Accountant costs

Pennywise

Go and see a cross-section of accountants, not just 3 of the same type. I.e. don't go to see 3 "one man bands", nor 3 "High St Firms", nor 3 randomly picked from Yellow Pages. You may just end up with 3 very similar people to talk to. Better to go for 1 "one man band", 1 "High St firm" and one random Yellow Pages - then you should get three totally different people/firms - it may help you decide what type of firm you want, then you can still see another couple of that type before you make your choice. Don't make a hasty decision - whilst a good accountant should be well worth their fee, a bad one may be the difference between business sucess and failure. Trust your instincts - they're usually right - you need to be able to work with your accountant, so you must be able to relate with them and they have to be on your wavelength.

emsywoo123

Pennywise wrote: »

Go and see a cross-section of accountants, not just 3 of the same type. I.e. don't go to see 3 "one man bands", nor 3 "High St Firms", nor 3 randomly picked from Yellow Pages. You may just end up with 3 very similar people to talk to. Better to go for 1 "one man band", 1 "High St firm" and one random Yellow Pages - then you should get three totally different people/firms - it may help you decide what type of firm you want, then you can still see another couple of that type before you make your choice. Don't make a hasty decision - whilst a good accountant should be well worth their fee, a bad one may be the difference between business sucess and failure. Trust your instincts - they're usually right - you need to be able to work with your accountant, so you must be able to relate with them and they have to be on your wavelength.

For some reason I thought that this would be the easy (easier!) part of going it alone........:rotfl:

leveller2911

I am in a partnership with the wife and Our accountant charges us £250-00 a year to do our 3 tax returns.He,s not chartered but seems to be on the ball.

We do monthly spreadsheets and TBF he just goes throught them with a fine toothed comb.He also charges us £60-00 a quarter to do our VAT return..
The Local accountancy firms are charging around £700 which is a joke as nearly all the work is carried out by poorly paid clerks......

moneypooh

TBH VAT returns are not difficult if you use spreadsheets, and can be done online where the tax is worked out for you. ( a good check)
Keeping accounts doesn't have to be complicated.
You can get advise from Business Link and the tax office itself.
If you join the FSB you'll get good rates from other members. Our accountant's fees are not expensive at all through FSB membership.

simpywimpy

ours is £500 as a ltd company with 70k turnover

Sole trader should be much less than that, especially if you do as much of the work yourself as possible such as keeping the basic day to day accounts.

leveller2911

moneypooh wrote: »

TBH VAT returns are not difficult if you use spreadsheets, and can be done online where the tax is worked out for you. ( a good check)
Keeping accounts doesn't have to be complicated.
You can get advise from Business Link and the tax office itself.
If you join the FSB you'll get good rates from other members. Our accountant's fees are not expensive at all through FSB membership.

Good post Moneypooh,ive been in the FSB for 6yrs now and TBH ive never had a good rate or discount from anything ,whether its commercial insurance,Telephone etc etc.....I'm purely in the FSB for the insurance they give FOC to act on your behalf if investigated by the Inland Revenue and debt recovery.The good thing is the membership costs don't rise,if its £100 when you join per year then its always £100 per year,Like that bit..
I don't have time to do the FBS lunching and networking as I'm working ..:D

emsywoo123

Thank you all so much for your advice