Before statutory accounts, the books are not read as a story. They are read as a set of tests.

Control accounts first: do they close, and to what. Then the accounts that collect residual — suspense, directors, anything that should have been allocated and was not. Then the period edges: accruals, prepayments, cut-off against paperwork.

VAT is tested where errors cluster, not recomputed as a return.

If a line will cost accountant time later, that is the finding. The point of reading the period now is that the corrections are still yours to make.

Priced per period. One payment. Nothing recurring.