Doing my own book keeping, finding an accountant.

metso

Hi

I'm fast approaching the year end for my private LTD company of which there is only one employee (myself)

I am preparing my accounts, off which there are very little transactions, (less than 10 invoices sent out) and accounting my expenses.

I'm looking for an accountant to finalize the books leaving it for me to submit online to the HRMC.

My problem is that when speaking to accountants, they all seem to be charging an awfull lot when it feels like i'm dong most of the work.

Is there such a service that an accountant can provide where I can provide all the information, the accountant summarizes and signs off the final accounts that I can then submit to HRMC

Thanks for your help

dunstonh

What is your definition of charging an awful lot?

chrismac1

I think you're going to struggle to get this done for less than £500 plus VAT. If you were a sole trader it would be more like £250. Why is this, you ask?

Companies Act 2006

This imposes extra work on your accountant, even if you've only raised one invoice in the whole year. For example:

1. Directors' loan accounts must be properly disclosed.
2. Directors' transactions with the company must be disclosed.
3. If the company has any commitments under leases or rent agreements these must be disclosed.
4. Dividend calculations must be done to check any dividends are legal.
5. There must be board minutes and dividend warrants to accompany such dividends.
6. The accounts must be filed with Companies House.
7. The annual return must be filed, and the fee paid.
8. The corporation tax return must be filed with HMRC.
9. Deferred tax must be considered and if needed put in the accounts.

I could go on. Most of the above either apply only to Companies or - as with corporation tax - involve more work than doing the same thing for a sole trader.

antrobus

chrismac1 wrote: »

I think you're going to struggle to get this done for less than £500 plus VAT.

That would be about right.

But I think the OP is asking a different question. He's not looking for an accountant to act for him in the 'normal' way, he just wants an accountant to check his numbers are OK before he does everything himself.

Small companies (and by the sounds of it OP does have a small company) do not require an audit. So there is no need for an accountant to sign of on anything. All you need to do be able to do is print off the right pieces of paper to satisfy HMRC and Companies House and pump the numbers into the online submission thing.

chrismac1

You may find an accountant who will do this, but probably not a qualified one. As I've said, a sole trader would be different and I've done a few of these for sole traders just as stated. For me the Companies Act requirements are a whole new ball game beyond the abilities of the vast majority of non-qualifieds, book-keepers and DIY taxpayers.

heretolearn_2

The problem is that it sounds as if you haven't done proper bookkeeping - full double entry to trial balances and bank rec. If you had, then we, for example, wouldn't charge much for then preparing the financial statements (the accounts you send to companies house) but there is still other work to be done as listed by someone above. What you've probably done (added it up in Excel?) isn't helpful to the accountant to be honest, it's no different to just looking at the original documents, so the proper bookkeeping still has to be done from scratch. If the accountant also has to do the bookkeeping, then they will charge for it, but there should be only a fairly small fee for this if there are only a few transactions.

I'd estimate from around £500ish for this too, if they were being nice to you!

No way do we ever just 'sign off' accounts done by someone else (not even another accountant) and you won't find any qualified/accredited accountants to do this. It makes us legally liable for the contents.

As an official 'small company' to Companies House (but that's any company with turnover under £6.5million, so don't think you are being let off much!) your accounts must include:quoted from companies house:
5. What do small company accounts include?


Generally, small company accounts prepared for members include:

• a profit and loss account;
• a full balance sheet, signed by a director;
• notes to the accounts; and
• group accounts (if a small parent company chooses to prepare them).
• a directors' report; and
• an auditors report (unless the company qualifies for exemption from audit and takes advantage of that exemption); (you will be exempt, but you have to state that in the correct way or your accounts will be returned).

There is also statutory wording that must be in the accounts.

So it's not just a case of putting a few numbers on a form, which antrobus has suggested. Life is a lot simpler as a sole trader, which is why we advise new very small businesses to think twice about going the Ltd route.

PM me if you want more info.

antrobus

heretolearn wrote: »

So it's not just a case of putting a few numbers on a form, which antrobus has suggested.

Which might be why I never suggested that it was a case of "putting a few numbers on a form". What I said is that it was a case of printing "off the right pieces of paper to satisfy HMRC and Companies House and pumping the "numbers into the online submission thing" - although in the very near future (as far as HMRC is concerned at least) it will be a case of pumping the right numbers into their online iXBRL thingy, and you can forget about the paper.

And obviously, to be "right" the "pieces of paper" will comply with the relevant requirements. In any case, what I was trying to do was explain what question the OP was actually asking.

heretolearn wrote: »

No way do we ever just 'sign off' accounts done by someone else (not even another accountant) and you won't find any qualified/accredited accountants to do this. It makes us legally liable for the contents.

I would expect that is the kind of answer that the OP needs to hear, and which I suspect is his or her problem. Or put it his way, no matter how knowledgable or competent you might be at matters accounting or indeed the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, no matter if you do everything short of wiping .... well you know what I mean ... the accountant will spend time checking every damn thing you've done and likely spend as much time doing that as if they'd done it all themselves from scratch. And thus it will make no difference to how much it costs you.

The reason is of course quite simple, the little bleepers need to cover their backsides. They don't want to run the risk of getting sued.

Now obviously this may well be a disappointment to the OP. After all, if all you've got is a Very Small Company with a few transactions, it can seem pretty galling to have to fork out £500 plus VAT for what appears to be so little work. But for the reasons outlined above you're unlikely to find a pucker practicing accountant who will do any different.

As it happens, I have a small company with about 10 sales invoices and a few expenses. I'm not paying anybody £600 to do the accounting and tax. I do it myself. I print out the right bits of paper to satisfy the HMRC and CH, and I go online and pump a few numbers into the online submission thing and it's done. But then I'm an accountant and I know what I'm doing. (Or at least I think I do.)

If you think you know what you're doing then you can do the same. As noted above, it's probable that you don't need an audit, so you don't need an accountant to sign off on anything. You could do it all yourself. But you'd be taking a risk, if only because the SOBs who decide these things keep changing the rules. One minute you think you've got everything down pat, and then they pass a new Companies Act, or change the rules on Corporation Tax, or announce that they're not interested in bits of paper anymore and everything has to be electronic and compliant with iXBRL.

Of course it might be worthwhile considering whether you need a company at all, since life is a lot simpler as a small trader.