Crunch accountant or personal one ?

[JonNorris@Crunch]

Thanks, i'll take a look at that, but, i'm not considering using no accountant, i'm considering using Crunch, which is an online accountancy - they do, presumably, do due diligence as far as my accounting requirements go.

I am interested in people's experiences. Most reviews I have read on them are good, but wondered if for the same price, i would be better using someone local.

You're quite right - Crunch is held to the same standards as other accountancy firms in terms of taking care of our clients, just so happens we have a nice bit of cloud software instead of a spreadsheet.

Sounds like you probably won't need it, but our accountants can advise on IR35, upcoming legislation and that kind of thing. The service element is very similar to an old-school contractor accountant, except we're all at an office down in Brighton.

Happy to answer any question, although you're probably right that opening a demo account is the best way to get a feel for it.

In terms of other's experiences, I'm always quite partial to our Twitter favourites - https://twitter.com/TeamCrunch/favorites

[ratewhore]

+1 for local accountant.

Having had a couple of 'contractor specialists' they are all much of a muchness and anything 'non-standard' will either confuse them or cost the earth to resolve (or both). I have a very good relationship with my accountant and she explains everything clearly and also answers any question I put to her, no matter how daft!!

As for local accountants not knowing how contractors work, that is what I joined the PCG for. That leaves my accountant to do my accounts.

IMHO of course...

[fraymond]

fwiw, I use a hybrid setup. Rodliffe accounting provide me with a fully online system that I can create branded invoices, receive payments, run my payroll, put in expenses and report off the 200 or so accounting line items I can book things against. My financial dashboard is only as out of date as my latest bank rec. But that is all backed by my friendly accountant who I talk to from time to time. Like today when trying to work out if I pass on Norwegian vat on a reimbursable expense. I used quay in the past and at the time their spreadsheet input was really limited and not what I wanted (might have changed now, I don't know).

[iamintoit]

My take on THIS

I would rather go with a small or medium sized accountancy for personalised service and attention.

I don't want big accountancy firms with trainees to do my bookkeeping. I'd rather go with qualified experienced professional accountants.

I've been contracting through a limited co since 8 years now and have only changed my accountant once. The current ones are not huge, but they offer personalised service and are highly accurate.

THAT'S WHAT I WANT! OR RATHER, ANYONE WOULD WANT

[northernladuk]

.

THAT'S WHAT I WANT! OR RATHER, ANYONE WOULD WANT

Obviously not the 11k contractors at SJD or thousands at NW and InTouch etc.

[iamintoit]

Obviously not the 11k contractors or thousands at NW and InTouch etc.

IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU TAKE IT.

Anyways, that's your perception!

[simondolan]

IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU TAKE IT.

Anyways, that's your perception!

shhhh....

[northernladuk]

IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU TAKE IT.

Anyways, that's your perception!

I have just pointed out some facts... nothing to do with my perception.

And what is it with the caps??

[kaiser78]

My varied professional career has seen me working a mincer at Tesco. Horses are the least of anyones worry, trust me.

However, I think thats OT...

Now that can be taken in more ways than one....

And to OP, I always recommend going for local accountant as I like the face to face contact once a year to review accounts rather than phone/email.

[Clare@InTouch]

I would rather go with a small or medium sized accountancy for personalised service and attention.

I don't want big accountancy firms with trainees to do my bookkeeping. I'd rather go with qualified experienced professional accountants.

I've been contracting through a limited co since 8 years now and have only changed my accountant once. The current ones are not huge, but they offer personalised service and are highly accurate.

THAT'S WHAT I WANT! OR RATHER, ANYONE WOULD WANT

On the other hand I think a bigger firm can benefit in that it has junior staff who are more than capable of carrying out the bookkeeping tasks, leaving the qualified and experienced people more time to answer complicated emails, talk you through your questions and generally be there when you need them (rather than being too busy to talk to you as they are up to their knees in receipts or trying to complete 200 flat rate VAT returns a month).

You don't have to sacrifice personal service in a larger company, it just takes more effort to maintain it