SJD price increases

[JB3000]

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

+1

[Andrew@Wisteria]

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.

I'm slightly surprised SJD don't have better covenants over former employees taking clients with them

[Intel]

I'm slightly surprised SJD don't have better covenants over former employees taking clients with them

As with any service the trigger tends to come when you need assistance from the provider. So in my particular case my named accountant who left had done so a significant amount of time before I got to year end when I needed the help to get my accounts done asap to support a mortgage application. When it took more than 2 months by SJD to just prepare the annual accounts, even after I advised them it was urgent (I chased frequently) and in breach of their "guarantee" to complete in 4 weeks (which is incidentally worthless as is their promise to refund the months fees if they don't meet it) I decided to move and actively sought out my contact given the previous level of service I'd had from her.

No sales or poaching needed. Her previous track record spoke for itself and was something I was happy to pay for again. the fact that it was less in terms of cost and streets ahead in terms of technology was an added bonus.

I'm the first to complain loudly when I get poor service, but conversely I like to make sure credit is given when it's due for good service also.

[northernladuk]

I'm slightly surprised SJD don't have better covenants over former employees taking clients with them

Didn't take me either. There was a couple of senior people at the Manchester office that left in a shortish period. Didn't really bother me until I needed to escalate issues and realised there was no one I knew. Hit linkedin and one guy wasnt doing the same accounting and Jamie was working for Gorilla even closer to me than Manchester. No brainer really.

[alphadog]

I pay £75 plus vat pcm, plus personal tax return cost. Good quality old school accountant who keeps up with the latest. I don't have a need for fancy online systems.

I'd move accountants if I were you. More than £100 plus vat pcm is excessive imho.

[ContrataxLtd]

Price Increase

So SJD have put their prices up, I wonder if Nixon Williams will too? Anyone care to comment?

Anyone looking to switch from SJD and the spreadsheet, I'd definitely recommend looking at Freeagent and a Freeagent accountant. The amount of positive feedback we've received from clients using Freeagent has been phenomenal and I'm sure others on here will agree. There isn't a need (IMHO and I'm biased) to pay anymore then about £85-100+VAT p/m but price doesn't determine if you get a good accountant or not.

Martin
Contratax Ltd

[Fred Bloggs]

Exactly! Couldn't agree more.

I can't recall NW or SJD being on here since the takeover.

[jamespoole]

I wouldn't call the increase excessive. Prices will generally be based on the amount of work that your accountant has to do. If the cost of the time spent exceeds what you are paying then its a no-brainer.

We have actually decreased prices when our clients made things easy. We start around an average of £125, but we review it on a 6,9 and 18 month basis.

James Poole
The LowTax Group

[Dan@OrangeGenie]

So SJD have put their prices up, I wonder if Nixon Williams will too? Anyone care to comment?

Anyone looking to switch from SJD and the spreadsheet, I'd definitely recommend looking at Freeagent and a Freeagent accountant. The amount of positive feedback we've received from clients using Freeagent has been phenomenal and I'm sure others on here will agree. There isn't a need (IMHO and I'm biased) to pay anymore then about £85-100+VAT p/m but price doesn't determine if you get a good accountant or not.

Martin
Contratax Ltd

By using an online system it makes the service easier to provide, none of these heavily formulated spreadsheets that always go wrong. It provides our clients comfort knowing their tax position is always correct.
FreeAgent is perfect for this and why we champion them to all our clients and include the licence in our monthly fee.

We charge from £99+VAT downwards, mention my name and its £85+VAT

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

Anyone looking to switch from SJD and the spreadsheet, I'd definitely recommend looking at Freeagent and a Freeagent accountant. The amount of positive feedback we've received from clients using Freeagent has been phenomenal and I'm sure others on here will agree. There isn't a need (IMHO and I'm biased) to pay anymore then about £85-100+VAT p/m but price doesn't determine if you get a good accountant or not.

Martin
Contratax Ltd

This. Very much so. I was at a FreeAgent event last week and things are only going to get better as well.