beginning of that conversation. HQ needs to understand what it concerns, the actual deadline, whether a decision or funds are required, and who will respond. Whoever handles it should be able to show what happened next. If specialist defence or other work falls outside the retainer, that boundary should be made clear promptly.
Work out what a surprise actually tells you
An unexpected tax payment request can look like poor advice from overseas. But the same surprise can have different causes, and the remedy depends on which explanation the evidence supports.
Consider this illustrative example, not a client case: the Spanish advisor asks HQ to fund a tax payment the parent did not forecast.
| What the follow-up establishes | What the problem appears to be | Proportionate response |
|---|---|---|
| The calculation is supported, and advance reporting was agreed but did not reach HQ | A delivery or communication gap | Agree how and when the forecast reaches HQ, then check delivery against that agreement. |
| The calculation is supported, but forecasting was never included and nobody else owns it | A scope gap | Decide who will provide the forecast and what information they need. |
| The calculation conflicts with the records and the difference remains unexplained | A possible technical issue | Obtain a focused professional review of the discrepancy; do not label it an error before it is examined. |
This is also a fairer way to judge responsiveness. A quick reply saying “all fine” can leave the important question unanswered. A substantive reply may need time to investigate, but should explain what is being checked, who is doing it and when you can expect an update appropriate to the decision deadline.
Professional judgement sometimes means disagreeing with HQ or asking for more evidence. The standard is a supported explanation and a workable next step, rather than automatic agreement with the answer you hoped to hear.
Decide whether to stay, improve or seek a review
Staying is a sound outcome when the agreed work is supported, exceptions are visible, reporting fits the parent’s decisions and the relationship responds constructively to questions. A small firm with clear records and dependable explanations can meet that standard. A sophisticated portal does not establish it on its own.
If the evidence is available but communication or scope needs attention, agree specific improvements with the current advisor. Define the report or task, the information you will supply, the timing and how you will know the change has happened. Then evaluate delivery over an agreed period suited to the work.
Seek a closer review when material contradictions remain unresolved, important records cannot be produced, or an important responsibility still has no effective owner. An “unknown” is a reason to find out more; it is not a confirmed compliance failure. Begin with the question you need answered, so the review tests the relevant evidence. The subsidiary review process explains the distinction between discussing concerns and examining the underlying position.
If there is already a live official notice or an imminent deadline, arrange competent attention to it immediately. An advisor evaluation should not delay the response.
Only then does switching become the next decision, if the findings justify it. A handover needs explicit responsibility for upcoming work, open questions, records and access. Improving control includes keeping those responsibilities covered during a change. Our guide to changing accountants in Spain without disruption explains how.
Start with a health check
Use your current engagement, latest reporting pack and available filing evidence to separate what you can support, what remains unclear and what deserves a closer check. You do not need to decide whether to switch before asking those questions.
When questions remain open, a health check examines the underlying position rather than the relationship: what has been filed, what is outstanding and what deserves attention first, in English you can take to your board. It is a fixed price, quoted before we start, credited in full against your first months if you later move to us — and not charged at all if we find nothing material. Asking for one is not a commitment to change firms.
If the findings do point to a change, the Switch your advisor page explains how the handover works, including what happens with your current firm.