Advertising for auditors in Germany: what § 52 WPO allows

The principle: freedom with a UWG limit

§ 52 WPO places auditors' advertising on the same footing as that of any other business: the Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb (Act against Unfair Competition). The professional statutes for auditors and sworn accountants (BS WP/vBP), in the 2016 version and its amendments, no longer contain an advertising section of their own. Three provisions do, however, affect your communication:

• § 14 Abs. 1 BS WP/vBP: auditors must express themselves factually. This does not rule out a modern tone, but it does rule out disparagement and exaggeration.
• § 4 Abs. 2 BS WP/vBP: services may only be offered if the expertise and time to carry them out are available. The explanatory notes regard this as an expression of the ban on misleading statements.
• § 16 BS WP/vBP: clients and staff must not be poached unfairly, including when setting up your own practice.

For your website, this means: you may say anything that is true, provable and factual. The real risks lie in the details covered in the following sections.

Twelve phrases put to the test

Title, company designation and seal

In professional dealings you use the title “Wirtschaftsprüfer” or “Wirtschaftsprüferin” (§ 18 WPO). You may additionally use academic degrees and officially conferred titles such as Steuerberater:in (tax adviser), Rechtsanwält:in (lawyer) or Fachanwält:in für Steuerrecht (certified tax law specialist). The titles “Buchprüfer”, “Bücherrevisor” and “Wirtschaftstreuhänder”, on the other hand, are prohibited; anyone entitled to the title “Wirtschaftsprüfer” under foreign law must state the country. Breaches are administrative offences with fines of up to 5,000 € (§ 132 WPO).

The designation “Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft” (audit firm) is reserved for recognised firms (§§ 31, 133 WPO, fine of up to 10,000 €). Anyone using “Wirtschaftsprüfer” without being appointed commits a criminal offence under § 132a Abs. 1 Nr. 2 StGB. For your website, this means: maintain team pages carefully. Audit assistants are not “junior auditors”, and anyone who has passed the examination but has not yet been appointed does not use the title yet.

Naming focus areas correctly

The professional statutes allow you to state Tätigkeitsschwerpunkte (main areas of activity). According to the explanatory notes, these must be sub-fields, not the entire professional spectrum. Naming five focus areas that together cover everything does not inform; it dilutes. Good focus areas are concrete and say something about sector, size or type of audit:

References and tenders

In the view of the WPK (Wirtschaftsprüferkammer, chamber of public auditors), the duty of confidentiality under § 43 Abs. 1 WPO already covers the fact that an engagement exists. A reference list with names, client logos or a quote with a full name therefore requires the clients' consent. The issue arises in particular in public tenders for audit services that ask for references. The WPK has published a guidance note for contracting authorities on this; according to it, anonymised reference lists are unobjectionable under professional law.

For your website, this means: work with descriptions such as “Annual audit of a mechanical engineering GmbH with around 200 employees, Baden-Württemberg”. If clients agree to be named, record their consent in text form, with its scope and the option to withdraw.

Reviews and rating widgets

Reviews on Google or platforms such as ProvenExpert are permitted. Anyone who makes consumer reviews available on their own website must state whether and how it is ensured that they come from real customers (§ 5b Abs. 3 UWG). Fake or bought reviews, and claiming an authenticity check that does not take place, are always prohibited (annex to § 3 Abs. 3 UWG, Nos. 23b and 23c).

Audit clients are almost always businesses. You are therefore more likely to receive reviews for tax advice than for statutory audits. Reply to reviews without disclosing details of the engagement, because § 43 WPO applies here too. The review reply generator provides suitable wording. Incidentally, your own reviews on your website do not produce stars in Google's search results; Google excludes such self-published reviews. More on this in Google profile for professional firms.

Fees: what you must not promise in advertising

• No contingent fees for audits and expert opinions (§ 55 Abs. 1 WPO). For tax matters, § 55a WPO only allows them within narrow limits.
• No bundling: the fee for statutory audits must not depend on whether additional services are commissioned. “Audit cheaper if combined with tax advice” is therefore ruled out.
• No commissions: you may neither pay nor accept payment for referring engagements (§ 55 Abs. 2 WPO).
• Appropriateness: if there is a striking disproportion between fee and service, you must be able to show an appropriate amount of time spent. Bait prices for statutory audits are therefore risky.

Price information on your website is permitted. Towards consumers, for example for tax returns, state total prices including VAT. Tax advisory services are subject to the Steuerberatervergütungsverordnung (tax advisers' fee regulation); details are in Advertising for tax advisers in Germany.

Letters, calls, emails and ads

Searches for auditors are often career questions. If you run ads, it is therefore better to focus on concrete services such as “Prüfung nach MaBV” (MaBV audit) or “Jahresabschlussprüfung GmbH” (annual audit for a GmbH) rather than the name of the profession. Leave out the names of other practices as search terms. For organic visibility, Local SEO for professional firms helps.

On LinkedIn, expert posts on audit topics, insights into training for the examination and job ads work well. When recruiting, § 16 BS WP/vBP applies: you may approach staff of other practices, but must not poach them by unfair means. The mandatory information for your website and profiles is set out in Imprint for auditors in Germany.