Accountant repeatedly failed to fulfil duties

[dmz]

I was paying an accountant for over a year to do the accounting for my limited company. It is my first time contracting and having a limited company, and during this time the accountant made several mistakes: failing to file VAT, PAYE, miscalculations in VAT payments and finally I just received a letter from the Companies House today saying they didn't received he accounts covering the period from incorporation to 31/12/2017.

I have now changed to another accountant but I am looking for advice regarding the neglectful service provided by my previous accountant. Should I seek compensation for his failures. Are there any simple legal means to maybe recover part of the fees I paid him?

[northernladuk]

Not much you can do now you aren't a customer. You could request they pay any fines but from my experience of dealing with an ex accountant (and anything in life where you aren't doing business with that party anymore) you are on a wish and a prayer. Their default answer will be to tell you to do one and see what your next move will be.

I guess you could take them to small claims but you'll lose billing time attending and he's likely to walk all over you with technical jargon and blame your tardiness if you don't have representation.

You could complain to his professional body if he's a member but they won't help with monetary claims I wouldn't have thought and it would have to be pretty serious for them to bother...

When I was in exactly the situation you were in I just dropped it. The money just wasn't worth the extra hassle for nothing more than a pyrrhic victory. It took a bit of time to get over it but in the end I was just pleased I was rid and was in a good place with a new accountant.

It's very frustrating, I've been there, but sometimes fighting to get not much just doesn't achieve anything.

[emeralde675]

I was paying an accountant for over a year to do the accounting for my limited company. It is my first time contracting and having a limited company, and during this time the accountant made several mistakes: failing to file VAT, PAYE, miscalculations in VAT payments and finally I just received a letter from the Companies House today saying they didn't received he accounts covering the period from incorporation to 31/12/2017.

This sounds very similar to the experience that I have had over the last few months with my accountant. I also received a fine from HMRC, have had miscalculations and have subsequently parted ways with my accountant.

The reason I was given for non-filing was that the business was opened part way through a month, so HMRC automatically issued a fine as the filing year ended up being over 365 days. The original accountant challenged this with HMRC and eventually got it cancelled after a few weeks. If they haven't already, it might be worth challenging HMRC if it's the same thing.