Finding a good accountant

owitemisermusa

Hello folks,

I hope this is the right board for this question. Basically, I would like to engage an accountant for tax returns, letting out property etc and don't know where to start.

How can I find a (good) accountant? Is the ICAEW website a good start or should i just Yell?

Thanks.

sandiep

HI

You should go with either an ICAEW accountant, who has FCA or ACA after their name, or a Certified Accountant who has ACCA after their name.

Most accountants offer a free consultation, so i'd phone a few and have a chat with them.

Best way though is recommendation, as accountants tend to specialise in particular industries/sectors. Do you know any other property investors who you can ask for recommendations.

I hope your doing your own book-keeping though, as this can save you HUNDREDS of pounds off your accountants annual fees.

Kind regards
Sandra

owitemisermusa

sandiep wrote: »

I hope your doing your own book-keeping though, as this can save you HUNDREDS of pounds off your accountants annual fees.

Kind regards
Sandra

Thanks Sandra. What do you mean? I have copies of all my bills, expenses, rents received etc. How will having these help with the accountants' fees?

I'm hoping to have a 'do it all' accountant. One that can help with personal tax stuff (professional registrations etc) and the rental bit.

Don't know if I need separate ones though.

JuneBow

I agree with sandiep, its best if you get an accountant that specialises in a particular area.
I have properties which I both rent out and renovate, and my accountant has properties herself. She also has many property developers as clients.
That is why I chose her.
Most will offer a free consultation, but free is not always best of course.
What sandiep means is that most accountants will give you a quote based on the amount of work involved.
If your books and records are in a mess, they will obviously have to spend more time on your job, so their quote will be more.
I would also avoid any accountants who do not give you a fixed quote, as if they charge by the hour, you could lose out.

Pennywise

owitemisermusa wrote: »

I have copies of all my bills, expenses, rents received etc.

Just keeping pieces of paper is not book-keeping.

Someone, either yourself, your accountant or a book-keeper, will have to list all the relevant income and expenditure, analyse it into the appropriate different headings (or classes) of expenditure, and make sure that everything relevant is included and that anything irrelevant isn't included. That is something you can easily do yourself (cost = free) or you could get a book-keeper to do it (cost ~ £15 per hour) or you could get your accountant to do it (cost ~ £50 - £200 per hour!).

So you see it really doesn't pay to just keep a pile of papers and hand them over to the accountant to sort out.

Your accountant is there to help you maximise your claims and minimise your current and future taxes. To do his/her job efficiently you need to hand them the figures and then they can review/manipulate and plan accordingly. Giving them a pile of papers is not an effective use of their skills/time and is going to be more expensive for you than the alternatives.

I'd rather pay an accountant a few hundred pounds to help me save thousands in tax by telling me what to change in my business affairs, rather than paying them a few hundred pounds to do a bit of paper shuffling and tidying that I could have done myself sat in front of the telly one evening!

What you need to do is to go and see at least 3 accountants and choose the one who you feel you get on best with and who talks your language. Ask them what you need to do to keep their charges down - most will be able to give you free software or templates to enter the information from which they can take your summary figures.

owitemisermusa

Phew! Thanks a lot folks - you're all stars!

I was just about to post a thought that maybe I don't need an accountant and shouls use the HMRC website to file tax returns instead!

Now I will think again!

PS: What sort of book-keeping software / books should i obtain and use to get in shape for the accountant?

Horace

HMRC run free courses for businesses to help them complete their tax returns.

I used to use sage financial controller when I worked in accounts (I am not an accountant). For my own new business I shall keep the books myself but hand them over each month to an accountant so that he/she can do my VAT returns and see if they can save me paying tax where I dont have to:D

On my chamber of commerce course the other day (presented by an accountant) he said that all you would need is a simple ledger (you can get these at good stationers) double entry ones are best - in it you list on the left side all your sales and on the right all your purchases - make a note of cheque numbers, order numbers, receipt numbers. Keep all receipts as well. Don't complete the book in pencil either because pencil can be erased.

HTH

owitemisermusa

Just spoken to HMRC Tax Office and the lady said not to worry - "we'll help you file your tax return when the time comes, you don't really need an accountant!"

Methinks tax is a minefield!

I still feel an acountant is the best way to go especially since I'm just starting this tax malarky!

Cook_County

A good tax qualified tax adviser can often see the world in the round - which HMRC are not trained to do.

sandiep

GO and have a look at MS Accouting Express. It's a FREE accounting software package which runs online. A lot of people recommend it. If you don't like this you can get MYOB which costs about £40. If you enter all of your payments and receipts into an accounting package then you will save loads. If you do it properly & carefully that is!!

Pennywise

sandiep wrote: »

GO and have a look at MS Accouting Express. It's a FREE accounting software package which runs online. A lot of people recommend it. If you don't like this you can get MYOB which costs about £40. If you enter all of your payments and receipts into an accounting package then you will save loads. If you do it properly & carefully that is!!

Better still, choose your accountant, go and see at least 3, most offer free initial consultations, and when you've chosen one, ask them what they prefer. Most, like ourselves, will point you in the right direction or give you free templates or accounting software - we offer three different completely free well respected software systems (that you'd have to pay for off the shelf) or if your needs are greater, we offer heavily discounted rates for higher-end systems (typically 25%-50% cheaper than off the shelf). There is absolutely no point in choosing a piece of software that your accountant doesn't support.

With the greatest of respect, the OP may end up doing what a lot of people do, in not getting their accountant on board soon enough. It drives me insane when I get new clients coming to see me for the first time 12-18 months after they started in business - often they've done their book-keeping wrong, not set themselves up in the most tax efficient manner, missed claiming for things they could have done, often spent money unnecessarily for formalities/legalities they thought they needed but didn't, incurred a few penalties along the way for late notification or missing a filing date, the list goes on and on - they are positively aghast when I point out how much they could have saved themselves if they'd come to see me right at the start!