Best accountancy firms for LTD in 2023 - Contractor in tech - Outside IR35

[Maslins]

philgo - re Maslins being "Good for basics but people are complaining about the lack of personal advice", I think one person said broadly this, under a pseudonym, in their one and only forum post. Not saying they're not real/their thoughts aren't valid, but you'll find many folk with positive experiences, including many posts on here from respected long term members...so it seems harsh to be given this one line summary!

A lot of it's down to expectations. If clients think our role is to help them deal with accounting/tax responsibilities in an efficient and compliant way, they'll be happy. If they think our role is to make their tax bills vanish despite them earning hefty amounts, they'll be disappointed. People don't tend to change accountant often. One side effect of this, is people have limited ability to compare.

Hobnob - delighted you're happy with our service, sorry to hear you may need to move anyway. I can confirm we don't have Cyber Essentials...but if it's not too much faff/cost, could be something we look to do. If you'd like to discuss further, maybe PM us here?

courtg9000 - your suggestion may be good for seasoned contractors who know what they're doing, and want a limited filing only service...but the fact you had to teach your accountant about IR35 surely suggests that's not viable for a typical newbie contractor?

NLUK - . Maslins has grown slowly but steadily over its ~15 years in operation. Currently just under 1,000 Ltd Co clients, with 14-18 staff (depending on how you account for part timers/those on maternity), roughly half of those fully qualified. Gorilla grew to double that size client-wise in about half the time! The big change we made ~2 & 1/2 years ago is going employee owned. So it's no longer Chris's company, and he's only loosely involved in the background now. The staff collectively control the firm. Think we're unique in the contractor accounting space for that.

[northernladuk]

philgo - re Maslins being "Good for basics but people are complaining about the lack of personal advice", I think one person said broadly this, under a pseudonym, in their one and only forum post. Not saying they're not real/their thoughts aren't valid, but you'll find many folk with positive experiences, including many posts on here from respected long term members...so it seems harsh to be given this one line summary!

Just to add to this. Many contractors expect their accountant to spend huge amounts of time ringing them proactively about everything and that couldn't be further from the truth of the situation. It's up to you as a contractor to understand your finances and enquire. It's not for your accountant to point out every single tax point and mail you weekly to check if you are OK. We've had many posts on here with new contractors expecting personal service from a qualified accountant for less than 1k a year. It just won't happen. You'll likely get a review to check if you have used home use, xmas party etc but that's it. They won't be ringing you to check if you've got a second phone for a director and all that. If they are you are likely to have an MSC problem anyway.

Some people's expectation of the personal service they expect for less than 1k a year is way too high. How many hours would you spend proactively advising your client for 83 quid a month?

NLUK - . Maslins has grown slowly but steadily over its ~15 years in operation. Currently just under 1,000 Ltd Co clients, with 14-18 staff (depending on how you account for part timers/those on maternity), roughly half of those fully qualified. Gorilla grew to double that size client-wise in about half the time! The big change we made ~2 & 1/2 years ago is going employee owned. So it's no longer Chris's company, and he's only loosely involved in the background now. The staff collectively control the firm. Think we're unique in the contractor accounting space for that.

Ah that's it. Now you mention it he's told me that at least three times but kind of gets a bit fuzzy by next morning

[philgo]

philgo - re Maslins being "Good for basics but people are complaining about the lack of personal advice", I think one person said broadly this, under a pseudonym, in their one and only forum post. Not saying they're not real/their thoughts aren't valid, but you'll find many folk with positive experiences, including many posts on here from respected long term members...so it seems harsh to be given this one line summary!

A lot of it's down to expectations. If clients think our role is to help them deal with accounting/tax responsibilities in an efficient and compliant way, they'll be happy. If they think our role is to make their tax bills vanish despite them earning hefty amounts, they'll be disappointed. People don't tend to change accountant often. One side effect of this, is people have limited ability to compare.

Hobnob - delighted you're happy with our service, sorry to hear you may need to move anyway. I can confirm we don't have Cyber Essentials...but if it's not too much faff/cost, could be something we look to do. If you'd like to discuss further, maybe PM us here?

courtg9000 - your suggestion may be good for seasoned contractors who know what they're doing, and want a limited filing only service...but the fact you had to teach your accountant about IR35 surely suggests that's not viable for a typical newbie contractor?

