Legal Audit of a Business in Ukraine

A legal audit of a business is a review of the company's legal position: constitutional documents, contracts, employment, licences, rights to assets and disputes. Key Solutions performs it from the accounting and tax side: we match documents against the books and taxes and deliver a report with risks and a remediation plan.

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What a legal audit is and how it differs from a financial statement audit

A legal audit is a contractual service: the contract sets its scope and the form of the result. A financial statement audit, as defined by Law No. 2258-VIII, ends with an independent auditor's opinion on the figures. A legal audit asks what legal basis those figures rest on: a valid contract, an authorised signatory, a current licence, properly hired staff.

If your company is subject to a mandatory audit, Key Solutions organises it end to end: a partner audit firm listed in the relevant section of the Register carries out the audit and signs the report, and we prepare the books and support you through to publication. See mandatory audit in Ukraine.

Who does what: Key Solutions and legal.ua

Key Solutions works on the accounting and tax side, so we look at the company's legal position through its books, taxes and reporting. Legal work that needs a lawyer, such as court representation or registration steps, is handled by our sister company legal.ua (legal audit).

What the service includes

• reconciling the ownership structure and beneficial owners with the Unified State Register and the share capital in the books;
• reviewing contracts and their primary documents: mandatory details, signatories' authority, match with the books and tax returns;
• employment documents checked against payroll, personal income tax, military levy and the single social contribution (ЄСВ);
• licences and permits: validity and match between the licensed activities and actual income;
• title to assets and stock-count results: do documents, books and physical assets agree;
• inspection reports, tax assessment notices and open disputes: amounts, payment and appeal deadlines, effect on the financial statements;
• a report with a register of findings and a remediation plan; legal follow-up is passed to legal.ua.

How we work

1. Purpose, period and contract. We agree the period, the areas to cover, the report format and how confidential information is handled.
2. Document request. We send a checklist: charter and all amendments, minutes, appointment orders, contract register, licences, title documents, HR files, list of court cases.
3. Check against registers and books. We compare documents with public registers, accounting records and tax returns.
4. Interviews. Gaps are closed with written explanations from the responsible people.
5. Report and remediation plan. We hand over the report, agree priorities and can support the corrections in the books.

Timing

We fix the timing in the contract once the areas and the document request are agreed. In our experience, collecting documents inside the company takes the most time, so a coordinator on your side speeds the work up noticeably. If you need the report before a deal or a tax inspection, we agree a tight schedule and start with the areas that matter most for that event.

What affects the cost

The fee is agreed individually. We quote it after a first look at the documents and fix it in the contract together with the scope.

• how many of the six areas are covered;
• the number of contracts and counterparties;
• the number of legal entities, branches and sites;
• the period under review;
• a tight deadline that needs a larger team.

What we need from you

• charter with all amendments, minutes and shareholder resolutions;
• director appointment orders and ownership structure details;
• contract register with annexes, licences and permits;
• title documents and the latest stock-count results;
• HR files, a list of court cases and inspection reports for the period;
• a coordinator on your side and read-only access to the accounting system.

Result

The result is a legal review report. Under Law No. 2258-VIII an audit report is issued only after an audit of financial statements (Art. 1(1)(6)), so a bank or investor that needs an auditor's opinion should order that service separately.

• scope and limitations of the review;
• a register of findings, each tied to a specific document and legal rule;
• risk rating by likelihood and impact, with an estimate of possible fines and additional tax;
• a remediation plan with priorities, owners and deadlines;
• for a deal, a list of representations worth including in the contract.

Key risks and penalties

• Beneficial ownership: changes must be reported to the state registrar within 30 working days, and errors corrected within three working days of discovery (Art. 5-1 of Law No. 361-IX). A breach also bars a company from Diia.City status (Art. 5(2) of Law No. 1667-IX).
• Licences: operating without a required licence or permit carries a fine of 1,000 to 2,000 tax-free minimum incomes, with possible confiscation (Art. 164(1) of the Code of Administrative Offences).
• Accounting and stock counts: missing or improper accounting and late stock counts carry a fine of 8 to 15 tax-free minimum incomes (Art. 164-2 of the Code of Administrative Offences).
• Missing documents: documents not provided before a tax inspection ends are treated as absent when the return was filed (para. 44.6 of the Tax Code).

Legal framework

Why hand this to a team under contract

A team under contract sees the link between a document, the books and the tax, so it can put a figure on each risk and fix issues in the right order. Scope and liability are set in the contract, and anything that needs a lawyer goes straight to legal.ua.

Why Key Solutions

Turnkey, with no extra hassle

We take the whole task: documents, calculations, reporting and correspondence with the State Tax Service. You make the decisions, provide source documents and sign; we do the rest and contact you only when it matters.

We take on the tax office

Information requests, blocked tax invoices, inspection reports: we prepare explanations, rework documents and appeal until the issue is closed. Where the law is in dispute, we work together with the group's lawyers.

We see it through

Your case stays on track: the specialist running it remains with you, even if an inspection or audit drags on for months. Statutory audits are performed, and the report signed, by a partner audit firm entitled to perform them; we handle preparation and support through publication, so you deal with one team from start to finish.

Boutique-level involvement

A senior specialist runs your project personally (see the Our employees page), backed by 14 years of Innova group practice in 50+ countries. Non-standard tasks are our field: where you hear “it can’t be done”, we look for a lawful way, and group companies cover the rest: legal.ua for legal matters, crystal.tax for crypto-asset taxation.

Your affairs stay yours

Information about your company, turnover, payroll and counterparties reaches neither competitors nor third parties. We disclose only what the law or a procedure requires, and the contract says so.

Faster and right the first time

Full involvement: your specialist learns your books, contracts and business, so documents and reports are ready on time with no rework. The group's 14 years of experience let us get right the first time what takes some firms three attempts.

Frequently asked questions

Related services

• Financial and tax due diligence
• Tax audit of a company
• Audit before a tax inspection
• Financial statement audit under ISA
• Restoration of accounting records
• Mandatory audit in Ukraine