Limited co accounts due- help!

IrishGypsy

Get a good professional, I once tried a small cheap firm recommended to me and it was a nightmare, only filed an estimate (accounts given before end of Dec 2009), turned out he never actually filed a 'proper' return and I got a £400 tax bill AND a student loans then said about 4 months later that they wanted money too.

Found someone at a bigger accountants, gave them everything in sectioned off files (labelled as well) and paid £400+VAT and they were amazing. Done it all, professionally prepared and submitted accounts, never had to pay ANY tax, even though my revenue was higher (as they knew what allowances and expenses to use etc - confirmed as accepted by the HMRC) and I will use them again once May rolls around again.

I'd never dream of trying it myself. Would make my head explode just even thinking about what I'd need to do. You're a professional in your field, get a professional in the accountancy field. A good accountant will earn their fee back (and hopefully more) in their first year.

Best of luck.

fang33

Hello Irish -
Any tips on where I can find a good accountant? I assume I need to make sure that the accountant I find is registered with the required governing body.

Thanks very much.

suki1001

IrishGypsy wrote: »

Get a good professional, I once tried a small cheap firm recommended to me and it was a nightmare, only filed an estimate (accounts given before end of Dec 2009), turned out he never actually filed a 'proper' return and I got a £400 tax bill AND a student loans then said about 4 months later that they wanted money too.

Found someone at a bigger accountants, gave them everything in sectioned off files (labelled as well) and paid £400+VAT and they were amazing. Done it all, professionally prepared and submitted accounts, never had to pay ANY tax, even though my revenue was higher (as they knew what allowances and expenses to use etc - confirmed as accepted by the HMRC) and I will use them again once May rolls around again.

I'd never dream of trying it myself. Would make my head explode just even thinking about what I'd need to do. You're a professional in your field, get a professional in the accountancy field. A good accountant will earn their fee back (and hopefully more) in their first year.

Best of luck.

Our experience differs clearly. Paid £1000 + to the big accountants who shipped off their work to small accountants when they were busy anyway. The lady who charges me £350 a year does far more work than they ever did. Small accountants are not all bad. Our company was too small for the amount the big accountant saved us at the time. She saves us far more and does everything properly. I would never use a big firm again.

Acc72

babymum wrote: »

Hi.... And before I start, yes I should ave got my head out of the sand about this a long time ago....

My company accounts are due in Feb. My limited co has been operational for 12 months then. Turnover less than £50k, my accounts are a mess but I can sort out the spreadsheet as I have kept receipts and bills etc.... Just went through a bit of a bad patch personally which meant I didn't sort out the accounts.

Do I need to get an accountant for a limited co? Or can I do it myself?
How much start up costs can I offset? There was various training I had to do, website set up etc... Can all these costs be offset too?

Thanks so much in advance. It's unlikely that the turnover will grow to more than £50k thus year... Profits will be about £9k...

Thanks so much :-)

Baby mum xx

If I were you, I would see an Accountant (ideally from a recommendation from somebody you know who has used them).

Yes, of course you could go on to the HMRC website and/or go on courses etc. (just as I could google how to change a fan belt rather than go to a garage) but your time would be better spent on what you know and enjoy and will generate further income (i.e. working on your own business).

IrishGypsy

suki1001 wrote: »

Our experience differs clearly. Paid £1000 + to the big accountants who shipped off their work to small accountants when they were busy anyway. The lady who charges me £350 a year does far more work than they ever did. Small accountants are not all bad. Our company was too small for the amount the big accountant saved us at the time. She saves us far more and does everything properly. I would never use a big firm again.

Ironically I found out about this firm through a different work colleague (in my FT job) and her sister was an accountant at the firm. Popped round to see her, and they seemed slick. She prepped me well for what I'd need, and it was sorted smoothly. They're not a massive accountancy - that I'm aware of (they're called Sadofskys), but again it was based on a recommendation.

So just try and find out who's good, scout them out and then make a choice.

Savvy_Sue

make half hour appointments with 3 firms of different sizes and see what each of them say.

Of course some people use an accountant at a distance and do it all remotely, I'd only do that on personal recommendation.

Wolf-dog

Hi, I am a small business start-up in my first couple of months. I have come by this discussion looking for accounting software (free of course). I have engaged with an accountant from the start who has set-up my Ltd Co and got me heading in the right direction.

However, I need to start compiling my ins and outs so that I can present my books, much like the author of this thread. Has anybody got any suggestions on free accounting software as I really do not have much time to compile my own Excel spreadsheets.

Regards,:)

Savvy_Sue

Does your accountant have any recommendations? Sometimes they have strong preferences, and you'll pay less if you use them. Plus they may have free or reduced priced programs they'd recommend.

trailingspouse

After you've shopped around and found an accountant, get your head right out of that sand and into 'getting sorted' mode. Accountancy charges are really very simple - the more they have to do, the more they charge. If you present them with a plastic carrier of crumpled receipts, (and some people do) they will charge more than if all your bookkeeping is in order and all they have to do is dot the i's and cross the t's. The more you do, the more you save.