choosing an accountant end of financial year

**r0bly0ns** · 16 January 2008, 16:31

We are with Uptons and I can definately recomend them.

They are fairly local to me, but I have only been to see them twice in the last 2 years.

Once when we set up, and once after our first year end. Both could easily have been done over the phone and in the mail, but seeing as they are local we went in.

Give Darren at Uptons a call, he is very helpful, before we appointed them as our accountants I phoned round a few, and Darren was by far the most eager to answer all my questions, despite be making it clear I wasn't going to be making a descision for a week or so.

However I can't comment on SJD or PlanIT as I have never had any dealings with them, SJD do seem highly reccomened on here though.

**Nixon Williams** · 16 January 2008, 16:59

Originally posted by swedstar View Post

Hi,
Another question I have is if there are any advantages in having the accountant locally? The once I've been looking at are based in Blackpool while i'm living in London. Are there occasions where you really need to go and see them in person? or can everything be done by phone, post, email, online-systems?

Many thanks
Swedstar

We are based in Blackpool and have clients throughout the UK, so probably for most people location is not a factor. I would bet that most people who have chosen a "local" accountants rarely see them and probably have never met up, it just is not necessary in today's world.

You should be looking for good service etc and and a firm that can cater for your needs, have a talk to a few and see which you like, check what you have to do and ensure that you are happy with that.

Quite a few accountants expect you to complete spreadsheets each month although this may not suit everyone.

I hope this helps.

Alan

**Kess** · 16 January 2008, 17:22

I'm with Nixon Williams and pretty happy so far. I almost went with SJD who have a far more polished look but are much more expensive, especially in light of the fact they expect you to fill in a pretty extensive spreadsheet each month. In contrast all NW ask you to do is shove copies of your invoices, bank statement and expenses claim in an envelope each month and they'll do the work.

**Hiram King Of Tyre** · 16 January 2008, 17:44

I recently changed to Nixons. Early impressions are: Very fast and efficient if you operate within their "sausage machine". Not so good if you want to do something different to the rest of their client base. Not bad but just not proacive in finding & explaining the best solution and do tend to err on the side of caution. If you just want to maximise your take home pay though, they may suit you well.

**Nixon Williams** · 16 January 2008, 18:03

Thanks for the nice comments it is always good to get feedback.

Whilst I hope you do not feel as though you are in a sausage machine, we have been offering our accountancy services for over 12 years now and we like to think we know what works.

There is no doubt there are accountants out there (all though some are not qualified) who offer riskier solutions. What we offer are ways to keep within the law but never the less, claim and reduce your tax liabilities as far as you can. In our experience that is what most people want.

We are proud that we offer a traditional accountancy service at a very competitive price, if our clients supplied their details on a spreadsheet every quarter we could cut our prices even more! However, we prefer to stick to a more complete accounting service.

Alan

**Denny** · 16 January 2008, 18:07

Originally posted by Nixon Williams View Post

Tif our clients supplied their details on a spreadsheet every quarter we could cut our prices even more!
Alan

If that's not, inadvertently, a kick in the teeth for SJD, I'd like to know what is!

**Hiram King Of Tyre** · 16 January 2008, 19:27

Thanks Alan, just trying to give a balanced view. Good service at a reasonable price. The only point I was trying to make is that I don't really feel that the service is at all tailored to any specific requirements outside the "sausage machine" model. That wasn't meant to be derogatory at all either. I guess I was just trying to say that my impressions are that you keep your price low by finding a model that safely maximises take home % pay and encouraging people to operate within that model. While I'm sure that 90% of contractors are happy with that, I would prefer to feel that you were more proactive in defining solutions for tailored requirements. Maybe it's me but it does feel sometimes that either an easy answer is given or even the question overlooked until you ask again.

Having said that though, I have been sent a few of your fact sheets which although don't explain everything do give a reasonable insight into a FAQ and are very good

**david@purpleaccounts.com** · 16 January 2008, 20:38

I personally have more than 5 years experience of working in the contractor market having previously worked for one of the key players in the market. Your requirements for the first financial year are simple so we would charge you appropriately. We offer a specialist contractor accountancy package and have had no complaints to date!! PM me and let me quote you happy

**swedstar** · 17 January 2008, 13:52

thanks

Hi,

Thanks for your replies. Location doesn't seem to be of a great importance so I think I'll make a few phone calls to the once outside London. I was actually expecting to see a few recommendations of London based accounting firms on this site but it doesn't seem people are using them or not the once posting on this forum anyway. Well, if location doesn't really matters that's fine.

Cheers
Swedstar

choosing an accountant end of financial year