SJD Parties like it's 1999

[malvolio]

I think you are missing the point here. As a customer I don't care how much effort it takes or how much it costs. SJD are one of the more costlier contractor accountants out there and I'm beginning to question where the value FOR ME is in their recent price hike. I'm currently studying as well as working at the moment so anything that would save me time would be welcomed and the other benefit of a CSV upload would mean less opportunities to make errors in my cutting and pasting.

OK, that's your view but I disagree; you're confusing the tool with the deliverable.

Their service works perfectly well for me, it takes very little effort to maintain and clearly whatever they do behind the scenes with the collected data is both accurate and timely. That's what I pay them for, personally. And as I keep saying - not that anyone ever listens - effective accountancy services are free since they will save you more than they cost.

And if you want to run a Ltd Co and get the benefits of doing so, it's not actually that unreasonable that you devote just a little effort to it. And it is a very little effort. But YMMV, as they say!

[Spacecadet]

No it's not, but (a) it won't save you very much in terms of effort, you'd still have to work through all transactions and apply them to the COA and (b) SJD would have to create the portal, test it, release it and spend a year re-educating their clients to use it properly. What they have works, so why change it? And how much extra would you pay to have it (I'm guessing not very much... )

Call me a Neo-Luddite (I am in Service Management. after all!) and leading edge is good, obviously, but only if it's worth doing.

Given that most banks online portals have an export to csv option - it wouldn't be a huge amount of effort to add an import from CSV into SJD's current spreadsheet (as a client we can't do this as the spreadsheet is locked and password protected)

The effort might only be 15 minutes per month but it's still15 minutes of drudge I would rather do without

and its Bleeding Edge you neo-luddite

[malvolio]

and its Bleeding Edge you neo-luddite

So called because early adopters of leading edge technologies usually get injured by using things that are not fully proven.

[The Spartan]

hahahaha I'd hardly call csv import leading edge

[simondolan]

Hi,

Probably a couple of points then to answer from this

1. Why don't we offer an on line portal? These have been around since around 1997 and every so often we revisit the idea, and every time we do we come to the same conclusions, which are

a) Whether you do your bookkeeping on line or on a local drive, you still have to enter the data - from the tests we did we found that there is no time saving to be had either way
b) On line systems go down.
c) You can only use on line systems when you have internet access
d) On line systems are less secure
e) There are lower levels of validation required when preparing year end accounts
f) Your data is held by a third party company - what if they go bust?
g) You are dependant on a third party to maintain their systems - again what happens if they suffer financially?

From our point of view having an on line system would make things easier for us, but in my opinion, and judging by the research we've done, it is not the best thing for the client. Having said that, if you wish to use an on line portal then we can of course support them.

2. Can we offer an easy upload from bank statements to the spreadsheet via CSV? Be happy to take a look and see

Speaking of 1999, that was a pretty cool year in contracting wasn't it

I think you are missing the point here. As a customer I don't care how much effort it takes or how much it costs. SJD are one of the more costlier contractor accountants out there and I'm beginning to question where the value FOR ME is in their recent price hike. I'm currently studying as well as working at the moment so anything that would save me time would be welcomed and the other benefit of a CSV upload would mean less opportunities to make errors in my cutting and pasting.

[northernladuk]

We all like to see change when costs go up its in our nature especially when we're paying for a service, when I was with Parasol I found their online portal to be really easy to use shame their service was so poor.

Now I'm with ContractorUmbrella I can clearly see how service is a lot more important, they turnaround any query I have in a couple of hours instead of days when I was using Parasol.

Not sure how comparing an Accountants service with an Umbrella's is a valid one. They provide different services so need different tools.

Do you have a lot of transactions in your company bank? I do my expenses manually anyway in a diff sheet and copy that in and then show the banking as a fixed figure covering those expenses. For me even an automated link to bank wouldn't really improve the time as I still have to do my own expenses. Maybe that is just me being pedantic. SJD system isn't highly automated I agree but I am more than happy to spend 15 mins doing mine.

Happy about the cost increase is a different issue lol...

[Notascooby]

That reminds me..spreadsheet is due for VAT.

eeerm as you were

[malvolio]

hahahaha I'd hardly call csv import leading edge

Nor would I (even I'm not that old...) but that's not exactly the point. Would you want to be the first to entrust your corporate accounting and tax returns to a system that's nobody's used yet?

Anyway I can get a full CSV from HSBC's online systems no problem but it's not what you would call a structured document. It would still take me longer to swap that around to match the SJD spreadsheet, maintain the lookup tables to ensure it put the entry against the right coding and check everything than it would to enter it all manually. Maybe that's just me...

Or are we asking that SJD develop versions of their spreadshet that align to all the bank's CSV dumps?

[GeorgeB]

What is the cost increase?

I've been to the website but it still says 105+vat.

(I'm planning to join with SJD in the next couple weeks, be nice to know what the price is )

[The Spartan]

Not sure how comparing an Accountants service with an Umbrella's is a valid one. They provide different services so need different tools.

The point I was trying to make is that the quality of service is far more important than some flashy portal.

Would you rather a) Superb service and not the greatest (in your eyes) tech
or b) bad service and flashy tech

I know which one I'd opt for