"I'm setting up a small company. Will I need an accountant?" — sooner or later, almost every small business founder asks this question. For years the answer seemed obvious: of course you will. Accounting looked like a closed world best left to specialists. Over the past few years, however, the situation has fundamentally changed — and the question deserves a fresh look.
What the law says
Let's start with the most important point: the law does not require you to hire an accountant. Under Lithuania's Financial Accounting Law, the company director is responsible for organising the accounting, but the books themselves may be kept by an employed accountant, an accounting firm, or — in small companies — the director personally. In other words, the member of a small partnership (MB) or the director of a small private limited company (UAB) has every right to manage the books independently.
There is only one requirement: the accounting must be done correctly — invoices issued and recorded on time, taxes calculated accurately, declarations submitted by their deadlines. So the real question is not "is it allowed without an accountant", but "can I realistically handle it myself".
What small-company accounting actually consists of
Accounting often feels intimidating simply because it is unclear what the word actually covers. In the daily life of a small company, it comes down to a few recurring tasks:
- Issuing sales invoices — when you complete work or sell goods to a client.
- Recording purchase documents — invoices and receipts for company expenses.
- Entering bank transactions — so that income and expenses match the actual movement of money.
- Calculating taxes — personal income tax, social insurance contributions, and VAT once the threshold is exceeded.
- Submitting declarations — to the tax authority and the social insurance fund on time.
None of these tasks requires an accounting degree. They require diligence, knowledge of the rules and — above all — time. And that is precisely where the real obstacle used to lie.
Why it used to be hard without an accountant
Not long ago, do-it-yourself accounting meant spreadsheets, bank statements copied out by hand, and evenings spent figuring out which tax rate applies this year. One missed deadline or misapplied rate could cost late-payment interest, so most people chose the simpler path — paying an accountant, even when the entire month's activity amounted to a handful of invoices.
Modern accounting software has taken over this heavy lifting. A bank statement is imported with a single click, and the system itself recognises which line is a client payment and which is a fuel receipt. Taxes are updated centrally, so there is no need to follow legislative changes. Declaration files are generated automatically from the data you have already entered, and upcoming deadlines are flagged in advance. In Uvis Accounting, for example, VAT declarations and invoice registers for the tax authority are prepared in a few clicks — nothing needs to be copied out by hand.
Artificial intelligence does the dirty work
The most recent shift is AI assistants built directly into accounting systems. They change the very nature of the work: instead of searching for where to enter what, you simply photograph a receipt — and the system reads the supplier, amount and VAT, then suggests the right expense category. All that's left is to confirm.
Better still, you can simply ask the assistant in plain language: "How much VAT will I owe for June?", "Which invoices are still unpaid?", "When is my next declaration due?" The answers come from your company's actual data, not from general knowledge. The Uvis Accounting assistant can even prepare an action for you — a reminder to a late-paying client, say — but a human always confirms the decision. That is an important safeguard: the technology does the work, while the owner keeps responsibility and control.
The essential change is simple: managing the books used to require someone who understood every rule and nuance of accounting; now the software takes care of practically all those nuances, and you only confirm the actions.
When an accountant is still worth it
In fairness, self-managed accounting is not for everyone. Professional help is worth considering if:
- your company handles international transactions — trade with other EU countries or beyond has its own VAT subtleties;
- you have many employees with different contracts, bonuses and sick-leave cases;
- a restructuring, sale of the business or a complex transaction is ahead — here the advice of an experienced accountant or auditor pays for itself many times over;
- you simply don't want to spend a single hour on it — which is a perfectly understandable choice too.
But for a typical small partnership or a small service company with a dozen invoices a month, it is entirely realistic today to manage the books yourself — spending an hour or two per month.
How to get started
The key is to choose a simple, easy-to-use accounting system that doesn't require an accountant's knowledge — for example, Uvis Accounting. Getting started is easy:
- Sign up — by email or with a Google account; it takes about a minute.
- Enter your company details — type, requisites and whether you are a VAT payer. Done once.
- Start working — issue an invoice, import a bank statement, and the system will calculate the taxes itself.
- When in doubt — ask. An AI assistant will answer your everyday questions.
The core features of Uvis Accounting are available completely free of charge.
New times, new possibilities
Accounting has stopped being a closed world of specialists. What once required education and experience is now handled by technology — leaving the human with what matters: seeing your company's numbers, understanding what you earn and what you spend, and making better decisions. Those who keep their own books know their business more closely.
If you'd like to see what this looks like in practice, Uvis Accounting lets you start free of charge and with no commitments. And if you're unsure whether self-managed accounting suits your particular situation, write to us — we'll give you an honest answer.