Accountant recommendation threads inc local requests

[Species8472]

Price is not a primary consideration. Accuracy, advise and timeliness are the key: if they get them right they will save you more than they cost. If they don't, they are expensive regardless of how much they charge.

Pensions are a legal and financial minefield. Get a good, independent IFA, not an accountant.

Incidentally, a couple of us have moved away from SJD in recent months.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

While my list was "in no particular order of importance", I believe price is always a factor although, as you say, not the only one. But it is important, even if only on a 'tie breaker' basis - and higher priced offerings are not a a guarantee of accuracy or anything else.

From what I've read here, there are a number of well-recommended accountants at a price that's the same or less than I've been paying and some are a lot higher and not so well regarded - if two offerings appear to be able to do the job and one is twice the price of the other, then it makes sense to choose the lower priced option.

I should probably clarify re pensions for any accountants reading - I'm not looking for pensions advice as in financial adviser kind of advice, but in how it impacts upon accountancy and the decisions that accountants help us with. For people who can access their pension savings now, there's more to consider (e.g. drawdown, recycling rules, their effects on payroll/RTI).

I looked at the SJD web site and was surprised at their pricing. Last time I looked (maybe a year or so ago?) I seem to remember them charging much less than now - however that may not be a factor for you, so I'm guessing that the quality of service has dropped.

[malvolio]

Price is not a primary consideration. Accuracy, advise and timeliness are the key: if they get them right they will save you more than they cost. If they don't, they are expensive regardless of how much they charge.

Pensions are a legal and financial minefield. Get a good, independent IFA, not an accountant.

Incidentally, a couple of us have moved away from SJD in recent months.

[Species8472]

I think the first post might be helpful to you.

Yes it certainly is helpful. My plan was to use that as a basis - I noticed that it was last updated last year (not a criticism by the way, I realise that it may not need further update at this time) then look through the thread, paying attention to developments since the OP was last updated.

Adding into the mix any messages I receive in the meantime... then draw up a short list for further discussion. In terms of criteria (this is beginning to sound like an RFP!), that will probably be based on (in no particular order):

1. Price.
2. Understanding of the freelance business model and recent changes including...
3. Knowledge of company pensions (or a connection to good pensions advice).
4. Error rate / comments in this thread.

The last is important because I was surprised to read here that some accountants are making mistakes. That's very worrying and quite surprising to me.

On that note - it may seem strange to some people, but when someone writes using incorrect English, I tend to feel uncomfortable... if someone can't learn the basics of their own language then that doesn't inspire confidence that they will have learned enough of something as complex as accountancy/tax law to get my affairs 100% correct. By that I mean words such as their/there or your/you're, mis-spelling everyday words such as spelling "separate" as "seperate".

I'm sure many will dismiss this as pedantic, but I've found that it's a decent guide to people's capabilities when I have little else to go on.

Thanks for taking the time to put this thread together and keep it up to date; it's very useful indeed.

P.S. I was interested to see your OP say that SJD had "become" Gorilla, but I see SJD are still trading so I'd be grateful if you could explain?

[cheesedoffcontractor]

IT contracting and importing

Am a ltd company contractor and am happy enough with my accountant but my needs have changed.

I’d like to continue working as an IT contractor through my ltd company but I’d like to do some importing from China and resell here in the UK for some additional income.

I’d like to put both through the one ltd company. The imported products wouldn’t be related to my core IT contracting work.

Can anyone give me a steer on an accountant who can process both of these income streams through the one ltd company?

Cheers

[northernladuk]

So if you can offer a fixed fee with no "extras", you have experience and knowledge of the freelancer business model... please get in touch. IN my experience it's about the person I deal with, not only the firm they work for.
.

I think the first post might be helpful to you.

[houmie]

Sadly, at the end of last week, my friend and accountant for many years passed away.

So I find myself reluctantly looking for someone who can fill the void. I have been freelance for many years (limited company), I understand the tax and legal issues well (so there's no real need for lots of patient explanation, only strategy discussions which should be relatively short since you won't have to be in "teacher" mode) - the only issues under discussion were due to the recent/imminent taxation changes.

I am used to a fixed fee structure and would look for the same going forward (it has been an annual payment up to now, payable after accounts are filed - currently at £850 + VAT).

