URGENT HELP, accountant is a nightmare

[Clare@InTouch]

It might be an idea to ask them to justify the fee - exactly how many hours work they put in, and what the produced for you. Hopefully you can then be in a good position to challenge such a high hourly rate.

[Bright Spark]

The £550 is probably about right if your using a chartered accountant,
generally non-chartered accountants will charge less, and some will offer free
setup to tie you into 1 year contract with them.

rough idea on fees from chartered accountant
http://www.jamesesmith.co.uk/fees.htm

[singhr]

What shall I do now?

What is the best way to deal with them?

1. cough up the money
2. learn from the experience
3. once clear of them post on here, elsewhwere warning others of the situ.

[yasyas]

Thank you guys for all the response. Since I am a new member it is taking a lot of time for my posts to appear. Clare - thank you, I have asked them to breakdown costs and justify the fee.

Guys, I don't yet have a contract with them. We just talked in the only meeting I had with them about the fee and what they said it covers.

I have found a new accountant, I asked him to send me a letter detailing what is covered and what isn't and enlist what all he will be doing for our company for our records.

[pmeswani]

1. cough up the money
2. learn from the experience
3. once clear of them post on here, elsewhwere warning others of the situ.

One should avoid naming and shaming. No doubt the accountant could say bad things about the OP in a public forum and ask accountants to avoid doing business with the OP. Not good practice to be honest.

If the OP has a case to prove, then yes (s)he should go through the process of proving his point. Apart from that, pay up and move on.

[yasyas]

guys,
I haven't heard back from them yet about justification of charges. After they come back and if it seems ok, then I will make the payment only if they provide a written consent for the following:

we have cleared all outstanding balances and don't owe them anything effective (date)

They will cooperate with the new accountant during the transfer and will not withhold any information relevant to the company once they recieve the payment.

They will hand in all the information they have about the company and its employees collected during the company setup and registration processes to the company or to the accountant assigned by the company as appropriate.

They shall not disclose any confidential information to any thrid parties for personal and business purposes without prior written from the companies.

I don't trust them anymore and I just want to make sure that I don't make another mistake. Is there anything else I am missing here? Please let me know.

[jetrimby]

I would suggest that if they get back to you with any logic the most important thing is that the is no letter of engagement and therefore you have not given them written instructions which (if qualified accountants) is a requirement of their institutes. With the company they have formed it for you and you have paid (as long as you know have statutory books etc that's okay, if not you need to make sure new accountant gets them off them. as a statutory requirement for you to have them they cannot retain due to fee issues) if they get stronghanded phone their institute That normally puts fear of god into anyone they can remove your livelyhood! (i've had two calls over the years and it is amazing what deals you will do with a client to get them to go away!) Good Luck

[swamp]

Tell them to get ****ed.

A friend of mine told a very well known firm of accountants to Foxtrot Oscar when they tried to charge them for a similar amount of non-work. The accountants backed off.

PS: Grow a pair.

[Wanderer]

If the accountants went to small claims court and won, isn't there a chance that the OP would be held jointly liable for acting in a negligent manner in running the company deliberately into the ground?

What, in the same way as the directors of this company or this company will be?

[TheFaQQer]

What, in the same way as the directors of this company or this company will be?

Proving negligence is a challenge, but not impossible. I don't know anything about either of your threads, but if you are negligent then you can be personally held responsible.