Can you recommend an accountant?

[malvolio]

I I found that I still had to do a lot of work in terms of data entry which I was always behind on and found it quite complex to stay reconciled with the bank account. This in itself is a skilled job in my opinion.

Hmmm... I've kept mine accurate to the penny for roughly 15 years, so it ca't be that hard. Perhaps you need a better spreadsheet?

The best solution for me has been a combination of FreeAgent + a good freelance bookkeeper/accountant.

In your case, you could well be right...

[jamesbrown]

1) To operate at scale they have to put you into a process. As they grow they then often insert people who aren't qualified as accountants to handle the day to day communications. This all ends up feeling quite impersonal on a service that is quite important to us and does not come cheap.

2) I found that I still had to do a lot of work in terms of data entry which I was always behind on and found it quite complex to stay reconciled with the bank account. This in itself is a skilled job in my opinion.

I find the first of your two points to be, by far, the most important. It isn't a question of scale, per se, but of personal service. I don't want to be asking detailed questions of someone that isn't a qualified contractor accountant.

[Kanye]

Hmmm... I've kept mine accurate to the penny for roughly 15 years, so it ca't be that hard. Perhaps you need a better spreadsheet?

Even if I could have been able to / bothered to get my head around it, paying £100+ per month and still spending my evenings or billable time grappling with spreadsheets or websites or accounting software getting invoices and receipts to match the bank account didn't really sit well.

Perhaps I was naive but as a new contractor I thought the accountant would do this for me.

[This is a question of value not cost - I would have happily doubled my fee to InTouch for the integrated bookkeeping.]

[captainham]

Even if I could have been able to / bothered to get my head around it, paying £100+ per month and still spending my evenings or billable time grappling with spreadsheets or websites or accounting software getting invoices and receipts to match the back account didn't really sit well.

This is why it's so important to ring round and get a feel for how each accountancy operates.

For me, InTouch was a perfect fit for how I wanted to work; that's just personal preference, but then that is the point...make sure you are happy with what you are getting as you are the one paying for the service at the end of the day.

I also rang two of the other 'big ones' too, and no complaints there with the people I spoke to, but I just didn't get the same feeling of 'rightness' with them so for me it was a no-brainer.

[Troll]

Sadly the best recommendation (going on past history) is to ignore any recommendations from members of this forum, fortunately I dodged the bullet by having closed the company down a year prior to "events" but others were not so fortunate

For my current accountant I did some research, checked out their accounting credentials and selected one that was not too big to be impersonal, knew the market that I operate in, and was within what I deem acceptable rate band for the services I need

I will not divulge the name of the accountant as no doubt should they grow bigger, all the factors above would change

Do your own investigations and make your own choices

HTH

[malvolio]

Did my bookkeeping last weekend, between getting up Sunday morning and the management coming down for breakfast. Two hours for the quarter just gone, using the accountant's workbook and my own mickey little VAT calculator spreadsheet. So that's around a day's effort a year, usually in dead time. I don't think that's too excessive...

I don't pay the accountant to do ledger work, I pay them to ensure I pay HMRC the right amount, on time, accurately and to the minimum necessary level, given I'm sending them accurate data to work with. But that's just the way I do things, you clearly have a different approach. At the end of the day, you use whatever works best for you.

[ecfc29]

This is why it's so important to ring round and get a feel for how each accountancy operates.

For me, InTouch was a perfect fit for how I wanted to work; that's just personal preference, but then that is the point...make sure you are happy with what you are getting as you are the one paying for the service at the end of the day.

I also rang two of the other 'big ones' too, and no complaints there with the people I spoke to, but I just didn't get the same feeling of 'rightness' with them so for me it was a no-brainer.

Yes im thinking of using Intouch.

However, I am naive in thinking they will do 'everything' for me. I guess as im new to contracting I dont want to be running my own ledgers, particulary if im paying someone to do this.

[northernladuk]

Yes im thinking of using Intouch.

However, I am naive in thinking they will do 'everything' for me. I guess as im new to contracting I dont want to be running my own ledgers, particulary if im paying someone to do this.

Remember as a director of a LTD you are legally responsible for the finances of your company. The accountants provide you a service to help you run your company properly. They do not do it for you and are not liable for any mistakes unless it is gross incompetance or something silly. You need to have a basic grasp of what goes on in your company.

You are paying for their service to help you run your finances, not be responsible for it.

Being a director comes with a host of responsibilities, this is one of those. Need to get used to that very quickly.

[ClearSky Accounting Dan]

Yes im thinking of using Intouch.

However, I am naive in thinking they will do 'everything' for me. I guess as im new to contracting I dont want to be running my own ledgers, particulary if im paying someone to do this.

You should find that most contractor accountants will offer a range of services for their clients, depending on how "hands-on" you want to be. We find that some clients will want to do most of the bookkeeping form filling themselves and just use an accountant to prepare and file year end accounts and tax returns, however the vast majority like to hand pretty much everything over to their accountant. Running a limited company (and any business) is always going to require some amount of management by the director, however a lot can be passed on to the accountant.

[Clare@InTouch]

Yes im thinking of using Intouch.

However, I am naive in thinking they will do 'everything' for me. I guess as im new to contracting I dont want to be running my own ledgers, particulary if im paying someone to do this.

The bookkeeping side should be minimal to be honest, and it ensures you know what's going on with your own business. The trouble in handing absolutely everything over to a firm is that you then don't get a real sense of what's going on or why, and that can prevent you from being able to understand and plan accordingly in my view.

Horses for courses I suppose, I'm just a control freak and I'd always want to know as much as possible about everything