NLUK - . Maslins has grown slowly but steadily over its ~15 years in operation. Currently just under 1,000 Ltd Co clients, with 14-18 staff (depending on how you account for part timers/those on maternity), roughly half of those fully qualified. Gorilla grew to double that size client-wise in about half the time! The big change we made ~2 & 1/2 years ago is going employee owned. So it's no longer Chris's company, and he's only loosely involved in the background now. The staff collectively control the firm. Think we're unique in the contractor accounting space for that.

Agreed thank you for your input.

[Unix]

If you are are a typical one contract at a time contractor (IT) then FreeAgent does everything now, you don't need an accountant, just spend few minutes a day keeping it up to date and it can submit all your tax returns etc.

[malvolio]

If you are are a typical one contract at a time contractor (IT) then FreeAgent does everything now, you don't need an accountant, just spend few minutes a day keeping it up to date and it can submit all your tax returns etc.

CT returns? Other income sources? Financial advice? It aids bookkeeping, and does it very well, but it is not an expert advisor. You can live without one of them if you are confident in what you are doing. Most contractors aren't or, worse, think they are. A passing acquaintance with an accountant is never a bad idea.

[WTFH]

May I ask a slightly off-topic question:
After you talked about closing your company a couple of years ago, when/how did you close it and when did you open the new one? Could it be seen that you gained a tax advantage by phoenixing?

[Unix]

CT returns? Other income sources? Financial advice? It aids bookkeeping, and does it very well, but it is not an expert advisor. You can live without one of them if you are confident in what you are doing. Most contractors aren't or, worse, think they are. A passing acquaintance with an accountant is never a bad idea.

It does CT returns, self assessment, VAT, PAYE. No need for an accountant, you can just ask questions on an accounting forum for free and usually get multiple replies from various accountants. Anything more complicated than monthly invoicing IT contracting style of course use an accountant.

[xenomorph]

I had bad time with Gorilla as they moved me to Jnr person and so moved to Maslins who are good but they dont give much advice outside of contractor company like if you wanted to also do buy to let or investment they wont do anything. however since they increased price to £145 a month I am considering moving. Looking at paper rocker basic package

[Maslins]

I had bad time with Gorilla as they moved me to Jnr person and so moved to Maslins who are good but they dont give much advice outside of contractor company like if you wanted to also do buy to let or investment they wont do anything. however since they increased price to £145 a month I am considering moving. Looking at paper rocker basic package

We strongly recommend against owning things like BTL properties in your existing trading company. This comes up regularly on the forum, with majority of both accountants and contractors saying it's best avoided.

Our general recommendation would be to buy things like BTLs personally. This isn't always popular, as it tends to involve a personal tax hit now, as you extract more dividends to help fund it. But our view is long term this makes the most sense.

Some people do choose to set up a separate Ltd Co to hold their investments. There are some good, logical reasons for this...but it does have down sides. Firstly you've now got two companies which are "associated", so you're typically paying higher corporation tax rates. Not just on the investment company profits, but your trading company profits too. Secondly, you've now got 2 companies to deal with admin-wise, so inevitably accounting fees go up.

We have recently increased our normal/main freelancer/contractor accounting package to £119+VAT/month. First increase in almost a decade. If you want to have investments, whilst we can accommodate that, it will increase fees depending on exactly how you want to deal with them.

We've heard good things about Paper Rocket, so I'm sure they'd look after you well if you did look to move. Is worth checking whether their basic package will include all the things you want support with though.

[xenomorph]

We strongly recommend against owning things like BTL properties in your existing trading company. This comes up regularly on the forum, with majority of both accountants and contractors saying it's best avoided.

Our general recommendation would be to buy things like BTLs personally. This isn't always popular, as it tends to involve a personal tax hit now, as you extract more dividends to help fund it. But our view is long term this makes the most sense.

Some people do choose to set up a separate Ltd Co to hold their investments. There are some good, logical reasons for this...but it does have down sides. Firstly you've now got two companies which are "associated", so you're typically paying higher corporation tax rates. Not just on the investment company profits, but your trading company profits too. Secondly, you've now got 2 companies to deal with admin-wise, so inevitably accounting fees go up.

We have recently increased our normal/main freelancer/contractor accounting package to £119+VAT/month. First increase in almost a decade. If you want to have investments, whilst we can accommodate that, it will increase fees depending on exactly how you want to deal with them.

We've heard good things about Paper Rocket, so I'm sure they'd look after you well if you did look to move. Is worth checking whether their basic package will include all the things you want support with though.

Yes understood Not decided yet to leave Maslins but just a thought.