Lawyers, architects, notaries, auditors, surveyors, consulting engineers, court-appointed experts: the liberal professions operate within demanding ethical and regulatory frameworks that shape even how they may structure themselves, associate and pay themselves. The key questions recur at every stage of a career: choosing between natural person and company while taking account of the rules of your order or institute; structuring an association — cost-sharing company, cost-sharing arrangement, full integration — without creating imbalances between partners; organising efficient remuneration when income is irregular; building a pension to match your standard of living, where the statutory self-employed pension will not suffice; managing the entry and exit of partners, the valuation of shares and, one day, the transfer of the practice or the office. To these are added specific obligations: third-party and quality accounts, reinforced anti-money-laundering obligations for certain professions, professional liability insurance. All of these are matters where a mistake is dearly paid for — financially and ethically. Digitalisation is moreover reshuffling the cards: structured electronic invoicing now mandatory between businesses, paperless exchanges with the authorities, new client expectations regarding responsiveness. The firms that take this turn early gain a lasting operational advantage; the others will be subjected to it.

Catalyst has long supported the liberal professions and their structures, from the self-employed operating as natural persons to multidisciplinary associations, including professional non-profits (ASBL/AISBL) — a recognised specialisation of our teams. We know the ethical constraints of the main regulated professions and structure your choices accordingly: company form, statutes compliant with the requirements of your order, balanced association agreements, mechanisms for the entry and exit of partners. We optimise your remuneration and your pension by deploying the levers suited to your status. We keep your accounts with the sector's specifics — provisions and disbursements, third-party accounts, statements of fees — in a fully digital environment that respects the confidentiality of your files. And we support you in the structuring moments: association, merger of practices, setting up, transfer.

Our support follows the thread of your career. At the start: choice of status, registration, first obligations, a realistic financial plan that takes account of the gradual build-up of a client base. At cruising speed: annual optimisation of remuneration and pension, management of associates and trainees, investments. At the moment of association: valuation of the respective contributions, balanced agreements, mechanisms for sharing results that stand the test of time. And at the end of a career: valuation of the practice or office, organisation of the transfer to a successor or to partners, tax management of the exit and the shift towards private wealth management. At each stage, you decide on the basis of quantified scenarios — never on impressions.

A lawyer operating through their management company, who had "kept things very simple" for years, felt they were missing opportunities: our regular tax consultations identified significant optimisations, with a direct and lasting effect on their net income.

A self-employed consultant hesitating to take the plunge built a genuine business plan with us and chose the right structure — they took the step and now earn distinctly better.

We also support associations of professionals in setting up their operating and management companies, and professional non-profits in their accounting management and their specific obligations. Each time, the same method: understand your practice, quantify the options, implement — and remain available.

Among advisory professionals, we speak the same language: that of rigour, confidentiality and responsibility. Our ITAA-certified accountants — subject, like you, to a strict code of conduct — know the realities of liberal practice because they deal with them daily. You benefit from a dedicated point of contact and from the strength of a multidisciplinary group: tax specialists for your optimisations, HR advisors for your staff, strategy specialists for your associations and transfers, wealth experts to prepare for what comes next. With a simple promise: the right advice at the right time, so that your structure serves your practice — and never the other way around.