Audit firm activity licence in Estonia

An audit firm (audiitorettevõtja) is the business through which a sworn auditor provides audits, reviews and other audit services in Estonia. It needs an activity licence from the Auditing Activities Oversight Board, granted under the Auditors Activities Act⁷¹¹. The firm's shareholders and management must include sworn auditors, a private limited company must have fully paid share capital of at least EUR 12,000, and the firm must take out professional liability insurance.

Information as of 11 November 2026. Every numbered statement of this page was checked in the official text named below and re-checked by a second reviewer on 2026-11-11. The page is general information, not legal advice; the authority decides on every application.

What the activity is

The Auditors Activities Act uses "audit service" for the professional service of a sworn auditor. It is either an assurance service (an audit, a review or another assurance service) or a related service, such as compiling financial information or performing agreed-upon procedures on financial information¹. A sworn auditor provides this service through an audit firm. An audit firm is either a company of sworn auditors (audiitorühing) or a sworn auditor working as a sole proprietor². In Estonia, only an audit firm may provide this service under the professional title of sworn auditor, unless the act provides otherwise³.

An audit company may have no field other than audit services and "other business activity". The act defines other business activity as counselling, training and services in the fields of the sworn auditor's professional examination⁴. A company that is not an audit company may not use the words "sworn auditor", "audit firm" or "audit company" in its activities or business name⁵.

The legal act and the authority

• Act: Audiitortegevuse seadus (Auditors Activities Act, abbreviated AudS), in the wording in force from 17 January 2025⁶.
• Competent authority: the Auditing Activities Oversight Board (audiitortegevuse järelevalve nõukogu, the "Oversight Board"). It issues, suspends and revokes the licence⁷.
• Professional body: the Estonian Auditors' Association (Audiitorkogu, called the "Board of Auditors" in the official translation), a legal person in public law. A licensed audit firm becomes a member when the licence decision takes effect⁸.
• Register: the Auditors Activities Register (audiitortegevuse register). The Ministry of Finance is its controller and Audiitorkogu its processor. The Oversight Board records the licence in it, and registry card data are public⁹. The licence is electronic, has no expiry date and cannot be transferred¹⁰.

Who must apply

An audit firm needs a valid activity licence to provide audit services in Estonia, unless the act provides otherwise¹¹. Special cases:

• A public-sector sworn auditor employed by a public-sector entity needs no licence to carry out the assurance tasks that the law gives to that position¹².
• An audit company already licensed in another EEA state applies under a separate procedure. It files the data listed in § 79(1) and a certificate from its home authority, no older than three months, confirming that its licence is valid. §§ 76, 77 and 85–87 of the act do not apply to it¹³.
• A sworn auditor who works alone applies as a sole proprietor after taking the sworn auditor's oath¹⁴.

Requirements for the applicant

Legal form and seat. An audit company may be a general or limited partnership, a private limited company (OÜ), a public limited company (AS), a European company (SE) or a company registered in an EEA state¹⁵. The Oversight Board may revoke the licence if the company is not entered in the commercial register within two months of the licence decision¹⁶.

Capital. An audit company that is a private limited company must have share capital of at least EUR 12,000, paid up in full¹⁷.

Ownership. Sworn auditors or audit firms must hold the majority of the votes. The sworn auditors must have qualified in an EEA state and must be fully subject to the supervision of an EEA competent authority¹⁸.

Management. At least three quarters of the persons who represent the company by law must be sworn auditors who qualified in an EEA state and are members of Audiitorkogu. With a management board of up to two members, at least one must be such a sworn auditor. With three members, at least two must be¹⁹. A sworn auditor may represent only one audit firm²⁰, and the firm's procurator (prokurist) must be a sworn auditor²¹.

Repute. The firm and the persons entitled to represent it must have a good reputation and be reliable. Repute counts as damaged, for example, after a conviction for an intentional crime, or for a person who is a bankrupt or under a valid business ban²².

Network. The firm may not belong to a network of sworn auditors whose structure prevents the authority from getting all the information it needs for oversight²³.

Insurance. The firm must take out professional liability insurance within 30 days of the licence being granted. It then sends a copy of the policy to the Oversight Board through the register's information system²⁴. For an OÜ, AS or SE, the cover is at least ten times the fees of the two largest client contracts of the last reporting period per insured event, and never less than EUR 64,000. For a sole proprietor or a partnership, the multiple is five and the floor is EUR 32,000. The excess per event may not exceed the share capital, or EUR 3,000 for a sole proprietor or partnership²⁵.

Anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT). The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (RahaPTS) applies to sworn auditors when they provide audit services²⁶. The firm must:

• prepare a written risk assessment²⁷;
• adopt procedural rules and internal control rules²⁷;
• if its management board has more than one member, name the member responsible for compliance²⁸.

A contact person for the Financial Intelligence Unit (Rahapesu Andmebüroo, FIU) is optional for an audit firm²⁸. The FIU supervises compliance with this act²⁹.

