Xero or Freeagent and EoY accountants

[Andrew@Wisteria]

Some do...but having tried it in the past, we no longer do. We either like to oversee everything, or not get involved at all.

Problem is potential client says "I do all my PAYE/VAT perfectly and my books are awesome, all I need is you to do statutory accounts/CT return". We get stuck in, and it soon becomes apparent they've miscoded tons of stuff, reclaimed VAT where they shouldn't, not actually submitted any RTI (they just mean they've taken cash that in their head is a salary), and generally made a hash of lots of things.

Sure, the above won't always be the case, but we far prefer to have our eyes on things throughout the year ensuring no major cock ups are made, rather than coming in after year end and attempting to unpick cock ups that have already been done.

I'd say vast majority of cases who 'DIY' aren't just a simple 'end of year job' in my experience.

[bassy]

My current accountant is monthly and to be honest they only do year end for me. I handle all VAT submissions etc. Currently I just send them spreadsheets after year end for them to do the CT - and then I double check their work.

I prefer keeping control and checking all the accountants' work as no offence to accountants here but a) they sometimes get things wrong and b) Darren Upton is probably not a solo case (my control freak tendencies meant I was not out of pocket in that debarcle)

[SueEllen]

My current accountant is monthly and to be honest they only do year end for me. I handle all VAT submissions etc. Currently I just send them spreadsheets after year end for them to do the CT - and then I double check their work.

I prefer keeping control and checking all the accountants' work as no offence to accountants here but a) they sometimes get things wrong and b) Darren Upton is probably not a solo case (my control freak tendencies meant I was not out of pocket in that debarcle)

When I asked some of the people I know about accountants 2 of them said their accountant had ripped them off as in stealing money from them.

Another contractor I later met had an issue with their accountant refusing to give them a cheque for something that HMRC had refunded. As I live near the accountant I said I would happy go with my id to collect it for them if they just tell the accountant I was going to turn up. Oddly after that threat the accountant paid up.,...

[dagenheis]

My current accountant is monthly and to be honest they only do year end for me. I handle all VAT submissions etc. Currently I just send them spreadsheets after year end for them to do the CT - and then I double check their work.

I prefer keeping control and checking all the accountants' work as no offence to accountants here but a) they sometimes get things wrong and b) Darren Upton is probably not a solo case (my control freak tendencies meant I was not out of pocket in that debarcle)

In that case, you are probably better off finding an accountant who can offer you a year-end tailored service with occasional advice (spreadsheet/cloud or whatever) rather than focusing a particular software based accountant. Although I still like the idea of using FA, spreadsheet still works perfectly for straightforward Ltd affairs. The main thing is to have a service you are happy with.

Frankly, I think it's a bit of loss to the Ltd contractors that accountants like Maslins don't offer year-end or tailored service. I am not their client but this is my perception solely based on the quality of their responses on CUK and their website. Argueably, the accountants could probably accept year-end clients on case-by-case basis to avoid issues but it's their call/business model anyway.

[Fred Bloggs]

In that case, you are probably better off finding an accountant who can offer you a year-end tailored service with occasional advice (spreadsheet/cloud or whatever) rather than focusing a particular software based accountant. Although I still like the idea of using FA, spreadsheet still works perfectly for straightforward Ltd affairs. The main thing is to have a service you are happy with.

Frankly, I think it's a bit of loss to the Ltd contractors that accountants like Maslins don't offer year-end or tailored service. I am not their client but this is my perception solely based on the quality of their responses on CUK and their website. Argueably, the accountants could probably accept year-end clients on case-by-case basis to avoid issues but it's their call/business model anyway.

They've probably been bitten too often to make it worthwhile doing EOY only services.

[eek]

They've probably been bitten too often to make it worthwhile doing EOY only services.

+1. I think accountants like monthly fees as it allows them to spend 10 minutes a month checking everything is fine and no mistakes have been made that could cascade into big issues.