Best value accountant?

[Sockpuppet]

The first accountant I met suggested that as I was computer literate I should just get a copy of Sage and do it myself and he'd charge by the hour if I needed help (and to check the corp tax calculation).

Took his advice and saved a lot of moving doing it this way (spent about £250 on software/fees over 3 years), but in the first year it did take a good few weeks at home to learn it all. After that it's probably a week a year in total to do invoices/vat/paye/year end etc... so not really worth it unless you're spending a few months each year on the bench and have got time to kill.

I do the same but I agree its worth it. Use sage for all invoices / reciepts. Takes around an hour a week to do. Usually I just do them while watching TV or if I have a slack day at client co just do them there - most if not all of my invoices (both in and out) arrive via pdf so filing is easy.

My accountant charges £600 a year to do corp tax, check all sage inputting and general advice throughout the year. This price is also frozen for the next 3 years They're also 3 minutes from my house walking or a 30 second drive.

My advice would be to use a local accountant not one of the "big" contractor boys.

[malvolio]

My advice would be to use a local accountant not one of the "big" contractor boys.

And my advice would be, if you do, try and find a PCG Accredited one, since he will understand your business. A lot of high street accountants don't, which is kind of important if you're looking for technical advice in what is a fairly complex field these days.

[AussieDigger]

Try Primus Accountancy. Seem pretty good.

[biondani]

I am looking at moving from Umbrella to Ltd myself and so far Primus are my accountants of choice. Looks like I could be around 24k a year better off by switching.

Ian

[Fred Bloggs]

I am looking at moving from Umbrella to Ltd myself and so far Primus are my accountants of choice. Looks like I could be around 24k a year better off by switching.

Ian

Wow, you've been chucking away £2k a month????

[biondani]

Wow, you've been chucking away £2k a month????

It certainly looks like it. My wife isn't working (well housewife so unpaid work to keep certain anatomy intact) so with income splitting and dividends I could be throwing around 2k per month away grrr. 15 months since I started the contract so almost crying with the amount I have given Mr Taxman.

Ian

[Fred Bloggs]

It certainly looks like it. My wife isn't working (well housewife so unpaid work to keep certain anatomy intact) so with income splitting and dividends I could be throwing around 2k per month away grrr. 15 months since I started the contract so almost crying with the amount I have given Mr Taxman.

Ian

Better late than never though.

[Sockpuppet]

And my advice would be, if you do, try and find a PCG Accredited one, since he will understand your business. A lot of high street accountants don't, which is kind of important if you're looking for technical advice in what is a fairly complex field these days.

Its a LTD company and the tax return is done the same as the others.

[malvolio]

Its a LTD company and the tax return is done the same as the others.

Yeah, , and so are S660a and IR35 and WTD and everything else that never even gets on the radar of the local corner shop or SME owner. If you don't want or need advice on such things, it doesn't matter either way. But given a choice of a good general purpose accountant or a good general purpose accountant that's taken the trouble to be trained to a given standard on how my specific business model works, I know which I'd pick.

[d000hg]

And my advice would be, if you do, try and find a PCG Accredited one, since he will understand your business. A lot of high street accountants don't, which is kind of important if you're looking for technical advice in what is a fairly complex field these days.

What is there to understand, 1-man contracting company is about as simple as a business gets isn't it? No employees, virtually no expenditure, etc.