Bookkeeping and Accountants

[mb31]

My intention is the use FreeAgent alongside a Starling bank account with the help of Gorilla Accountancy. Gorilla are local and they're offering a free face to face consultation. I've read good things about them on this forum. The other company that caught my eye was Bluebird Accountacy who offered me a cheaper package (75pm vs 89pm plus VAT) with free set up. However, I can't find much information about them on this forum other than the fact they are part of Churchill Knight.

I've had a number of patronising phone calls from the big Umbrella company's about their Ltd company services. One company that charges £150 plus VAT told my yesterday that it's a big mistake to use FreeAgent rather than their custom built software because as a new contractor I won't know what I'm doing with the bookkeeping (they genuinely said "no offence or anything").

Is there really that much to bookkeeping? What exactly do I need to do other than invoicing for time and processing expenses? How much more work is it than using a company expense claim and time-sheet system such as SAP or MDAX? Perhaps that's not a good comparison.

[northernladuk]

10 mins a week tops. Fire and forget.

[Maslins]

10 mins a week tops. Fire and forget.

This. It is of course easy to muck up bookkeeping, but that's (part of) why you have an accountant to periodically check in.

FreeAgent's the market leader for contractors/freelancers. One beauty of it is it's not custom built by one accountancy firm. Therefore if you get fed up with your accountant, you can swap to another accountancy firm, porting all your data with you.

[jdt]

The other company that caught my eye was Bluebird Accountacy who offered me a cheaper package (75pm vs 89pm plus VAT) with free set up. However, I can't find much information about them on this forum other than the fact they are part of Brooksons.

Bluebird are run by Churchill Knight, not Brooksons

[mb31]

Thanks Maslins, it does annoy me that some of these companies try to do the hard sell. I guess that's because they catch a lot of newbies who are in a rush to get setup for their first contract and are enticed by the idea that they can put their feet up while someone else run the whole shebang.

I prefer to talk to a proper accountant when I make initial enquiries because they are straight talking like your post.

jdt yes, you're right about CK and I'm going to blame the search function. There's a forum member called Bluebird and the search chucks up a load of his posts instead of anything related to the accountancy. I'm not sure if Bluebird being owned by the big boys makes any difference.

[vwdan]

At the end of the day, every single person who runs a company didn't at some point. Every contractor was new once.

It takes care, you have to take it seriously, and it's an important legal duty to keep your affairs in order - but, look, it ain't rocket science. I certainly wouldn't allow it to be a reason to do things differently.

[northernladyuk]

10 mins a week tops. Fire and forget.

Which is a blessing.

[Manic]

Xero is very good as well. Used it all my contracting career.