Accountant for company doing very little work?

[Louisa@InTouch]

Hi Barracuda,

I promise I'm not stalking you...

Feel free to give us a call and chat this through with your Personal Accountant, as they can discuss your options and switching off the monthly service if you wish.

We're here normal hours this week except Christmas Eve (until 3.30pm) and then open 9am-5.30pm over the festive period, excluding 25, 28 December and 1st January.

[jamesbrown]

Yes, I'd like to find an accountant to submit everything that my current accountants (InTouch, who I'm very happy with) do. But if I can find someone who charges less because they offload more of the work onto me that would be preferable.

Is what I'm asking for possible, or is my hope folorn? Perhaps I should just start doing everything myself ...

I think it's quite likely that you could negotiate a reduction, depending on how much you want to take on, but if they're still doing the end of year returns, I wouldn't expect a large reduction and, TBH, unless money is an issue or you want to learn yourself, it's probably not worth it. In other words, it's likely forlorn if you're expecting a large discount, but InTouch are reasonable, so I wouldn't be surprised if you could get something back (but you'd need to do at least some of those things in your OP).

[Cirrus]

My accountant charges me less than other clients. I do the VAT and send him a spreadsheet at the end of a year with all the transactions assigned to GL codes which align with his and full bank listings so he can drop the numbers into his system and print the annual return. He gives me bits of advice and does my filings including Companies House. Last bill was just over £600 so you can't complain.

[Barracuda]

Have you spoken to inTouch to see if they have an offering that would suit your needs?

I plan to, but would prefer to be forearmed with knowledge of what else is available.

[northernladuk]

Have you spoken to inTouch to see if they have an offering that would suit your needs?

[Barracuda]

Yes, I'd like to find an accountant to submit everything that my current accountants (InTouch, who I'm very happy with) do. But if I can find someone who charges less because they offload more of the work onto me that would be preferable.

Is what I'm asking for possible, or is my hope folorn? Perhaps I should just start doing everything myself ...

[jamesbrown]

So you basically want them do everything they would ordinarily do?

You might be able to negotiate a discount. However, the CT and SATR are substantial requirements and the monthly invoices are simply payment terms, rather than a reflection of how the costs are distributed over the year. Unless you can make the company dormant (i.e. no transactions whatsoever), I don't think you're likely to secure a massive discount. That said, it might be a good opportunity to learn how to do the accounts yourself, time permitting...

[Barracuda]

My contractor limited is going to have a very quiet 2016/17 I think, as I focus on other things. I'd like to keep the company in existence, but it won't do much.

What would anyone recommend regarding accountants for this situation? I don't want to pay 1000 + VAT for the year to one of the big names if my accounting situation is going to be very quiet. I'm happy to do my own bookkeeping, but I would like someone to do my personal self assessment tax returns, as well as the limited's Companies House and HMRC yearly returns, as well as filing (probably nil) VAT returns, as well as some small PAYE.