Accountants charging for furlough services

[northernladuk]

Who is your accountant?

Bit personal that innit?

[jamed]

Bit personal that innit?

Yeah probably not going to disclose that as not really fair. But based on other accountants doing this as BAU it does make me feel more tempted to switch accountants in the future.

[oilboil]

Yeah probably not going to disclose that as not really fair. But based on other accountants doing this as BAU it does make me feel more tempted to switch accountants in the future.

Or given you are now furloughed why not spend the time learning accountancy - 3 months should give you enough of a grounding to be able to do simple accounts yourself in future.

[Lance]

Or given you are now furloughed why not spend the time learning accountancy - 3 months should give you enough of a grounding to be able to do simple accounts yourself in future.

I'm not sure I agree with DIY, but three months is plenty of time to change accountant...

[jamed]

I'm not sure I agree with DIY, but three months is plenty of time to change accountant...

Well technically I am an accountant, but just didn't want to be arsed with the whole admin side of it. It would still cost be about £30 a month if I just used FreeAgent on its own anyway.

And doesn't make sense to change accountants now as I've effectively been paying them for my July 2020 year-end up until now. If I did the switch it would be after my year-end.

[dx4100]

I think I could understand a nominal charge as its technically outside of the usual service but I find it hard to accept that fee represents the level of work involved. I wouldn't be happy.

[Andy Hallett]

It literally took me about 10 minutes to do it myself for March and April.

Technically you were not furloughed then.....

In all seriousness, that has to be part of their monthly charge.

[rogerfederer]

Yeah probably not going to disclose that as not really fair. But based on other accountants doing this as BAU it does make me feel more tempted to switch accountants in the future.

Is this a joke?

Why are you so scared to name and shame? You're being charged another large monthly fee for almost no extra work and don't want to name?

I therefore suggest instead that this entire thread is a nonsense. If my accountant so much as suggested this I'd ask for the clarification in writing and then use it as justification to leave.

PerfectStorm: NixonWilliams are rubbish. Why you're still with them and just awaiting the inevitable mistake is beyond me; you've read enough of their woes since being bought out by a Venture Capital fund. Why trust your own experience of one rather than the group experience of: they have been atrocious for the last two years.

[andydd68]

I'm not sure I agree with DIY, but three months is plenty of time to change accountant...

Why not ?, its not rocket science, anyone with half a brain can do their own accountants, running payroll is easy and nearly all accounting packages like brightpay or xero/freeagent provide furlough add-ins, I've just sat through Xero & Brightpays free furlough online training, it takes a few minutes to complete the Furlough part of the payroll and the HMRC part is designed to be completed by individuals and gets problematic if you want your accountant to do it for you.

[Lix]

I'm with Dolan Accountancy and they didn't charge me anything extra, definitely seems like you're getting screwed over, especially since they're charging you such a significant amount..