Cost of an accountant

[malvolio]

I'm sure you and malvolio will have a great old time splitting hairs over the exact semantics of what I wrote but the point I am making is that a PCG "accredited" accountant isn't necessarily one of these mythical "good" accountants we seek.

Sigh...

So you feel you can post "an accountant recommended by PCG was rubbish" without worrying too much that it is both misleading and confusing? You could just as easily - and rather more sensinbly - have blamed the ICAEW. How about if I posted "I bought a car recommended by Wanderer for having a big boot and it broke down so obviously Wanderer is not to be trusted"?

They're accredited to say they understand freelance contracting as a business, not that they are good accoutnants; they have their own bodies for that.

[Wanderer]

So you feel you can post ........

Yep. Check out my new signature.

[SueEllen]

Yep. Check out my new signature.

It's not our problem if you don't understand the difference between "recommendation" and "accreditation", and how organisations use it in the UK.

Even the accounting bodies don't recommend individual accountants even though they accredit them. They just recommend that you to use one of their accredit accountants and give you a list of names.

[Sarah@PaperRocket]

Unfortunately there is no full proof way to decide if an accountant is any good until you have actually used them but I guess obvious things to look for aside from the fee they charge are their qualifications (anyone can call themselves an accountant), and how many clients they look after (too many could mean they have no time to dedicate to you). You tend to get a gut feeling about people when you talk to them so my advice would be to go with someone you feel you can trust. Recommendations from friends and colleagues are always valuable too