Advertising for audit firms in Austria: what is allowed and where the limits are

The legal framework: UWG plus professional law

Searching the consolidated text of the WTBG 2017 for “Werbung” (advertising) turns up nothing. The general guideline on practising the accountancy and tax professions (WT-AARL 2017-KSW) has no advertising section either. Your communication is therefore governed by two levels:

• Unfair competition law: the UWG prohibits misleading (§ 2), aggressive (§ 1a) and otherwise unfair commercial practices (§ 1) and regulates comparative advertising (§ 2a). This applies to audit firms just as to any business.
• Professional law: § 1 WT-AARL requires conscientious, careful, independent and confidential practice on your own responsibility. Breaching the practice guidelines is professional misconduct (§ 128 WTBG 2017), decided on by the KSW's disciplinary council.

In practice, this means: factual, verifiable information is allowed, even with a modern look. It becomes problematic when statements are untrue, cannot be proven, disparage colleagues or reveal confidential client information.

Title, firm name and APAB status

The professional title “Wirtschaftsprüfer” or “Wirtschaftsprüferin” is both mandatory and protected (§ 73 WTBG 2017). You may additionally use “Wirtschaftstreuhänder:in” and refer to other activities you are authorised to carry out, such as “Steuerberater:in” (tax adviser) or “eingetragene:r Mediator:in” (registered mediator). Using any of these titles without authorisation is an administrative offence with a fine of up to 20,000 € (§ 124 Abs. 1 WTBG 2017).

Three situations in which firms trip up here:

• Before recognition: a GmbH may only call itself “Wirtschaftsprüfungs GmbH” once the KSW has recognised it. You can prepare the domain and logo, but only publish afterwards.
• Trainees: the team profile says “Berufsanwärterin” (trainee) or “Prüfungsassistent” (audit assistant), not “auditor in training”, as long as the appointment is still pending.
• APAB certificate: “eingetragene Abschlussprüferin” (registered statutory auditor) is only correct while the time-limited certificate from the APAB (Austrian audit oversight authority) is valid. A statement such as “also for the audit of sustainability reports” requires that the certificate covers this scope.

Focus areas and specialisation

Austrian law for the accountancy professions has no protected specialist titles like the German “Fachanwalt”. You may therefore name focus areas, but you must be able to back them up. The benchmark is the ban on misleading statements: a focus area is one in which you demonstrably work on a regular basis.

The last “don't” is not a prohibition but a common mistake: if everything is a focus area, you have none. For readers from management and supervisory boards, a short, honest list is more credible.

References, logos and client quotes

The duty of confidentiality under § 80 WTBG 2017 covers everything entrusted to you or learned in the course of your work. According to a widely held view, shared for example by the German Wirtschaftsprüferkammer (chamber of auditors), this includes the very fact that an engagement exists. Reference lists, client logos and quotes therefore require express consent, ideally in writing.

A special case in auditing: your name appears in the audit opinion, which is disclosed in the Firmenbuch (commercial register) together with the annual accounts. The fact that this information is publicly accessible does not automatically make it marketing material. We recommend obtaining consent here too before naming a client on your website.

Google reviews and review portals

Reviews on Google or Herold are permitted for audit firms too, as long as they are genuine. Bought or self-written reviews are misleading within the meaning of the UWG. Google also prohibits incentives for reviews and approaching only satisfied clients; sharing a link or QR code is allowed. How to build your profile is explained in Google profile for professional firms.

Replying to a review is trickier. A reply usually confirms that an engagement exists or existed, and must contain no details. A neutral thank you or, in response to criticism, an offer to talk (“Please contact us directly so we can clear this up”) is the safe option. The review reply generator provides suggestions for such replies.

Fees and price information

There is no longer a binding fee scale; the chamber's former fee principles no longer apply. You may state prices or price ranges on your website, for example for audits of associations or an initial meeting. Under § 5 Abs. 2 ECG (E-Commerce Act), it must be clear whether VAT is included. Three rules set limits:

• Contingent fees only within limits (§ 8 WT-AARL).
• No commissions for referring engagements, neither paid nor accepted (§ 84 WTBG 2017). A “referral bonus” for clients falls under this.
• For statutory audits, the fee must be appropriate to the scope of the audit and independent of other services (§ 77 WTBG 2017). An offer such as “Statutory audit at a special price if we also handle your tax advice” contradicts this, and simultaneous involvement in bookkeeping or preparing the accounts is ruled out anyway under the independence rules of §§ 271 ff. UGB (Commercial Code).

LinkedIn, Google Ads, newsletters and cold outreach

For audit firms, LinkedIn is usually the most important social channel, because that is where managing directors, finance heads and supervisory board members read. Expert posts on new size categories, sustainability reporting or audits of associations are unproblematic. Only tag clients with their consent, and do not post photos from meetings in which documents are legible.

Google Ads are permitted, and the ad copy is subject to the same rules as your website. Do not use the names of other firms as search terms; that is risky under trade mark law and comes across as unprofessional towards colleagues. Because “Wirtschaftsprüfer” plus a place name is searched for relatively rarely, ad budgets here are often smaller than in tax advice. How to be found locally is shown in Local SEO for professional firms.

For newsletters and marketing emails, § 174 Abs. 3 TKG 2021 applies: you need the recipients' prior consent, including for businesses. There is an exception for your own customers whose address you obtained in connection with a service, if you advertise similar services of your own and offer an easy way to unsubscribe when collecting the address and in every message (§ 174 Abs. 4). Marketing calls without prior consent are not permitted (§ 174 Abs. 1), and that includes cold calling managing directors.

Your website as a recruiting tool

For many small audit firms, the bottleneck is not winning engagements but finding staff. Trainees also choose their employer based on how they can collect the practical experience required for the professional examination. A careers page that describes concretely which audits you carry out, how preparation for the examination is supported and how the season between January and June is organised has more impact than any slogan. The same applies here: only promise what you will deliver, for example on study time or course fees. Create the text of the ad, including the salary information under the collective agreement that is mandatory in Austria, with the free job ad generator.

The mandatory information for your website is summarised in Imprint for auditors in Austria. If you are also a tax adviser, read Advertising for tax advisers in Austria as well.