"bulk" accountants is it possible to get a personal / proactive service

[mikelondon2010]

So that's the question in a nutshell! Clearly lots of great contractor specific accountants around who have (I'm guessing) 1000's of contractors on their books. My experience so far has been the ones I have used have been efficient but I've never managed to get a really proactive and personalised service other than at very basic level.

Am I asking for too much from that type of service and am I looking at a smaller outfit for the type of service I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance!

[Pondlife]

So that's the question in a nutshell! Clearly lots of great contractor specific accountants around who have (I'm guessing) 1000's of contractors on their books. My experience so far has been the ones I have used have been efficient but I've never managed to get a really proactive and personalised service other than at very basic level.

Am I asking for too much from that type of service and am I looking at a smaller outfit for the type of service I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance!

Can you describe what your expectations are? You're not looking for a Managed Service Company are you? (don't be )

[mikelondon2010]

Can you describe what your expectations are? You're not looking for a Managed Service Company are you? (don't be )

Haha no! I'm after someone that will look at the way I work and suggest for example ways I could be more tax efficient - rather than just setting the "rules" day 1 and then ignoring everything until it's time for a yearly assessment - which is the service I currently enjoy.
I'm not looking for advanced personal tax or finance planning but just something in the middle that makes me feel treated like an individual rather than just another contractor.

[Maslins]

Everyone has a different idea of what "proactive" means, and I personally feel that can be where the problem lies.

We've had clients annoyed with us because they've done a completely new unexpected transaction, not informed us until afterwards, then when we said "oh, it would've been better if you'd done it this way instead" they've accused us of not being proactive.

Other clients get blown away when we email them before tax year end to discuss whether it makes sense to max out dividends now or delay until after based upon their personal circumstances.

Accountants cannot predict the future, or what you might be thinking about doing, or indeed things you're already doing but not told them about.

I don't think it's a safe rule to assume big practice = bad, small practice = good. Small practices will likely be much more variable, with some being awesome and others useless, whilst for a big practice to get where it has, you can be confident they'll be at a minimum reasonably competent.

[TheFaQQer]

I think you're going to really struggle if you want an accountant to be proactive - I'm not entirely clear on what you really expect them to do for you though.

As far as personal service goes, there have been 9 emails between myself and my accountant this morning, in the space of 75 minutes (including time when I was on a conference call). I doubt you'd get much better anywhere else.

[Andrew@Wisteria]

So that's the question in a nutshell! Clearly lots of great contractor specific accountants around who have (I'm guessing) 1000's of contractors on their books. My experience so far has been the ones I have used have been efficient but I've never managed to get a really proactive and personalised service other than at very basic level.

Am I asking for too much from that type of service and am I looking at a smaller outfit for the type of service I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance!

I would say that asking for a personalised service from a 'sausage machine' type business that processes 1000s of contractors each year is probably asking too much. Ultimately your accountant or more likely account manager probably doesn't remember the difference between you and the other contractors they act for. Having said that, that doesn't mean they cannot provide a great service (which you have alluded to above).

Of course I may a little biased though!

Andrew

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

I expect, but don't know, that most "bulk" accountants will have a similar ratio to smaller firms. Example, we have 3 accountants/account managers and have around 400 clients. That's roughly 130 per accountant. SJD, say have 10,000 clients and therefore I'd expect them to have about 80 account managers. I don't know how accurate that is, but I can't see why you won't get the same personal service from them than you would from us. From what I can glean, there are a lot of the big firms who provide excellent personalised service.

That said, I know one who provides no personal service at all. I understand that the staff are cycled around the system - one week dealing with only incoming emails, next week dealing with only incoming calls, next week only preparing VAT returns etc etc and there is no continuity of client relationship. It wouldn't be how I'd run things, but they are very successful, so maybe I'm wrong.

[Forbes Young]

Just to add to this.

Something people often overlook is how two people can get on with each other in a way that is unique. Just because you do or don't get on very well with someone, doesn't always mean nobody else won't/will. It could be you appoint a large firm of Accountants and have the most fantastic relationship with the Accountant they put in charge of your affairs.

I suppose what we are saying is, a large company is just a collection of individual people. Some will be great and others will be not-so-great. I know a lot of very good Accountants at the larger firms and so it would be unfair to just label them as part of a machine.

[philip@wellwoodhoyle]

whilst for a big practice to get where it has, you can be confident they'll be at a minimum reasonably competent.

Ask ex-clients of Trafalgar, Giant, JSA, Upton, Brookson, Churchill Knight, and the like whether they think their ex-accountants (larger successful firms) were reasonably competent. There've been plenty of disgruntled contractors on here over the years complaining about these, and other firms, and some of our new clients have come from them with tales of poor service.

[BlasterBates]

Lets face it if you want some highly paid individual to provide a personalised service it is going to cost. If you want a cheap service then you'll get a mass produced solution.

I think if there is something you want to sort out above and beyond the normal stuff eg pensions or whatever then arrange a meeting and be prepared to pay a bit extra for the advice