Accountants

[oracleslave]

Is it just me who thinks this board is becoming a marketing platform for accountants, rather than a space for contractors to share their 'customer experience' of them?

They are either posting to apologise for crap service and offering to put it right or they are posting to state what they do for what monthly price.

Get's reet on my tits it does...

Are you on an Upton's referral fee scheme? You slag off everyone but them.

[ratewhore]

Are you on an Upton's referral fee scheme? You slag off everyone but them.

I'll have to disagree with you there. I don't slag everyone off except uptons. I am a customer of theirs and their service is good, so I will recommend them. I have experience of 2 other accountants, ITAccounting and SJD. In my opinion their service was crap, so I won't recommend them. This is the feedback I give when someone asks.

Now bore off...

[oracleslave]

I'll have to disagree with you there. I don't slag everyone off except uptons. I am a customer of theirs and their service is good, so I will recommend them. I have experience of 2 other accountants, ITAccounting and SJD. In my opinion their service was crap, so I won't recommend them. This is the feedback I give when someone asks.

Now bore off...

My observation remains that you slag off everyone but Uptons.

Bore off? What are you, 12? Or is this some other group think whine?

[ratewhore]

My observation remains that you slag off everyone but Uptons.

Bore off? What are you, 12? Or is this some other group think whine?

Group think whine? wtf are you on?

Next time, make sure you're observations are based on fact.

[THEPUMA]

Is it just me who thinks this board is becoming a marketing platform for accountants, rather than a space for contractors to share their 'customer experience' of them?

They are either posting to apologise for crap service and offering to put it right or they are posting to state what they do for what monthly price.

Get's reet on my tits it does...

You've got to get the balance right. I think for accountants to want to post here, it needs to be worth their while ie generate a reasonable level of new clients for them. Probably the best way to acheive this is by being helpful and demonstrating your expertise rather than outright asking for new business.

I think Upton and NW seem to have got the balance about right as they answer queries nicely, charge a modest fee and I should imagine pick up piles of new business.

For me it didn't work (ie the amount of time spent posting was disproportionate to the amount of new business won) so I rarely post any more.

PUMA

[Iron Condor]

I really have had bad experiences with accountants since I've been contracting. I'm currently on my 3rd (and worst) and am going to move yet again. I've been paying £145 / month for his services (company accounts, advice etc) & given the crap service I've been getting I feel this is way over the top. When I say crap service I mean everything being done at the 11th hour, taking weeks to reply to emails etc etc.

Anyone any idea how much I should be paying? I also need them to run a payroll for me as well as my monthly accounts as I've given up on IR35 proof contracts & am just bunging money into a pension instead. Any advice would be most welcome.

My accountant charges me 300+VAT a year to do my company accounts+corp tax return.

VAT i do myself.
I dont operate PAYE. Saves so much paperwork.
I do my own self assemement at the end of the year.

£145 a month is high end although some accountants have been known to take even more piss and charge 3K a year.

As for him doing everything at the last minute, i would guess that is because you leave everything to the last minute too.

Before i took this cheap option, i used to use SJD the were about 100 a month + VAT. I never had any issues with them. Found them ok for Payroll.