Originally posted by bobsmithldn
May I know, Who your accountant is? Do you do your own PAYE, VAT Retn, CH filing etc.? What about your final accounts preparation?
Following Not specifically addressed to Bob:
Generally, as the CH, HMRC etc. declare that we (the contractor) are ultimately responsible for their book keeping, tax paying etc. irrespective of whoever is your accountant. Since they will not be held liable for any mistakes, I think, we need to take a greater interest in these things. Therefore, We should be kept in the loop, whatever the old and new accountants are talking and transfering. Hence I would prefer for the new accountant to tell me what are all the things he wants from the old accountant and I will try and get the same from the old one to the new one and in the process, I will also be a little more educated / enlightened. I know that accountants normally are quite patronising (hope I spelt it right) and tell you that they will deal with and take care of everything and try to keep us ignorant, at the same time, getting us to sign on the dotted line saying they are not responsible / liable for anything. Due to these reasons, I think it is easier and better to deal with CH, HMRC etc directly and probably this is what CH, HMRC also wants and that is why they say small businesses, upto a certain amount of turnover, pvt ltd cos need not get their accounts audited. And I think we (I mean, us contractors) are that type of small businesses.
Hope I am not generalising too much. There must be a lot of accountants who also help their customers learn the tricks. When we are on a project, we are expected to teach/train the permies on all our tricks and expected to be highly transparent etc. But when it comes to getting our own things done, suddenly everything turns opaque. That is what has prompted me to write the above. Please Feel free to comment and dont think I am regid. I am open to corrections, where I am shown wrong.
Regards,
Ganesh
Why didn't you make yourself the Director?
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