Year End

[RidgewayPele]

Hi

I know there have been a lot of posts on the topic of changing accountants in the forum and I have searched and read a lot of them, but I am looking for some specific advice.

Basically my current accountant has sent me my 'trial' P&L for 2015/2016. My revenue figures seem accurate but my costs seem light (I have 50k of expenses, he has 47k) - I know this as I keep a spreadsheet of all of my costs through the year. I then asked for a dump of all the costs he has for me (which is basically me sending him my bank statements in various forms) - this was supplied and I could see that I was correct costs were 50k, but not tagged with any nominal accounts. I then pointed this out and got a response along the lines of
'Some items may be in the balance sheet.....we post all your items from the bank and this is reconciled'. Given that the majority of my costs are salary and travelling to London every week, I would doubt these would be Balance Sheet costs. TBH this was the last straw with what I felt has been a very average relationship with my accountant.


So the question is has anyone ever moved accountants and got them to do a prior year end for them? Any idea of the cost of such a task?

For the FreeAgent fans I know that this would not have happened if I'd been using FA and it is part of my considerations when I do move.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

Happens a lot. Oftentimes we'll negotiate a one-off fee for the prior year end accounts. Normally heavily discounted. Or, if you can bring something else to the table - like a bundle of referrals - you might get it for free.

[Louisa@AardvarkAccounting]

I'm guessing that maybe you might have purchased some equipment in the year, which could have been capitalised and therefore appear on the balance sheet.

You can check this by looking at any additions shown and this will help you when trying to reconcile your 50K.

If not, I'd ask the accountant to come back to you specifically on this point and ask them to confirm where the differences are.

However if you do look at switching, costs will vary hugely depending on where you go... As they will still need to prepare a full set of accounts from scratch. You might find it's a couple of hundred to thousands.

But if you then go onto a monthly service with them for future months, you might find there are deals around for 'free switcher fees'.

[EinsteinTax]

I don't think it would be unreasonable for you to ask for your accountant to explain the £3k of expenses that "may be in the balance sheet". As Louisa says Capital Expenditure could well explain it.

I would suggest you try and work with your existing accountant to find the missing £3k and file the accounts.

It might be worth discussing with a few potential new accountants to get an idea on costs in this scenario. Ultimately, it will come down to how long they think it will take to sort out last year's account and how much they want to win your business for next year!

[LondonManc]

Hi

I know there have been a lot of posts on the topic of changing accountants in the forum and I have searched and read a lot of them, but I am looking for some specific advice.

Basically my current accountant has sent me my 'trial' P&L for 2015/2016. My revenue figures seem accurate but my costs seem light (I have 50k of expenses, he has 47k) - I know this as I keep a spreadsheet of all of my costs through the year. I then asked for a dump of all the costs he has for me (which is basically me sending him my bank statements in various forms) - this was supplied and I could see that I was correct costs were 50k, but not tagged with any nominal accounts. I then pointed this out and got a response along the lines of
'Some items may be in the balance sheet.....we post all your items from the bank and this is reconciled'. Given that the majority of my costs are salary and travelling to London every week, I would doubt these would be Balance Sheet costs. TBH this was the last straw with what I felt has been a very average relationship with my accountant.


So the question is has anyone ever moved accountants and got them to do a prior year end for them? Any idea of the cost of such a task?

For the FreeAgent fans I know that this would not have happened if I'd been using FA and it is part of my considerations when I do move.

Why not just email him that you're not happy as you don't understand the discrepancy and that maintaining a business relationship requires you to be happy.

All I'm seeing at the moment is

[RidgewayPele]

Why not just email him that you're not happy as you don't understand the discrepancy and that maintaining a business relationship requires you to be happy.

All I'm seeing at the moment is

Not a tantrum at all. I have had some quite bad service e.g. one VAT return paid late, have asked for some basic advice on the 2 year rule and got told it would cost me £100 for the research and now can't balance my P&L. I pretty much got told there was no way he could found out where it had gone. So I have asked for some advice from you guys - hardly a tantrum (I presume you meant a tantrum from your emoji I have not seen that one before.)

[Michael at BI Accountancy]

I'd agree with Alan.

Normally we heavily discount the prior year end accounts on the basis that you would be moving forward on our monthly package.

I'd have a ring around and see what costing is involved.

As you have rightly put at the bottom of your post, this problem would not happy with FreeAgent or any software that is accessible by both you and your accountant. Move onto the same system so you are both singing off the same hymn sheet.

[EinsteinTax]

Not a tantrum at all. I have had some quite bad service e.g. one VAT return paid late, have asked for some basic advice on the 2 year rule and got told it would cost me £100 for the research and now can't balance my P&L. I pretty much got told there was no way he could found out where it had gone. So I have asked for some advice from you guys - hardly a tantrum (I presume you meant a tantrum from your emoji I have not seen that one before.)

Based on the additional history I think you would be well within your rights to throw a tantrum (not that I'm saying you are).

You could more forcefully ask the accountant to help explain the discrepancy, e.g. "If you can't explain the difference, I will pay another accountant to help me and then reduce your fee accordingly".

[LondonManc]

Not a tantrum at all. I have had some quite bad service e.g. one VAT return paid late, have asked for some basic advice on the 2 year rule and got told it would cost me £100 for the research and now can't balance my P&L. I pretty much got told there was no way he could found out where it had gone. So I have asked for some advice from you guys - hardly a tantrum (I presume you meant a tantrum from your emoji I have not seen that one before.)

Yes, tantrum based on the information supplied; given the additional information, carry on!

[RidgewayPele]

Thanks for the input guys.