ACS Accountants streamlines signatures and boosts efficiency with QES

QES Accounting

ACS Accountants, a Belgian accountancy and bookkeeping firm, has digitised and modernised its operations by embracing qualified electronic signatures (QES) with itsme^® and Penneo. 

Following our partnership, which started 3 years ago, documents at ACS Accountants move faster, clients sign digitally with confidence, and office assistants have full oversight through intuitive dashboards. In the following sections, we share how QES transformed fragmented routines into a smooth, standardised, and secure signing process that works seamlessly for every branch, assistant, and client.

"With QES, the average completion time for annual reports is 8 days, with each case file typically requiring around 11 signatures. This equals on average less than 24 hours per signer." - Wouter Scholiers, Digital Strategist at ACS Accountants

Challenge: Inefficient workflows and limited oversight in signing

Before adopting qualified electronic signature (QES), managing document workflows was a constant challenge for ACS Accountants. Signature requests were sent through email, and office assistants used Excel sheets to track which client had received documents, who had signed, and who was still pending. Sending reminders to sign was entirely manual, which caused delays and long turnaround times. 

Even though digital signing was available, most clients relied on printing, signing, scanning, and sending documents back by email, post, or even in person. This fragmented process created confusion, inefficiency, and frustration for both clients and staff. 

Beyond these challenges, documents sent by email as PDFs were printed and signed manually, making it impossible to verify who actually signed. “Sometimes a secretary would sign on behalf of the owner,” notes Bart Vercammen, Senior Account Manager at Penneo. “Even with digital signature tools, once a signature image is uploaded, anyone in the company can place it on any document, which means there’s no real certainty that the correct person actually signed.”

Continue reading: How Europabank digitised its services with e-sign  

Solution: Adopting QES through Penneo and itsme^®

To digitalise their signing process, ACS Accountants chose to rely on qualified electronic signatures (QES) as their chief method for signing. They did this by partnering with digital document platform Penneo, which offers QES by itsme^®. 

"We chose Penneo for its intuitive interface, smooth functionality, comprehensive features, and competitive pricing," explains Wouter. "Additionally, client familiarity with digital identity platform itsme^® across Belgium made adoption seamless, while providing full certainty and security." 

To ensure a structured and smooth rollout of Penneo, each office designated an IT key user to join a pilot phase. They tested the platform and provided feedback, which ACS Accountants shared with Penneo to implement improvements before the company-wide launch. Once updates were in place, all employees received training, and a “How to use Penneo” guide was added to the internal Wiki.

"Because it’s integrated into AdminPulse and Silverfin, setting up Penneo is straightforward and doesn’t feel like a new tool; it simply fits into existing workflows for accountants," adds Bart. “You press a button, and everything runs automatically through the API.” 

“After the rollout, we emailed all our clients to let them know we were using Penneo. This ensured that any email from the Penneo domain was clearly legitimate, not spam or phishing,” explains Wouter. “Today, we hardly receive any support calls about QES,” he adds, highlighting the success of the rollout and the platform’s ease of use.

Read further: Complete guide to QES by itsme^® 

Impact: "60% of documents are fully signed within 24 hours"

The impact of using QES from Penneo and itsme^® was immediately seen by ACS Accountants. “Clients started signing much faster, and new clients arriving from firms that didn’t use QES often commented on how smoother and faster the process feels,” says Wouter.  

Clients simply open itsme^®, confirm, and the document is signed in one streamlined flow, which is a huge time-saver. Additionally, Penneo automates follow-ups, which means that accountants no longer need to chase clients to ask them repeatedly to sign. 

"With the Penneo dashboard, office assistants at ACS have a clear overview of every file and can send reminders effortlessly. Integrations with Silverfin and AdminPulse have further streamlined their workflows, reducing manual effort and improving efficiency," adds Bart.

Standardisation has also been a key benefit. Before adopting QES, each office handled documents differently. Now, all office assistants follow the same workflow. “When someone has a problem, we know exactly how to help because the process is identical everywhere,” explains Wouter.  

The results speak for themselves: About 60% of documents that ACS sends through Penneo are fully signed within 24 hours. The average completion time for annual reports is 8 days, with each case file typically requiring around 11 signatures. This means that it takes less than 24 hours per signer on average.

Beyond speed, QES also ensures legal certainty. With QES from itsme^®, the signer must identify themselves, and that identity is directly linked to the signature. Every signature is therefore qualified, carrying the same legal value as a handwritten signature.

"You can be 100% sure that the intended person is signing, not their secretary or colleague,” assures Bart. 

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