Just thought I'd post my experience of changing accountants. It's the first time I'd done it and since it's a pretty big deal it's not something I approached lightly and may be of use to anyone else thinking of changing accountants.
A lot of you will have seen my post questioning whether the service at my previous accountants was going down the pan, with high accountant turnover and poor planning around holidays and sickness. This was the catalyst behind the move (although I have to admit the service improved after posting on here and the senior managers getting involved, but too little and too late etc.). Additionally I'd built a good working relationship with my personal accountant who had helped me through a lot of the challenges associated with starting out as a contractor and she'd moved on to the new business I engaged.
The actual process of moving is handled by the relevant accountants behind the scene, and a lot of it will depend on the quality of who you're moving to I guess. For me the process was painless. Everything was done quickly and requests to HMRC are made which come to you personally to send on to the new agent for authorisation.
The biggest change for me however was the tech behind the new accountants. My old company had used Excel spreadsheets to record all the information, with all the challenges that brought (although they did do the job). The new accountants use FreeAgent which is light years ahead of what I'd been doing previously. It seems crazily old fashioned now after seeing FreeAgent to think about going back to Excel. I'd caution this however with ensuring you take regular on-site backups of the FreeAgent data however as you never know with online data storage whether it'll have enough resilience in place (an area I work with regularly on client sites), plus it's just good practice and due diligence as a business director.
All in all I have no regrets about moving, and (here comes the plug...
) am very happy with the service at Gorilla. In addition it's 30% cheaper than my previous accountants. If you're unhappy with your accountant don't be put off by nervousness about changing. There are companies out there that will do the job far better and cheaper, and the process is easy. It may be worth doing it after a year end though once the accounts are done so as to ensure responsibility for each piece of work is clearly defined. Also it means you don't end up having to transpose as much information from one system to another which could be a pain in the ass if you're 10 months into your corporate year.
Oh, and I ended up having a month of overlap in billing. I'm guessing that this could be eliminated if you plan it but I wanted to make sure I was covered for the previous company year and for the new year (mortgage application in the works etc.)
Apologies if this post sounded like an advert, it wasn't intended to be but I like to post about good service I've received as much as I post about when I've been p*ssed off by a company
A lot of you will have seen my post questioning whether the service at my previous accountants was going down the pan, with high accountant turnover and poor planning around holidays and sickness. This was the catalyst behind the move (although I have to admit the service improved after posting on here and the senior managers getting involved, but too little and too late etc.). Additionally I'd built a good working relationship with my personal accountant who had helped me through a lot of the challenges associated with starting out as a contractor and she'd moved on to the new business I engaged.
The actual process of moving is handled by the relevant accountants behind the scene, and a lot of it will depend on the quality of who you're moving to I guess. For me the process was painless. Everything was done quickly and requests to HMRC are made which come to you personally to send on to the new agent for authorisation.
The biggest change for me however was the tech behind the new accountants. My old company had used Excel spreadsheets to record all the information, with all the challenges that brought (although they did do the job). The new accountants use FreeAgent which is light years ahead of what I'd been doing previously. It seems crazily old fashioned now after seeing FreeAgent to think about going back to Excel. I'd caution this however with ensuring you take regular on-site backups of the FreeAgent data however as you never know with online data storage whether it'll have enough resilience in place (an area I work with regularly on client sites), plus it's just good practice and due diligence as a business director.
All in all I have no regrets about moving, and (here comes the plug...
) am very happy with the service at Gorilla. In addition it's 30% cheaper than my previous accountants. If you're unhappy with your accountant don't be put off by nervousness about changing. There are companies out there that will do the job far better and cheaper, and the process is easy. It may be worth doing it after a year end though once the accounts are done so as to ensure responsibility for each piece of work is clearly defined. Also it means you don't end up having to transpose as much information from one system to another which could be a pain in the ass if you're 10 months into your corporate year.Oh, and I ended up having a month of overlap in billing. I'm guessing that this could be eliminated if you plan it but I wanted to make sure I was covered for the previous company year and for the new year (mortgage application in the works etc.)
Apologies if this post sounded like an advert, it wasn't intended to be but I like to post about good service I've received as much as I post about when I've been p*ssed off by a company
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