Accountants fees

seismicryan

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I have a colleague who used to work as an accountant. They are psyching themselves up to write to our accountants / auditors to dispute the bill for preparation of this year's accounts. And they tell the story of one of their former colleagues who left the accountancy practice to work for one of the firm's clients, just after personally completing preparation of that client's accounts. The first thing they did in their new job was write to the accountancy practice to dispute the bill ... which they had been responsible for producing! :rotfl:

I must ask if the bill was actually reduced!

Ha! That's priceless!

Ryan

paddyrg

Accountants are service providers working for you - ask them what their fees are and how much it is likely to cost you to do x/y/z based on how much you're turning over, how many receipts you generate, how many invoices tyou generate etc. VAT is fair;ly easy,. and doing your own means you're always forcing yourself to stay reasonably current with your books and you know how much cash is in the company

Seraphim

paddyrg wrote: »

Accountants are service providers working for you - ask them what their fees are and how much it is likely to cost you to do x/y/z based on how much you're turning over, how many receipts you generate, how many invoices tyou generate etc. VAT is fair;ly easy,. and doing your own means you're always forcing yourself to stay reasonably current with your books and you know how much cash is in the company

It's also worth asking what "support" you get.

When I was starting out, I noticed a lot of cheaper accountants would let you have 2 phonecalls or emails a month. My current ones have no limit which means I can bug them with dumb questions as often as a I like.

If you want a comparison for prices, mine charges me around £1200 (exc VAT - because I can claim it back) a year. This is for all my personal tax, corporation tax matters and Companies House paperwork. I do my own VAT returns and invoicing.

One other thing to think about - I deliberately chose a firm of accountants rather than a one man band and I'm glad I did. My usual accountant had personal issues earlier this year and had to take three months off work. Had she been a one man band, I honestly don't know what I would have done as it would have been so much hassle to switch to someone else - I do not wish to denigrate one man bands as they are certainly worthwhile however for *MY* circumstances, a firm is better.

Horace

You can do your invoices yourself using some software called Kashflow, you can set this system up to email the invoices to your clients each month.

An accountant is worth their weight in gold but they can be pricey which is why I try and do as much as I can myself e.g. raising my own invoices, keeping my receipts in good order and maintaining my own books. All my accountant does is sort out my self assessment and prepare my profit and loss statement and cashflow. I know that she has given me amazing advice too and helped me set up a limited company but there is no way that I would ask her to raise invoices on my behalf because that would be additional expense plus it is something that I can easily do myself.

If you cannot raise the invoices yourself then you need a bookkeeper - google bookkeepers in your area.

Rom4

seismicryan wrote: »

I just got our accountants bill for our second year, and I nearly fell off my seat..

My accounts are impecable, down to the very penny. We do business in several different currencies and have several different accounts, but even with that I gave the accountant everything he needed and could have came up with the final figures he provided to companies house with the pushing of 2 or 3 buttons... so to say the least I was not impressed.

I am now looking at maybe going elsewhere..

I am going to raise the issue with the accountant andbasically ask is there anything I can do to reduce the bill.. otherwise I will have to go elsewhere!

Ryan

Hi Ryan

Would be interested to hear if you got your bill reduced. I have a Ltd company, 2 directors I am main shareholder, turnover, < 30,000.

Like you I present my accountants with a folder with everything in order. Plus Lists of stock, invoice numbers date sent date paid etc a multi page spreadsheet. They prep the tax and send to HRM, thier bill went up - 1700 quid!! Phoning around other firms have stated 650 per year.so I will be switiching.

A major issue - signed a new Standing order but forgot to cancel old one (yea I know dumb) the accountants have so far 'declined' to repay the over payment, despite being asked 3 times. would appreciate any guidance on what to do next

Rom