My former accountant also dealt with personal tax returns for myself and my wife and with the relatively minor matter of her self-employed business (largely because he wanted to be aware of the full picture and needs the bottom line figures for the Self-Assessment returns). However, we "did the sums" for her business, simply reporting the figures for expenses, turnover etc once a year. He would advise on any documents we should produce related to that (minimal).

Accounts for last fin. year were submitted recently, so there won't be much to do for a while.

Apart from those two annual events, we rarely had much dealing with each other - in fact we we re just saying that we should get together for a pie and a pint and... now we can't do that of course. We run things in a simple and straightforward fashion (no BIKs so no P11Ds etc to do).

So if you can offer a fixed fee with no "extras", you have experience and knowledge of the freelancer business model... please get in touch. IN my experience it's about the person I deal with, not only the firm they work for.

I use Qdos for insurances, so I'm wondering if it's worth putting this through them - although they seem a bit expensive and no-one has even mentioned them on this thread.

Thanks in advance.

Sorry for your loss. I can highly recommend my accountant Martin at Contratax - Expert Accountants for Contractors. He stepped up and helped me during a difficult time and has since been my accountant. All services including year end and SA are covered in their fees.

Best of luck,
Houman K.

[Species8472]

New accountant needed

Sadly, at the end of last week, my friend and accountant for many years passed away.

So I find myself reluctantly looking for someone who can fill the void. I have been freelance for many years (limited company), I understand the tax and legal issues well (so there's no real need for lots of patient explanation, only strategy discussions which should be relatively short since you won't have to be in "teacher" mode) - the only issues under discussion were due to the recent/imminent taxation changes.

I am used to a fixed fee structure and would look for the same going forward (it has been an annual payment up to now, payable after accounts are filed - currently at £850 + VAT).

My former accountant also dealt with personal tax returns for myself and my wife and with the relatively minor matter of her self-employed business (largely because he wanted to be aware of the full picture and needs the bottom line figures for the Self-Assessment returns). However, we "did the sums" for her business, simply reporting the figures for expenses, turnover etc once a year. He would advise on any documents we should produce related to that (minimal).

Accounts for last fin. year were submitted recently, so there won't be much to do for a while.

Apart from those two annual events, we rarely had much dealing with each other - in fact we we re just saying that we should get together for a pie and a pint and... now we can't do that of course. We run things in a simple and straightforward fashion (no BIKs so no P11Ds etc to do).

So if you can offer a fixed fee with no "extras", you have experience and knowledge of the freelancer business model... please get in touch. IN my experience it's about the person I deal with, not only the firm they work for.

I use Qdos for insurances, so I'm wondering if it's worth putting this through them - although they seem a bit expensive and no-one has even mentioned them on this thread.

Thanks in advance.

[Chart Accountancy]

I completely agree with you. This is bookkeeping choice where the value of appointing a good accountant is not only linked to support in choosing a good bookkeeping system but their ability to provide a good service as professional and competent accountants so the clients are set up most tax efficiently for example as compared to only considering what creates less work for the accountant and both FreeAgent and Xero are great in helping accountants streamline their work but are also brilliant tools for a business.

[EinsteinTax]

I just wanted to add that bookkeeping and accounting should not be confused. It should be the client's choice of whether his bookkeeping is maintained on a spreadsheet or in a cloud software Xero or FreeAgent. The accountant should be able to prepare accounts and provide relevant advice using any well maintained bookkeeping record.

True, but FreeAgent/Xero make it much easier for clients to keep their books in order which makes the year end process much easier for the accountant. This typically saves the accountant time which should lead to reduced accounting fees.

The other advantage of cloud based solutions is accountant and client can both have near real time view of the accounts and there are no issues with version control or both parties making updates at the same time.

In theory, a well maintained bookkeeping record in Excel should be as easy to produce accounts from as FreeAgent/Xero, but in my experience there is always a degree of "messing around" which takes time and increases costs.

FreeAgent/Xero also handle payroll, VAT, bank reconciliation and a whole range of other useful functionality which is difficult to reproduce/maintain with Excel based solutions.

Sure - clients should have a choice in bookkeeping tools, but if they chose a tool that creates more work for the accountant, this is likely to be reflected in the accountancy fees.

[Chart Accountancy]

I just wanted to add that bookkeeping and accounting should not be confused. It should be the client's choice of whether his bookkeeping is maintained on a spreadsheet or in a cloud software Xero or FreeAgent. The accountant should be able to prepare accounts and provide relevant advice using any well maintained bookkeeping record.