Changing Accountants and charges levied for taking on your accounts

[Rivendell]

Hi,

I'm just in the process of swapping accountants, my old ones coming to an end on Mar 31st. What I hadn't vouched for was my new Accountant sending me an invoice for 5 months work, Nov 11 - Mar 12, for taking on my accounts half way through a financial year. Is this standard behaviour? Naturally, I have been paying the other lot for this period and assumed (maybe naively) that the accounts would simply be transferred over and I would start paying the new lot from Mar 12. They state this is because they have a minimum fee of £1260.00 a financial year and therefore my monthly payments until my year end (Oct 12) won't reach the threshold.

Am I fool for not realising this? I would not have changed accountants if I realised I would have to pay twice over for 5 months

[escapeUK]

Wouldnt it have made sense to start with a new accountant at the start of a financial year? Especially when its only a few months away?

[Rivendell]

yes, I guess it would, but hindsight is a wonderful thing no? This is my first year trading so I'm finding out lots of these things the hard way. Looks like I'm £600 down then.

[Clare@InTouch]

Not all accountants do this. Before switching you should always check if there are any catch up fees, minimum terms, and leaving fees. Also be sure you know who's doing what, especially this time of year when you should be thinking about P35, P11d and personal tax returns.

Is it too late to switch again? If you've not signed terms with the new people you could back out and instead use someone who won't charge you to move to them.

[Rivendell]

Clare,

Thank you. Yes, you're right, lesson learned. I have emailed them to ask if I can retain services of my current accountant until year end (even though I have signed paperwork with them). I fully admit that this is user error - but I do think they could have mead it clearer, instead of just pinging me an invoice for £600. Still, why would they make things clear if it will lose them money? I guess I just feel this is a rotten start to my relataionship with them - after all, I am changing because I hated the old accountants. Maybe they will make a goodwill gesture to reduce the fee.

[Rivendell]

...just checked their website. No mention of catch up fees there so far as I can see, neither any mention on the 'appoint us as your accountant' webform. The 'super low fee of blah blah blah per month' is trumpeted pretty loduly low. On the plus side, there is no exit fee so they've just lost my business before I started.

[northernladuk]

yes, I guess it would, but hindsight is a wonderful thing no? This is my first year trading so I'm finding out lots of these things the hard way. Looks like I'm £600 down then.

Common sense is a better thing.

[Rivendell]

Common sense is a better thing.

yeah thanks for nothing smart arse

[d000hg]

Common sense is a better thing.

Which part of being charged £hundreds when they don't mention it on their website is common sense to you exactly? Any decent accountant would at least warn the new customer rather than start the switchover and issue an impersonal invoice. That's just bad service.

[Rivendell]

Which part of being charged £hundreds when they don't mention it on their website is common sense to you exactly? Any decent accountant would at least warn the new customer rather than start the switchover and issue an impersonal invoice. That's just bad service.

Thank you d000hg, I guess some people just like to make you feel small.

I quote directly from their website:-

Switching Accountants is simple
Alternatively, if you are dissatisfied with the level of service or fee from your existing accountant, we would be more than happy to take over your affairs.

Transferring accountants is a simple matter involving just one letter from you; we take care of the rest. When you join us we carry out a detailed review of your current tax position to ensure that all possible areas of tax mitigation have been utilised, and liaise fully with your previous advisers to ensure a smooth transition.......

Please complete the short form below to become a client of ******** and never worry about your tax or accountancy affairs again.

Our complete accountancy package includes: completion of accounts, all company returns, payroll bureau, dividends, corporation tax computations, personal taxation, free bookkeeping software and unlimited access to your accountant, we do all this for a fixed monthly fee of just £110 plus VAT, which is of course fully tax deductible and is also one of the lowest prices in the market

I think it was reasonable to assume I would be paying them .......£110 a month! No mention of catch up fees.