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Accountant charges too much - what to do??
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John_Pierpoint wrote: »Accountants, like most businesses have to offer incentives to get new customers.
The overheads for running an office in the country with the largest tax code must be massive and these costs are recovered using the fee earners hourly rate.
How much are you paying your accountant per hour.
Is he/she good at the job?
Are you buying value?.
How much do you pay your car mechanic?
How long did you spend composing your Emails?
Its probably taken me at least 15 minutes to write this.
I bet you are wishing you bounced some of your questions/ideas off the rest of us first?
[Over the weekend, I spent several hours composing a 3 page letter of enquiries/suggestions to my solicitor - I'm dreading the cost of the answers, but the cost of getting it wrong could be 6 figures].
Yes it has taken 15 minutes, with the funniest "Archers" episode ever, in the background.
I don't know how else to put it.
I had no questions to him about taxation, these were 15 emails of this kind:
1) Thanks.
2) Can you send it today?
3) I will let you know, no problems.
4) Thanks again
There was only 1 email with a question ABOUT WHAT HE WROTE TO ME in something he sent in the post in addition to a copy of my return.
As I mentioned above the return was covering 2 months only (February-March) with nothing to examine nor any deductions, simply a straightforward return.....
I don't like to share all my personal info in the forum the same way I respect the accountant and don't disclose his name, however generally speaking my question was who I can turn to if we're not getting into agreement?
I wish I could tell now what would happen but as I said I'm unable to discuss this with him as he's on vacation now, fair enough.0 -
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If he's given you no tax advice by email then he can't charge you for it.
I have to disagree with Timmne from in my experience in practice the person who does the bill usually looks at the the quote and last years fee and thinks "what can I charge". Typically they'd then write off the extra time. If they bill a the whole lot of time it's usually because they think the job is more hassle than it's worth and don't care if they lose it next year.0 -
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So you are self-employed. Presumbly your accountant had to figure your accounting period, basis period and overlap relief. Doubtless he also had to prepare some accounts using GAAP. All sounds very cheap to me too. What qualifications does the accountant have?0
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Cook_County wrote: »So you are self-employed.
Correct.Cook_County wrote: »Presumbly your accountant had to figure your accounting period, basis period and overlap relief. Doubtless he also had to prepare some accounts using GAAP. All sounds very cheap to me too.
He agreed to do it all for £250, it's not my job to assume what he needed to do, if you say £250 then stick to your word.
Moreover the return was very simple and straightforward covering only 2 months and 2 salaries and no deductions, it's like me telling you make me a return for £1,000 income with no deductions, pure and simple... I don't think in my personal opinion it's complicated but again it's irrelevant...
I'm not here anyway to discuss the cost of the return, that is a fixed price, I'm here to discuss why I need to pay £500 for literally nothing?0 -
my partner is having the same problem in a kind of way. she has a small beauty room and only turns over 14k a year, the accountant wants to charge £1800 to do her 09/10 accounts when shes been quoted 750 elsewhere. there is a counter issue around her father (he used to sort everything out through his business) but he is struggling. he wont release her accounts due to her fathers outstanding debt. can anyone help?0
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He sounds like a bit of a shyster - keeping her records for his debt? Certainly not allowed. Lien (as it's known) is allowed for the client/accountant relationship but not for another client altogether! Here are the guidelines from the AAT on this:
255.1 When a member has, in the UK, carried out work on the documents of a client and the bill theProfessional Standards team or from a solicitor.
member has rendered has not been paid, the member will have, under UK law, what is called a
particular lien over those documents. This means that the member will be able to retain
possession of the documents until his or her fees have been paid for the work carried out in
relation to those documents.
255.2 The member will have a right of lien where all three of the following conditions exist:
(i) the documents retained are the property of the client and not of a third party
(ii) the documents have come into the member’s possession by proper means, and
(iii) work has been done by the member on the documents, the member has rendered
an adequately detailed fee note and the fees are outstanding in respect of that work.
For example, a member is not able to exercise a lien in respect of documents of the
same client on which past, remunerated work was carried out or where fees are
outstanding on the part of a company, but the work was carried out on documents
which are the personal property of a director. Further, special rules apply in relation
to the statutory books and accounting records of companies, and where documents
are claimed by an Administrator or Liquidator of a company, or the Official Receiver
or a Trustee in Bankruptcy. Further guidance can be obtained from the AAT’s
Basically, he can do it but not for the wrong client!
£1800 sounds faaar too much for a £14k turnover business, unless she does absolutely zero bookkeeping during the year. I would have thought somewhere around £3-400 would be a fair fee if the books are kept properly, that's what I charge a similar client to your partner.0 -
Thanks timmne, what can i do about it? i thinks is ridiculous. should i get her to write to the partner and query the amount and suggest a suitbale amount? sorry to be a pain.0
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