Reply to: Do I need an Accountant if I go for FreeAgent?

[Spoiler]

Hijacking the thread because ... it's topical for me this.

Been using FA for over 8 years now, and also using a usual contractor accountant who does vat, payroll, accounts, etc.

But, looking at moving away from daily contracting next April, but planning on keeping the ltd going for a while, to use for adhoc projects, and also generate some income from a couple of hustles.

I won't be doing payroll and also plan to deregister for vat, so I reckon main need will be accounts. Now, on the last filed accounts I did review and had a few questions for the accountant, so I don't think I am competent enough yet to take these on myself. Confident enough to do my personal tax return though.

Thing is, current accountant has quoted ~£80/month to keep on doing the accounts from April next year (with no payroll or vat) including a p11d - and that is really with no transactions going through the ltd. I reckon this is steep, so looking at other options.
Will look locally, but did find one online accountants who will do the annual accounts for £360/yr (actually they found me via online advertising!).

Oh, also planning to open up a bank account with Mettle (if they will have my ltdco back, closed an account there last year!) or NatWest to get FA included.

[sadkingbilly]

Yeah, I get that.

It look me a long time to move to cloud based accounts from locally installed software and I still export all the transactions annually to make sure I have a complete back up, just in case.

I could do it all on excel but I like the download of banking transactions and the direct submission of PAYE and VAT.

It's not so much the data integrity for me, it's more secure on my machine than out There, somewhere, bundled up nicely with x,000 other peoples, waiting to be nicked.
I don't trust 'apps' and 'cloud' security as far as i could throw it.

OMHO of course

anyway i managed with paper before excel* came along

*other spreadsheet software was/is available.

[ladymuck]

Also, I really don't like the idea of putting my financial info on 'cloud'*


*Someone Else's Servers.

Yeah, I get that.

It look me a long time to move to cloud based accounts from locally installed software and I still export all the transactions annually to make sure I have a complete back up, just in case.

I could do it all on excel but I like the download of banking transactions and the direct submission of PAYE and VAT.

[sadkingbilly]

I manged for a very long time using excel and a local for advice and filing YE.
it's not rocket science.

Also, I really don't like the idea of putting my financial info on 'cloud'*


*Someone Else's Servers.

[ladymuck]

I've just switched from Xero to FA, crikey it's different. It is most certainly designed for people with no accounting experience. Very little flexibility in how you input transactions.

Sadly Xero kept mucking about with things I'd much rather they left well alone so they had to be binned off. It's a shame it's only FA who include the ability to submit micro accounts and calculate CT. None of the other online accounting packages do that but I'm not sure the nannying you get with FA is going to annoy me even more.

[sadkingbilly]

I manged for a very long time using excel and a local for advice and filing YE.
it's not rocket science.

[northernladuk]

Is there a middleground? I'm quite confident doing everything through software like FreeAgent - but would like to have an accountant for year end / or any queries like VAT etc...

So I wouldn't mind finding a service that's like half the usual £100-150 that most charge - e.g. £600/year for year end / occasional queries.

Any accountants do that sort of thing?

I'm sure there is but it's more likely to be a friendly local accountant rather than the sausage factory types. Someone who knows you and is more familiar with your books rather than a business where multiple people pick it up over the year. You'd be best ringing a few and getting a feel. Remember though for 100 quid you are going to get less than two hours work so have to be clear on what you want from them and then negotiate.

[dogzilla]

Is there a middleground? I'm quite confident doing everything through software like FreeAgent - but would like to have an accountant for year end / or any queries like VAT etc...

So I wouldn't mind finding a service that's like half the usual £100-150 that most charge - e.g. £600/year for year end / occasional queries.

Any accountants do that sort of thing?

[courtg9000]

FreeAgent is IMHO only.
Im more of a XERO fan but hey ho.
Only thing to be aware of really is that although FreeAgent is free for business customers of Nat West and this is a nice perk, West Register a subsiduary of NatWest own FreeAgent.
This of course means that your bank if you are with NatWest have more information readily available about your financial positions than you may like.
This is probably the main reason I would rather use an alternative product.

[WTFH]

Why would you need any extra spare time? 15 mins a week I would say. As I said already, it pulls in the details from your bank statement automatically and you just either confirm the categories its assigned or assign one yourself. Job done.

I have a degree of complication myself, in that I invoice and are paid in USD. But even that is simple to handle, and it adds currency gains or losses into the accounts all on its own. Accounts are constantly available, so I can always see how much next years corp tax is, what expenses are etc etc.

I would reword what you said from really simple to: if your accounts are standard and you have 15 mins a week. Free 30 days trial and its totally free to all Natwest customers (which I am).

OK, so if everyone uses one particular bank for their business accounts and they are a one man band but think they are a company, and they are happy that the software is only free for 30 days and that it will take an hour a month to pull information together, and you still need to submit the various pieces of documentation, and it doesn't offer you any advice, and, and, and,... then sure.

[sadkingbilly]

. Free 30 days trial and its totally free to all Natwest customers (which I am).

business account holders only.

[escapeUK]

Perhaps if your account are really simple and you have plenty of spare time on your hands and you know what you are doing, then you could go without one, but to say that people "definitely do not need an accountant" is one of those statements which definitely isn't true for all businesses. It may be true for some.

Why would you need any extra spare time? 15 mins a week I would say. As I said already, it pulls in the details from your bank statement automatically and you just either confirm the categories its assigned or assign one yourself. Job done.

I have a degree of complication myself, in that I invoice and are paid in USD. But even that is simple to handle, and it adds currency gains or losses into the accounts all on its own. Accounts are constantly available, so I can always see how much next years corp tax is, what expenses are etc etc.

I would reword what you said from really simple to: if your accounts are standard and you have 15 mins a week. Free 30 days trial and its totally free to all Natwest customers (which I am).

[ladymuck]

Agreed - I have certainly seen it being done.

However you still would need MVLOnline for strike-off.

What FB said and, MVLOnline is a specific company - one that many people here have used. However, there are many companies who provide a liquidation service. You're essentially saying if you want to buy petrol you need to go to Esso.

[Fred Bloggs]

Agreed - I have certainly seen it being done.

However you still would need MVLOnline for strike-off.

Nope. Form DS01 is all you need. I have done it three times myself.

[woody1]

At least doing your own accounts, HMRC can't accuse of being an MSC.