Whats do you pay for your accountant?

alzeebub

Hmm, using a combination of a qualified bookkeeper to do the books, reconcile etc and an accountant to check the books over and sign them off landed us with a bill of only £300 (£100 bookkeeper £200 accountant).

My accountant said it was a good deal ^^

It seems he was right!

Encantador

Just started a Ltd Co.

No employees and will only have relatively small amount of transactions pa
pos 50-60 amounts paid into bank in cash and 10 or so purchases.

Did the rounds of 4 accountants...

£350-400
£300 incl personal return.
£800 Min
£400 Min

All plus the dreaded of course.

pootle666

There's never an easy answer to this, fees are usually based on charge-out rates of the accountant working on your books. Ususally the less qualified they are the chaeper they are - so you have to consider whether you want somone with less qualifications = cheaper.

However it also depends very much on the area of the country & the size of the firm. Bigger firms can have bigger overheads to meet = higher fees, but competiton in big owns can drive prices down.

Don't think because they call themselves an accountant they have any qualifications at all either- check - it can make a big difference. Chartered or Certified accountants have to meet certain standards & keep up to date with legislation & have professional bodies you have recourse to - other people may not, always ask whether they are members.

Fees will depend on the number of the transactions, how tidy your books are & the type of business you are, it is almost impossible to compare, even if businesses are of the same size, your business may have greater risk because of the type of transactions you are involved in. Companies have certain disclosures they have to make in their accounts and checking these are correct - especially on first set of accounts can take time.

If you are concerned I would ask for breakdown of fee - any reputable company should be able to provide this, based on the time taken & hourly fee of staff member involved & they shouldn't mind doing this. Ask what you could do specifically to reduce your fee - if anything. You may think your books are OK, but there may be something that you're not doing that could save them time. Also lots of people forget when the bill comes round that they've been calling up for odd bits of advice every other week & this is included in the fee.

Mostly do you feel that you're getting value for money? Are they just doing compliance work - prep accounts, tax, filing etc, or are you getting business advice as well. I don't think this is espcially high, but for that I would want a full rounded service of all the necessary work, plus advice on the future of the business, tax planning & similar.

The quality of work can vary hugely, so I would be more concerned that you like them, you're confident in their work & their reputation in the community is good, it's not worth saving a few hundred quid if the result is a huge mess a few years down the line when the taxman has a look.

Don't forget they've done years of exams to ensure that they know what they're doing & that they get it right, the fees will reflect that, but they should be able to advise on how you could reduce that. Ask & if you're not satisfied, ask friends who they use & move - you can always vote with you feet.