Spanish accounts... should you have two sets?

In Spain, one set of accounts won’t cut it, and no, that’s not fraud. It’s just how the system works. If you’re leading group finance from the UK, US, or anywhere else, this might sound odd.

Why can’t the Spanish entity just plug into your global accounting system?

Short answer? Because Spain doesn’t play by those rules.

Spanish GAAP is rigidly prescriptive:

• Every transaction must be coded using national general ledger rules

• Chart of accounts is predefined and enforced

• Tax filings are transaction-linked, not summary-based

• In many cases, only local systems can generate compliant outputs

What satisfies your board in London ≠ What satisfies the tax office in Barcelona.

That’s why we build dual-track reporting setups for our clients:

• One for Spanish legal compliance, using fully localised systems

• One for group-level management reporting, tailored to your global framework

It’s not duplication. It’s translation across systems, done intelligently.

My tip: In cross-border finance, clarity comes from reconciliation, not consolidation.

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