SJD price increases

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

Luckily i have my own reminders but I have lost confidence in SJD. I had a chance to move over to another accountancy firm at my last year end but was too lazy to do so.
Gorilla is the one i was planning to go for based on some of the comments posted on this forum, I will look into Crunch as well, i like the dates being shown on the portal.

Gorilla are, like us, a Freeagent partner. The overview on Freeagent has a tax timeline which shows you all your key due dates as well.

[monkfish]

I was much the same with my previous accountant - but moving to InTouch was simple. They picked up the mess the last accountant left me with, and moving to a monthly completed portal meant that I'm more in control of both company and personal finances.

This ^^ in spades for me! I won't dis my previous accountant [much!] but feel they just weren't geared up to provide the services they promised. Intouch have helped me/my business recover, I will surely cast my vote in the coming awards!

We wont mention the great portal redesign swerve of July... but to be fair they DID listen to their users

[TheFaQQer]

Gorilla are, like us, a Freeagent partner. The overview on Freeagent has a tax timeline which shows you all your key due dates as well.

So does the InTouch portal - dates and (when calculated) the figures as well.

I also like the new month-end checks that are in there to make sure there's nothing too daft going on.

[Andrew@Wisteria]

Indeed. Though, to be fair, they also complete my spreadsheet for me, I just send them the paperwork. I'm also a fat lazy contractor (with apologies to FatLazyContractor.)

To palm through your paperwork, doesn't actually sound too bad.

[Andrew@Wisteria]

Still operating with a spreadsheet I think. Maybe this increase is to fund an online solution. Or more likely it's to feather the VC's nest.

Precisely what I was thinking.

[Intel]

For me it's all about the service. I don't mind paying a premium price for a premium service but I ended up with abysmal service at SJD after my dedicated accountant left and was replaced by someone I wouldn't trust to run a bath, let alone my accounts (I did have excellent service up to that point but it seems that once the VCs get involved it's all about the margin).

I ended up following my accountant to Gorilla and haven't looked back. Twice the service for 2/3rds the cost. No manual spreadsheet and once you get over the slight learning curve of FreeAgent it's a doddle.

As per NLUK, giving Jamie @ Gorilla a call is well worth 10 minutes of your time.

I would advise though that whilst not strictly necessary it's worth trying to line it up with a year end, makes it a lot easier and minimises the risk of having to overlap payments.

[SimonMac]

Not wanting to stick my head above the parapets but, is this not a good time to start looking into doing the accounts yourself if you are kicking off over an increase?

So a little over £2k a year, doing the books myself factoring in the occasional cock up I make hasn't cost me anywhere near this figure.

The only way you will have complete control over yours company is if you do not delegate control to third parties

[Intel]

Not wanting to stick my head above the parapets but, is this not a good time to start looking into doing the accounts yourself if you are kicking off over an increase?

So a little over £2k a year, doing the books myself factoring in the occasional cock up I make hasn't cost me anywhere near this figure.

The only way you will have complete control over yours company is if you do not delegate control to third parties

Technically we are all third parties that our clients delegate control to. Mine delegate to me because I've spent the last 15 years building an expertise that's highly sought after in the industry. They come to me because I spend the time researching, learning and refining the technologies and implementations I build which they don't have the time or expertise to dedicate to themselves. I also expect this from my accountants. I delegate control to them because they spend the time learning the rules, identifying and risk -profiling the strategies and generally have a hell of a lot more time to dedicate to the law around accountancy than I do.

£85 + VAT a month is nothing for that level of expertise and knowledge.

[unixman]

At SJD I paid 132 for 2 years, then 150. Left shortly after the price rise.

[quackhandle]

Another price hike? They can go and whistle! I was paying (inc VAT) £132 and now it's £144. And one of their guys (who has now left to form his own acc co) make some mistakes.

I shall be shopping. IMO they're becoming like pimps, just treating us like cash cows, not a thought of any loyalty to long term customers.

qh