Accountancy fee (annual accounts) London

[dagenheis]

Hi,
What should be the ballpark accountancy fee for annual submissions - Annual accounts, CT, annual return, Professional support including PAYE/VAT advice at times, Complimentary SATR submission for Director versus fully inclusive package including payroll and VAT?

For all-inclusive, I have seen online contractor specialist accountants quoting between 59+VAT to 125+VAT. But I have not seen much information on the annual service.

Any real numbers from your past experience would be much appreciated.

Someone (big online name or small outfit with a partner or two) around London area will be of particular interest.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

Our annual fee is £395 plus vat for accounts, ct filing, and SA return. I believe this is fairly typical.

[JB3000]

Hi,
What should be the ballpark accountancy fee for annual submissions - Annual accounts, CT, annual return, Professional support including PAYE/VAT advice at times, Complimentary SATR submission for Director versus fully inclusive package including payroll and VAT?

For all-inclusive, I have seen online contractor specialist accountants quoting between 59+VAT to 125+VAT. But I have not seen much information on the annual service.

Any real numbers from your past experience would be much appreciated.

Someone (big online name or small outfit with a partner or two) around London area will be of particular interest.

Anything over £95+VAT per month is expensive

Less than £60+VAT per month is dirt cheap and probably involves lots of hidden charges, e.g. fees for closure accounts, fees to use cloud based accounting software, exit fees, fees for additional tax returns/payroll, no fee reduction when your company is dormant, poor client service due to inexperienced/cheap staff who are over worked and underpaid.

[eddie1507]

£65 a month

[SueEllen]

Someone (big online name or small outfit with a partner or two) around London area will be of particular interest.

Generally accountants outside London will charge less as they don't have the London office overheads.

In regards to visiting them - if you are on a contact you won't have time so they need to answer their emails or/and telephone promptly regardless of where they are based.

Oh and it's up to you to read around tax issues - your accountant will advise you but unless you know what to ask then they will just give you generic information.

[dagenheis]

@SueEllen
Agreed - There 'd be some premimum (ca 15-25%) for the Greater London office/stafff overheads which is alright as long as clients are happy with the service they get
But I started looking into this couple of weeks back but noticed that most of the accountant websites publish monthly (inclusive of payroll, VAT) costs on their website.


That's the idea - Have some understanding of the key implications and lean on the accountant to validate the approach and best practice . I think, the generic bit also happens when we are dealing with rookie account managers than accountants .

[SueEllen]

There are a few threads on here if you search (use Google) that mention accountants by name or, alternatively contact the accountants who post on here regularly.

[Contreras]

Hi,
What should be the ballpark accountancy fee for annual submissions - Annual accounts, CT, annual return, Professional support including PAYE/VAT advice at times, Complimentary SATR submission for Director versus fully inclusive package including payroll and VAT?

For all-inclusive, I have seen online contractor specialist accountants quoting between 59+VAT to 125+VAT. But I have not seen much information on the annual service.

I think you will not get a complete answer to that here as most people seem to prefer the all-inclusive services and pay monthly.

My own expectation is that cost differential isn't that much. You might save up to 20-30%ish by handling the PAYE/VAT yourself but really if you decide to do that then it shouldn't be driven by cost cutting.

Our annual fee is £395 plus vat for accounts, ct filing, and SA return. I believe this is fairly typical.

"Typical?" I pay twice that not including SATR. One accountant wanted even more, another quoted £400 to cast his eyes over a pre-prepared CT600.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

"Typical?" I pay twice that not including SATR. One accountant wanted even more, another quoted £400 to cast his eyes over a pre-prepared CT600.

This is a pure "execution only" kind of a deal. No advice as such. Prepare and file at year end. Nothing more.

[dagenheis]

I think you will not get a complete answer to that here as most people seem to prefer the all-inclusive services and pay monthly.

My own expectation is that cost differential isn't that much. You might save up to 20-30%ish by handling the PAYE/VAT yourself but really if you decide to do that then it shouldn't be driven by cost cutting.



"Typical?" I pay twice that not including SATR. One accountant wanted even more, another quoted £400 to cast his eyes over a pre-prepared CT600.

Yeah it's obvious that more people/accountants are keen on monthly (all-inclusive) services. You seem to be doing some DIY work as well. Not sure what your reasons are, but I am only planning to do it in interim until I have bit more clarity on my circumstances. Nevertheless I like doing little bit of VAT/Payroll work and it's all straightforward stuff, but I would like to use a professional accountant for accounts/CT and some advisory support.

Devil is in the detail . 395+ vat did sound good but it's all execution deal.