2026 guide · Choosing your firm
"Which is the best accounting firm in Tunisia?" The honest answer depends on you: a foreign group opening or running a subsidiary, an investor setting up, a start-up raising funds, a Tunisian SME. This guide gives you 12 verifiable criteria, the questions to ask at the first meeting and the red flags, so that you can decide with your eyes open.
The Tunisian Order of Chartered Accountants (OECT) and the Compagnie des Comptables de Tunisie keep the registers of licensed professionals, but no body publishes an official ranking of firms. The "top accounting firms in Tunisia" lists you find online are mostly automated directories or commercial pages: they say nothing about the quality of the work, the responsiveness or the ability to understand your situation.
The "best" firm is therefore the one that matches your precise needs: compliant bookkeeping and reporting in your group format, statutory audit, structuring a market entry, valuing your company or preparing a fundraising. The criteria below let you compare objectively the firms you talk to, including ours.
Two regulated professions may keep and close company accounts in Tunisia: chartered accountants (experts-comptables), registered with the Tunisian Order of Chartered Accountants (OECT), and accountants (comptables), members of the Compagnie des Comptables de Tunisie. Statutory audit is reserved to chartered accountants above the legal thresholds and may, in the cases provided by the Commercial Companies Code, be entrusted to an accountant member of the Compagnie. Check that your adviser is registered with one of these two bodies: it guarantees training, professional liability insurance, quality control and a code of ethics. Then choose according to the scope you need (bookkeeping, certification, group reporting, transaction advisory).
For a subsidiary or an international project, membership of a global network (common methodology, inter-firm quality reviews, correspondents in your home country) changes day-to-day life: direct exchanges with the group auditor, reporting formats already mastered, introductions in 100+ countries. Ask since when the firm is a member and what the network actually reviews.
Accounting (bookkeeping, payroll, filings), audit and statutory audit, transaction advisory (valuation, due diligence, fundraising): a firm that masters all three spares you multiple advisers at the decisive moment (sale, investor entry, restructuring). Mind the independence rules, though: the statutory auditor of a company cannot keep its books.
For a foreign group, the firm must work in French, English and Arabic, produce reporting in your format (IFRS package or local GAAP, monthly dashboards) and hold a closing call with your finance team abroad. Ask for an anonymised reporting example.
Exchange control and documentation of foreign investments (the condition for repatriating dividends), transfer pricing, withholding taxes on intragroup flows, expatriate status: these topics separate a firm that "keeps books" from a firm that secures a subsidiary. Ask how many foreign-owned subsidiaries it serves.
A serious firm names references (with client consent) and sectors where it has real depth: retail, manufacturing, energy, technology, private equity, public sector and development institutions. Logos on a website are not enough: ask to speak with a client comparable to you.
Answer within 24 hours, shared filing calendar, monthly closing on a fixed date, a reachable partner: these commitments must be written in the engagement letter. The best test: measure the time and quality of the answer to your first request for proposal.
The firm must decline incompatible engagements, respect auditor rotation rules, never solicit aggressively nor publish comparative advertising, and tell you honestly when it is not the right adviser. It is also the best protection of your own accounts towards the tax administration and the banks.
Too small, the firm depends on one person and struggles on technical matters (consolidation, IFRS, due diligence). Too large, your SME or subsidiary file is handed to juniors who change every year. Look for a firm where the partner signs, reviews and meets you, with a team of twenty professionals or more and low turnover.
Precise scope (what is included, what is a separate engagement), deliverables, deadlines, responsibilities of each party, billing terms set out transparently, termination conditions. A vague engagement letter is the first sign of a relationship that will deteriorate.
Paperless document exchange, online tracking of filings and deadlines, electronic signature, backups and contractual confidentiality: ask how your data is stored and who can access it. Mandatory e-invoicing in Tunisia makes this point even more important.
A good firm explains (guides, calculators, finance-law notes), anticipates (tax audits, statutory audit thresholds, transfer pricing) and can support you internationally or into sub-Saharan Africa as your project grows. The quality of what it publishes for free is a good indicator of what it will do for you.
You be the judge: firm founded in 2010 in Tunis, registered with the OECT, member since 2017 of MGI Worldwide (global audit and advisory network, 100+ countries), three service lines (accounting, audit and statutory audit, Transaction Advisory), trilingual teams in French, English and Arabic, 100+ clients including subsidiaries of international groups, financial institutions and development institutions, presence in sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal, Benin, Togo).
We answer every request for proposal within 24 hours, with a partner as your contact. And if we are not the right firm for your need, we will tell you.
No. The OECT and the Compagnie des Comptables de Tunisie keep the registers of licensed professionals but do not rank firms. The "top accounting firms in Tunisia" lists found online are automated directories or commercial content. The right choice rests on verifiable criteria: registration with one of the two regulated professions, international network, experience with your type of file, responsiveness, a clear engagement letter.
Consult the register of the Tunisian Order of Chartered Accountants or the register of the Compagnie des Comptables de Tunisie (firm and partners), and the National Business Register. A firm that belongs to an international network also appears in that network's online directory. When in doubt, ask for the registration number.
Both models have their merits. An independent firm that belongs to an international network often combines direct access to a partner, fees proportionate to the size of the file, and the standards, quality reviews and correspondents of a global network. What matters is the experience with your type of file and the quality of your contact.
No: the statutory auditor must be independent and cannot keep the books of the company it certifies. A firm with both service lines can keep the books of one company and audit another, or refer you to a fellow firm for the incompatible engagement.
Experience with exchange control (documentation of the investment, repatriation of dividends), transfer pricing, reporting in the group's format and language, membership of an international network and the ability to talk directly with the group auditor.
Describe your situation through our request-for-proposal form or by e-mail; a partner answers within 24 hours, with a free and confidential first call. We will tell you whether we are the right adviser and, if not, where to turn.
Information guide written by the MGI BFC teams, a firm registered with the Tunisian Order of Chartered Accountants. It neither names nor compares any other firm; each company chooses its adviser according to its situation.
Describe your need; a partner answers within 24 hours, free of charge and in full confidentiality. Request a proposal