"Can software be my accountant?" is a fair question now that accounting tools write their own categories and draft their own reports. The answer depends on which part of the accountant's job you mean. Most of the work is routine record keeping, and software does that well. One part is a legal role that the Companies Ordinance gives only to a qualified person. This guide separates the two, with every legal point linked to the Companies Registry or Inland Revenue Department (IRD) page it comes from.
| Task | AI accounting software | Practising CPA | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keeping records of income and expenditure sufficient to work out assessable profits, for at least 7 years | Yes: recording, categorising and reporting | Not required by law for this | [5] |
| Auditing the annual financial statements | No | Yes: only a practice unit may be appointed auditor | [1] [2] |
| The Auditor's Report sent with a corporation's profits tax return | No | Yes: issued by the company's auditor | [3] [4] |
What AI software covers
AI accounting software takes on the routine work that fills most of a bookkeeper's month:
- Day-to-day records. Each sale, purchase and payment is recorded with the invoice, receipt or bank line behind it. The IRD requires every business to keep records of its income and expenditure sufficient for its assessable profits to be readily worked out, and to keep them for at least 7 years [5].
- Categorising. Bank lines and receipts are put to the right accounts, so the same kind of cost lands in the same place every month.
- Reports. A monthly income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, without waiting for a year-end catch-up.
What software does not do is take legal responsibility. It cannot be appointed as a company's auditor, it does not sign an Auditor's Report, and it does not decide a judgment call on your tax position. Those stay with people who hold the qualification and answer for the result.
What you still need a CPA for
The Companies Ordinance requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year and requires those statements to be audited (section 405) [1]. The Companies Registry puts it plainly: audit of financial statements is required for all companies, including companies falling within the reporting exemption, except dormant companies (section 447) [1]. Being small changes how much a company must disclose, not whether an auditor signs off. Our guide Does your Hong Kong company need an audit? and the short answer on whether a small company needs an audit go through the detail.
Who may do that audit is fixed too. Only a practice unit is eligible for appointment as auditor of a company (section 393), a term the Companies Ordinance takes from the Professional Accountants Ordinance (Cap. 50) [2]. In plain terms, that is a practising certified public accountant or a CPA practice. An officer or employee of the company cannot be its auditor [2].
The audit then feeds the tax return. The IRD expects audited financial statements to be submitted with the profits tax return of a corporation in all cases with gross income [3], and the BIR51 lists the Auditor's Report among the supporting documents, with the certified balance sheet, the profit and loss account and the tax computation [4]. Our profits tax return guide covers the deadlines.
The cost of each
Only some of these costs have a published figure. Here is each one and where its figure comes from:
- Suma: setup from HK$2,500, one time. The monthly fee is from HK$1,500 a month. You use the finished app free for 14 days before you pay, as set out on our pricing page [6], and your exact price is agreed on a short call before we build.
- A bookkeeper plus off-the-shelf software: HK$1,000 to 3,000 a month for the bookkeeping, plus software subscriptions. That is the range our pricing page compares against and describes as a commonly published Hong Kong market range [6]. No official body publishes a bookkeeping price, as our answer on what bookkeeping costs in Hong Kong explains.
- The audit: there is no government figure for an audit fee. The audit firm quotes it after looking at the size and the state of the books, so we print no estimate.
For the government fees that come on top, and the published prices of the off-the-shelf tools, see our guide to what low-cost AI accounting actually costs.
How Suma splits the work
Suma divides the job along the line the law draws. Suma is not an accountant, and the AI does not sign anything.
- The app keeps the books. AI builds and maintains an accounting app around how your business runs. Every posting follows fixed accounting rules in double-entry books with 4-digit account codes, not a model's guess, and receipts are kept against the entries they support.
- Our partner CPA firm, W. M. Sum & Co., reviews, audits and files. Review, audit and statutory filing go through the firm and are quoted separately from the app.
- The hand-over is a year-end pack. The books go to the firm as a pack under a hash the server computes, so the firm can show the pack it worked from is the pack that was sent.
Frequently asked questions
Can an AI accountant replace a human accountant in Hong Kong?
Not for the audit. AI accounting software can keep the day-to-day records, categorise transactions and produce monthly reports, which is much of what a bookkeeper does. But every Hong Kong company that is not dormant must have its financial statements audited each year [1], and only a practice unit, meaning a practising CPA or a CPA firm, can be appointed auditor [2]. The realistic split is software for the books and a CPA for the audit.
Does a small Hong Kong company still need a CPA if it uses accounting software?
Yes. The Companies Registry says audit of financial statements is required for all companies, including companies falling within the reporting exemption, except dormant companies [1]. Software changes how ready the books are when the audit starts, not whether there is one. The audited statements then go to the IRD with the profits tax return of a corporation with gross income [3].
How much does an AI accountant cost compared with a bookkeeper?
Suma is from HK$1,500 a month. Setup is a separate one time fee, from HK$2,500, and you use the finished app free for 14 days before you pay [6]. A bookkeeper is commonly HK$1,000 to 3,000 a month plus software subscriptions, the market range our pricing page compares against; no official body publishes a bookkeeping price. Neither figure includes the audit, which the audit firm quotes.
What goes to the IRD with a company's profits tax return?
For a corporation with gross income, the supporting documents go with the return: a certified copy of the balance sheet, the Auditor's Report, the profit and loss account and a tax computation showing how the assessable profits were worked out [4]. The IRD expects audited financial statements in all such cases [3]. Software can keep the books those statements are built from; the Auditor's Report comes from the auditor.
General information current as of 30 October 2026. This is not tax, legal or accounting advice. Confirm your own position with the Companies Registry, the IRD or a practising CPA.