Documents filed with the application

A person entitled to represent the company files the application with the Oversight Board through the register's information system. The application includes³⁰:

• Corporate documents: a copy of the valid articles of association. For a company being founded, it also includes a copy of the notarially certified memorandum of association, foundation resolution or partnership agreement.
• Ownership: a list of shareholders with each one's registry or personal identification code (or date of birth) and the number of shares and votes held.
• Management: for each management board member or managing partner, their name, identification code or date of birth, residence, all places of work and posts held, and area of responsibility. The application also confirms that these persons are trustworthy and meet the requirements of the act.

Documents and data available in state databases do not need to be filed³¹. If the information changes while the application is being processed, the company must notify the Oversight Board without delay³².

State fee and processing time

Whether a state fee applies is specified for the client's situation. A licensed firm pays Audiitorkogu a licence fee and a supervision fee each year. These are 0.3–0.8% and 0.7–2.4% of the previous year's audit service revenue, and the supervision fee is at least EUR 400 a year. A firm that becomes a member during the year pays three times the sworn auditor's membership fee within one month³⁴.

The Oversight Board decides to grant or refuse the licence within 30 days of receiving all the necessary documents and data, and no later than two months after receiving the application³⁵. The Oversight Board may ask for missing documents to be completed or for more information. It may leave the application unexamined if the documents do not arrive by its deadline³⁶. These time limits are the law's, not a promise. The Oversight Board may refuse the licence, for example if the firm or its representatives do not meet the act's requirements³⁷.

What LexorCorp Global OÜ does and how to order

LexorCorp Global OÜ sells this work under its general service "Activity licence application documentation". The price is from €3,500, one-time. LexorCorp Global OÜ is not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added³⁸. Under it, LexorCorp Global OÜ:

• sets out the requirements of the act for the activity, from its official text;
• prepares the application and the documents it needs;
• submits the application and answers the authority's questions in writing.

The firm describes its activity and provides what the act requires of it. Its sworn auditors, capital, insurance and the Audiitorkogu fees are the client's responsibility. The service is application preparation. It is not legal advice, an audit or tax advice. The Oversight Board alone decides, so a licence or a date cannot be promised. The starting price covers one licence of ordinary scope, and any further work is agreed in writing before it starts³⁹.

Order: order form

Sources

1. AudS § 44(1)-(3) — text in force from 17.01.2025
2. AudS § 7(1)-(2) — text in force from 17.01.2025
3. AudS § 7(4) — text in force from 17.01.2025
4. AudS § 76(5), § 44(3¹) — text in force from 17.01.2025
5. AudS § 9(1)-(3) — text in force from 17.01.2025
6. Riigi Teataja header — text in force from 17.01.2025
7. AudS § 10(3), § 82(1), § 87(1), § 88(1) — text in force from 17.01.2025
8. AudS § 101(1)-(2), § 103(1) p 2 — text in force from 17.01.2025
9. AudS § 1 p 9, § 153(3)-(4), § 82(6), § 156(1) — text in force from 17.01.2025
10. AudS § 82(2)-(4) — text in force from 17.01.2025
11. AudS § 81(1) — text in force from 17.01.2025
12. AudS § 81(3)-(4) — text in force from 17.01.2025
13. AudS § 79¹(1),(3) — text in force from 17.01.2025
14. AudS § 83(1)-(2) — text in force from 17.01.2025
15. AudS § 76(2) — text in force from 17.01.2025
16. AudS § 87(4) p 7 — text in force from 17.01.2025
17. AudS § 76(4) — text in force from 17.01.2025
18. AudS § 76(3) — text in force from 17.01.2025
19. AudS § 77(1)-(2) — text in force from 17.01.2025
20. AudS § 78 — text in force from 17.01.2025
21. AudS § 65(4) — text in force from 17.01.2025
22. AudS § 76(1), § 39(2)-(3) — text in force from 17.01.2025
23. AudS § 76(6) — text in force from 17.01.2025
24. AudS § 63(4)-(5) — text in force from 17.01.2025
25. AudS § 64(1)-(3) — text in force from 17.01.2025
26. RahaPTS § 2(1) p 7 — text in force from 21.07.2026
27. RahaPTS § 13(1), § 14(1) — text in force from 21.07.2026
28. RahaPTS § 17(1),(3) — text in force from 21.07.2026
29. RahaPTS § 64(1) — text in force from 21.07.2026
30. AudS § 79(1) p 1-4 incl. 3¹ — text in force from 17.01.2025
31. AudS § 79(3) — text in force from 17.01.2025
32. AudS § 79(2) — text in force from 17.01.2025
34. AudS § 106(1),(5),(5¹), § 108(1),(3),(4) — text in force from 17.01.2025
35. AudS § 84(2) — text in force from 17.01.2025
36. AudS § 80(1),(2),(5) — text in force from 17.01.2025
37. AudS § 85 — text in force from 17.01.2025
38. LexorCorp Global price list and service description (price list)
39. LexorCorp Global price list and service description (price list)

Official sources

The laws this article names, each linked to its official text, as read on 9 October 2026. For the Estonian acts we read the English translation in Riigi Teataja; the legally binding text is the Estonian one.

• Auditors Activities Act — Riigi Teataja, English translation
• Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act — Riigi Teataja, English translation

Sources in the text are named without links; the official texts are linked under Official sources. To see which of our services your company needs, open the Business Navigator.