£200 - Monthly cost for a good account for a small business OK?

Trevstonbury_2

Hi Guys,
I'm a partner in a small startup business, there are 3 of us currently but we are doing well so we've gotten to the point where we need someone to do our accounts properly. We've been quoted £200 a month for someone who is very trustworthy and qualified, plus he has worked with us in the past. He will be mainly doing management of accounts, preparation of VAT and PAYE etc. He will also be available whenever we need advice and will attend some of our monthly meetings when we need to run through accounts. Is this good value and near what the current cost for a decent accountant is?
Many thanks

Grumpy_chap

Very difficult to assess.  How much time will the Accountant spend to

Trevstonbury_2 said:

be available whenever we need advice and will attend some of our monthly meetings

There is a value in having a past relationship.

My Accountant charges around £1k per year to cover annual accounts, PAYE, vat, tax return.

oldbikebloke

Trevstonbury_2 said:

He will also be available whenever we need advice and will attend some of our monthly meetings when we need to run through accounts. 

that service is costing you £90 - £100 per month extra.
Everything else you list can be got for £100 - £110 pcm from online accountants who offer unlimited phone support but would charge for face/face meetings 

Grumpy_chap

oldbikebloke said:

that service is costing you £90 - £100 per month extra.

Good value if the time will be around 2 hours per month on average across the year.

Pennywise

It;s not just the extra Management accounts and meetings that you're getting, it's the personal service of someone you know and trust.  A lot of the online £100 firms are basically production lines where you're lucky to deal with the same person twice (probably not qualified either).  I'd snap his hands off for what he's offering for that price.  The extras you're getting above and beyond the norm offered by bog standard firms is well worth the money if that's what you need.

1christopher

We pay about that to our accountant - switching from a £100/mo local firm, to a larger local, the difference is night and day. Always judge by your relationship team, not the firm.

Sandtree

Trevstonbury_2 said:

He will be mainly doing management of accounts, preparation of VAT and PAYE etc. He will also be available whenever we need advice and will attend some of our monthly meetings when we need to run through accounts. 

With an "etc" and "some meetings" there is no way to tell value by standard mechanisms because, in non-covid times, that could be one half hour meeting a month via Teams or a two hour face to face meeting every week. Similarly the frequency of the additional accounts and whatever is covered by the etc.

We pay £270 per quarter for company accounts, VAT, PAYE and 2x SA returns. Basic queries they're always happy to answer on a phone call and never hit the boundary of what they will do but in theory the fee doesnt include full advisory service. We went with the firm as they have a good reputation and was happy to pay a little more for that than the big processing firms for contractors that at the time were a fair bit cheaper... they ahvent changed their price in the 10 years we've been with them.

On the surface the price you are proposing sounds as if its fairly cheap but the devil is in the detail which your post is lacking a lot of. That said, a good working relationship has significant value in itself so even if the non-standard elements are less than it sounds it could still be good value.

I do think its worth making sure both parties are fully clear on exactly the scope of whats included in the fees... those zoom meetings starting to turn into face to face and getting made more frequent can sour relationships quickly.

HouseTargaryen

We pay £750 a year for 5 staff members and that includes everything you'd expect, but not really much advice. £200 a month sounds very steep.

Sandtree

HouseTargaryen said:

We pay £750 a year for 5 staff members and that includes everything you'd expect, but not really much advice. £200 a month sounds very steep.

How many hours of meetings are they attending each quarter for that?

CKhalvashi

I pay about £1000/year + VAT.

You don't need an accountant to attend meetings to discuss what is coming in/out. Management accounts are easy enough to type up into a spreadsheet for discussion with anyone you need to speak to about them.

JackR09

£200 a month seems expensive but hard to judge!