Entrepreneurs seem to be highly valuable for the firms in which they are involved. However, the knowledge of the role of accounting in a context of entrepreneurship is limited. In fact, some literature on entrepreneurship indicates that the role of accounting is only about the past and therefore not of interest for entrepreneurs in the entrepreneurial process.

This paper reports the results of one empirical study. The study aimed to explore how and why entrepreneurs in successful fast growing firms, i.e. Gazelle firms, participate in the year end procedures. In order to find entrepreneurs a survey was sent to a sample of 257 managers of Gazelle firms and to a control group of 227 managers in not growing firms. The responding rate was more than 50% from both groups. Entrepreneurs in Gazelle firms produce formal financial accounting information and the spent more time compared with managers in not growing firms in this process. Further, the results indicate that that there is a negative relationship between the size and the firm and participation in the year-end procedures.