whats cost of accountant?

yallapilko

HI,
I'm wondering if anyone out there could please help?

Am I being ripped off?

I've previously let my accountant do all my filing of accounts etc etc on a small business ie shop and internet business. But the bill was £1200.
So in order to save money :money: I've decided to do most of the filing myself and opt for only an income and expenditure sheet style of accounts after discussing with him that I really need to cut my bill.

I closed my shop and just ran the internet business, so there is much less work and for only checking over an income and expenditure sheet along with properly sorted receipts, sorted into months and items such as motor, rent etc, he has quoted 660 in total broken down into the following:

3-400 for the accounts, plus another 150 for a very minimal number of entries (say 30 purchases and 6 payments so far) for a new venture, and 110 to fill in my tax return.

I have a feeling he is overcharging.

What do you think? I'd be grateful for your comments.

fengirl_2

£300-400 for the accounts is very modest, as is the £150 for the new venture. Similarly £110 for a tax return is reasonable. If you were quoted any less for this work, I would be suspicious.

yallapilko

OK thanks.
But from what I can work out, all he is doing is looking over the work I've done, saying OK, then filling out the tax return. The new venture is just an extension of the old one. Not much work there to do.

So that's normal price? ??????

fengirl_2

Do you reconcile your bank accounts monthly? If not, this takes time, as does checking your addition, making adjustments for private use, raising queries. Then probably someone will check the tax work. I really think this is reasonable. I charge an ex neighbour £75 to do his tax return - but I have no overheads, no staff and no professional insurance - all these things add to the cost. A charity of which I am treasurer (therefore the book keeping is perfect!) is charged £300 on a turnover of £7000 - and that is by another charity. You pay peanuts, you get hairy apes.

going2die_rich

If you are good with a PC, why not get some software and do it all yourself? Just do it with him checking first and ensure you pick it all up and then cut the accountant out.

vivatifosi

I pay my accountant £610 per annum plus VAT. For that he does everything other than the VAT returns: all my payroll (for my company of one), the statutory returns, P11Ds etc...

While you might feel that's on the expensive side, a good accountant will also save you money. They will tell you where you can save by filing online, tell you the best periods to invoice in, best way of VAT accounting, etc.... I can't put a number on it, but would guess that my accountant saves me a substantial sum of money that way, certainly in the low hundreds.

yallapilko

Thank you Fen girl, going3die rich and vivatifosi.

I do my reconciliations monthly, also no addition needs checking as it's on spreadsheets. He is basically just having to look over it.

I've never known an accountant charge peanuts but I have seen some hairy apes and lady apes!

Vivatifosi, that is definately cheaper than what I was paying.
I'm wondering if regions differ too.

minimoneyme

Our accountant has just charged us £600 for the year, (We are in London) we are a limited company so have to be audited and have year end accounts prepared by an accountant. He also does our payroll. We do everything else though, VAT, reconciling bank statements and generally chasing him up when he forgets to do things !:eek:
He's a family friend so says he gives us a 'special 'discount .

cosyc

Just shop around in your area. Ring a few in the phone book if their prices are similar then that's ok or arrange a meeting with those you ring. If you trust them and their price seems reasonable then.

From experience - tidy office usually means well organised business, sets of accounts/paperwork all over the desk and floor they are too busy!

longforgotten

Minimoneyme, for £600 I doubt if your accounts are classed as 'audited'.

I think your turnover would need to be over £5.6m ( I think ) for an audit to be mandatory

I admit that there are certain checks to be made but your accounts are not truely audited.

minimoneyme

probably used the wrong terminology , but we have to have annual accounts prepared by an accountant.