Crunch Accounting, removing a B Class Shareholder & address change

[gypsymoth]

Hi there

I'm moving accountants and had planned on joining Crunch. I've been with them before, like the online tools and thought their advice was ok.

During the onboard process they stated I couldn't join because their software "couldn't handle companies where a B-class ordinary shareholder exists". I thought this odd, but apparently its a limitation they have.

The company was set up a year ago and I elected to add my partner as a B class shareholder so I could distribute dividends at some point. However, that's not absolutely necessary now, so I'm considering sim0ly removing her / buying the shares from her. This would also mean I could join Crunch.

I'm reading conflicting advice online about removing shareholders - companies house suggest one thing, some people say I need to fill in an SH08(?), other people say I just need to raise it in next year's confirmation statement. Could anyone advise the quickest route?

I'd also like to change the company's address - could this processed by rolled into the above to save time?

Appreciate the help!

Thanks

ps: if anyone can recommend an accountant that does the same thing as crunch, I'm all ears!

[northernladuk]

Have a look at the top of the Accounting section. There is a sticky recommending accountants that are used by a number of us an use Freeagent which is very good. Can't compare to the Crunch portal but we don't hear much about it which could speak volumes.

[Louisa@AardvarkAccounting]

If you were to keep the B shares, FreeAgent allows multiple classes on the online system. And prepares the dividend documents as well.

If you do want to remove your wife as a shareholder, this can be done through a simple transfer, which an accountant can help with the paperwork. Then any changes in the year are reported on the confirmation statement.

Have you been snooping around my website? That's my catchphrase - I'm all ears! [emoji3]

[VillageContractor]

I trialed both Freeagent and Crunch and opted for Crunch - both had the features I required.

However if the system doesn't work for you then it might be a no go.

[Fred Bloggs]

I trialed both Freeagent and Crunch and opted for Crunch - both had the features I required.

However if the system doesn't work for you then it might be a no go.

Quite. Myself, I find the FA solution compelling particularly the speed and ease with which you can swap accountants. This factor on its own will mean sloppy firms lose customers increasingly quickly and will therefore drive up quality at the same time as bearing down on costs***. Firms with their own in house portal have seriously backed the wrong horse in my opinion. FA is quickly gaining traction as THE default choice for nano business and contractors.

*** I have posted elsewhere about an accountancy practise offering outstanding deals with FA. I used the GBP 49 a month option and found it faultless.

[Invisiblehand]

Firms with their own in house portal have seriously backed the wrong horse in my opinion. FA is quickly gaining traction as THE default choice for nano business and contractors.

I couldn't agree with you more.

[Maslins]

Myself, I find the FA solution compelling particularly the speed and ease with which you can swap accountants. This factor on its own will mean sloppy firms lose customers increasingly quickly and will therefore drive up quality at the same time as bearing down on costs***.

It'll indeed be interesting to see how this pans out, though I have a slightly different take on it than you, and mine's more pessimistic for both client and accountant. I have no doubt that you personally are very savvy re accounts/tax anyway. However do remember there will be lots of people far less so, and if their accountant isn't particularly on top of things, their affairs will get into a terrible mess (same with clueless people choosing to DIY as software increasingly makes it easy to submit everything).

Yes that person can then move to a new accountant, but if old accountant isn't responsive (bear in mind we're assuming client left because old accountant was rubbish) and client is a bit clueless, it can be an impossible task for the new accountant to rectify things easily regardless of how good they are. Also expecting them to do that for a lower than ever cost is losing respect for the profession.

May end up with a two tier system:
1) clients who are savvy, and can get by with a cheap accountant offering negligible service, but the client doesn't need it.
2) clients who are clueless, get in a mess, stumble from one accountant to the next, none of whom can fix things. Reason being good accountants have all left the market due to forcing down of fees to a level where firms can only be financially viable by having junior/low quality staff.
I guess this is arguably inevitable, as it's the way things have gone with stuff like utilities. Compare the meerkat et al means people only compare price, service ignored. Over time, service plummets, people complain but aren't prepared to pay more, so the crap win out.

Back OT - my view, scrap the B class of shares and keep things simple, regardless of which accountant you choose to go with. Where the total number of shares in issue are changing, this should be reflected with Companies House at the time it's done.

[Smartie]

Have a look at the top of the Accounting section. There is a sticky recommending accountants that are used by a number of us an use Freeagent which is very good. Can't compare to the Crunch portal but we don't hear much about it which could speak volumes.

Maybe we don't hear much about it because people are generally happy with it ;-)

I use Crunch - it's perfectly adequate and cost effective. Had a couple of issues but nothing that made me seriously consider changing.
If you need a lot of advice then a more active/costly solution may be better however.

[eek]

Back OT - my view, scrap the B class of shares and keep things simple, regardless of which accountant you choose to go with. Where the total number of shares in issue are changing, this should be reflected with Companies House at the time it's done.

I would be unhappy to change my share structure to match an accountants systems - that for me means I wouldn't move to crunch (although I did use them for a while when they offered their original no support software only service)...

Personally while my company doesn't have 2 class of shares I can see why people do it and if its already in place removing it its probably a bigger risk for triggering investigation than anything else...

[Louisa@AardvarkAccounting]

Personally while my company doesn't have 2 class of shares I can see why people do it and if its already in place removing it its probably a bigger risk for triggering investigation than anything else...

If she holds a B share too, it means even if her circumstances have changed and you now don't want to pay her dividends, then you don't have to, as you could pay all the dividends on the A shares.

Plus, if her circumstances change later, it means she will already have the shares in the company.

And in the meantime, she could still take out £5,000 of dividends per year at 0%