Accountant cost us a lot of money - any comeback?

Notmyrealname

Lavendyr wrote: »

"Trusting" your accountant is one thing, but you've stated that your old accountants were tax specialists and your new accountant has to consult a tax specialist, thereby implying that he was not one himself. Accountancy is a very broad field and while your new accountant may not be intentionally trying to mislead you, they may not be as knowledgeable about a particular area as another accountant would be.

Accountants are like lawyers in so much as they each specialise in a certain area due to the complexity of the entire thing. That is why for small businesses the only accountants you need to be approaching are tax accountants.

Lavendyr

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Accountants are like lawyers in so much as they each specialise in a certain area due to the complexity of the entire thing. That is why for small businesses the only accountants you need to be approaching are tax accountants.

Hmm, I'd respectfully disagree. You don't necessarily want a pure tax accountant as they will tend to be quite specialised. Obviously it will vary from business to business, but a lot of small businesses will need an 'all-rounder' who understands what they need and what they're trying to achieve.

But a good small business accountant should ideally have a decent grounding in & experience of accounts requirements, relevant company law/filing obligations and standard taxation issues (a broad grasp of personal tax, corp tax and VAT for instance) - that way they can at least address the majority of standard queries. Ideally, of course, they will have recourse to experts if there are particular areas of complexity - as many firms of accountants will.