Switching accountants - re-entering expenses & invoices

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

Accountants

How long have you been with the old accountants? What's in their letter of engagement or agreed when you joined them?

If both are on Freeagent, there's no problem in signing over to the new guys, makes the process easier. I don't see how there could be a verification problem as you'd be supplying either of them with the same info through Freeagent and other details.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

Are the old accountants obligated to complete your annual accounts if they were in contract at the end of your corporate year? It's the end of my LTD financial year and I want to switch accountants as soon as possible. Both accountants are on FreeAgent, so all the info is to hand already, and new accountants said they can't verify the figures so it's old accountant's responsibility.

The answer to this is contractural, rather then regulatory - check the engagement terms with your outgoing accountant, eg engagement letter, terms of business etc.

[greenio]

Annual accounts

Are the old accountants obligated to complete your annual accounts if they were in contract at the end of your corporate year? It's the end of my LTD financial year and I want to switch accountants as soon as possible. Both accountants are on FreeAgent, so all the info is to hand already, and new accountants said they can't verify the figures so it's old accountant's responsibility.

[missinggreenfields]

I did my whole years bookkeeping in three hours, everything entered into a spreadsheet. Is yours more complicated than a standard IT Contractor accounts?

I used to spend about a day at year end sorting the mess of my accounts, going through the shoebox of receipts and copying them into the spreadsheet.

But if the OP has the information from the first accountant, I can't see it taking long to just transpose that into a new format. Stick some music on, get your head down and type

[Scruff]

I did my whole years bookkeeping in three hours, everything entered into a spreadsheet. Is yours more complicated than a standard IT Contractor accounts?

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

Days?

A couple of hours max, go back and press a little.

[Fred Bloggs]

Yet another compulsive reason to switch to a FreeAgent accountant.

[missinggreenfields]

Well if their portals or tools are incompatible what are they supposed to do? I would have thought this was one of the questions you would have asked before you switched over to them?

Last time I changed, my new accountant entered everything from the spreadsheet into their portal for me. I would expect nothing less, but I did ask first.

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

Switching Accountants

One of the plus points of Freeagent (and others), easy to port around should the need arise.

Which systems do the old & new accountants use? You mention spreadsheets which shouldn't be too much of a problem to use within the working papers. We've had a few guys come across with spreadsheets part way through a year but pretty simple to accommodate and use within our own system & working papers, then put onto Freeagent if required by the client. It's a little extra work but ensures it's correct and accessible going forward.

[northernladuk]

Well if their portals or tools are incompatible what are they supposed to do? I would have thought this was one of the questions you would have asked before you switched over to them?

Can you just not go back to the old one and ask them to finish the year off and put the new one on hold until you new year starts?

I'd expect your new one is going to charge you to do the returns that you would have paid the old one to do as well as you haven't paid a full year before they are needed by the way. Might want to ask about that as well.

[baj84]

Hey,

I stupidly switched accountants 3 months before the end of my LTD financial year. My old accountants sent all the documentation to my new accountant and I can also provide all my expenses, invoices, balances, etc for the last 8 months. But my new accountant has said he can't use all my old data and i'll need to re-enter all my figures into his spreadsheet, which will be days and days of work!

Is this normal when switching accountants half way through the year? Or should I be kicking up a fuss?

Cheers