Reply to: Moving on from InTouch (Brookson)

[Casall]

Have you asked your accountant?

I do not have a personal accountant at the moment as the last one, who was there for less than a year, left during the summer. I am currently being looked after by their accounts team and they will assign me a personal accountant when they manage to recruit one. I wouldn't hold my breath.

My accounts are fairly straightforward and most of the communication has been by email. I have rarely had the need to speak to them on the phone. I have never had a particularly close business relationship with Intouch, if that makes sense, so I will not miss leaving them.

I have already found a new accountant who charges a lot less than Intouch and I like their approach. I don't see the point of paying over £100 for an accountant and Intouch charge over £150 a month.

So I think a month's notice is more than fair.

[jamesbrown]

I have been with Intouch for a number of years, but I have had enough. My personal accountant has changed several times and the last one has also left the company.

How much notice do you generally have to give when changing accountants? I have not been able to find any T&C that state this.

For those of you who have moved on, have you just emailed them to let them know that you no longer need their services?

Payments to accountants are for annual accounts, which accountants like InTouch will break into monthly payments for your convenience but, make no mistake, you are paying an annual fee. As such, the best time to change is for the next accounting year or to bite the bullet and move to another accountant within-year (don't expect much, if any, refund on your annual fee, though), and most accountants that you move to would prefer to engage at the start of an accounting year too.

[northernladuk]

I have been with Intouch for a number of years, but I have had enough. My personal accountant has changed several times and the last one has also left the company.

How much notice do you generally have to give when changing accountants? I have not been able to find any T&C that state this.

For those of you who have moved on, have you just emailed them to let them know that you no longer need their services?

Have you asked your accountant?

[Casall]

I have been with Intouch for a number of years, but I have had enough. My personal accountant has changed several times and the last one has also left the company.

How much notice do you generally have to give when changing accountants? I have not been able to find any T&C that state this.

For those of you who have moved on, have you just emailed them to let them know that you no longer need their services?

[BillHicksRIP]

The switch to the new portal has been handled terribly. They must know exactly which customers are moving from the old to the new and could have prepared specific training to say, "here's how you did this in the old portal, here's how you do it in the new one" etc. Anything not covered could be handled by a 1-to-1 with your personal accountant. Instead, my personal accountant has gone AWOL, I can't see how to issue a dividend voucher, what my PAYE payments are going to be, how to close off a month for my VAT return, and so on, all of which were easy to do on the old portal.

If any InTouch/Brookson want to discuss, feel free to private message me.

[thelastrosbif]

Good god Intouch / Brookson have gone and royally f***ed things up with this portal change haven't they?

what an absolutely garbage monstrousity

has sealed the deal for me to get out because this total mess is delaying my end of month accounts

can't even upload a bank statement to manage my own expenses properly

utter sh*** , nice job intouch

[Craig@Clarity]

Yes seeing the same, been with them 12 years, had 7 different "personal accountants". Been heading down hill for a while, took a major dive after Brookson bought them. The migration to their god awful Brookson rebanded portal was aborted once and now completed, my data doesn't seem to match where the old portal left off. Been chasing nearly two weeks for anyone to explain what's happened, but silence. I'm guessing too few staff, most on holidays and the new portal has cocked up most clients data. Time to get things up to date and escape.

We always recommend Freeagent to our new and existing contractor clients. It's just the best suited and easiest software to use plus it doesn't tie you down to anyone accountancy provider because you can take it with you if you switch firms. Oh, and the mobile app is one of the best out there for the job required.

[jamesbrown]

Anyone who didn't move before Brookson tookover.... well, you should probably acquaint yourself with the MSC legislation because they will be a prime target.

( That said, InTouch were heading drastically downhill 10 years ago )

[foxes1884]

The support from Intouch has fell off a cliff in recent weeks. Have never had an issue in over 10 years but now it's all unanswered emails and incomplete information being sent. I've just rang my supposed personal accountant's number, InTouch's existing client number (which also fields HMRC calls) as well as the new enquiries number. All rang out until I gave up. Not looking good.

Yes seeing the same, been with them 12 years, had 7 different "personal accountants". Been heading down hill for a while, took a major dive after Brookson bought them. The migration to their god awful Brookson rebanded portal was aborted once and now completed, my data doesn't seem to match where the old portal left off. Been chasing nearly two weeks for anyone to explain what's happened, but silence. I'm guessing too few staff, most on holidays and the new portal has cocked up most clients data. Time to get things up to date and escape.

[davetza]

The support from Intouch has fell off a cliff in recent weeks. Have never had an issue in over 10 years but now it's all unanswered emails and incomplete information being sent. I've just rang my supposed personal accountant's number, InTouch's existing client number (which also fields HMRC calls) as well as the new enquiries number. All rang out until I gave up. Not looking good.

I find the following LinkedIn feature always useful when looking at a company at it gives you an indication fo their health. Thisi is for InTouch

[BillHicksRIP]

The support from Intouch has fell off a cliff in recent weeks. Have never had an issue in over 10 years but now it's all unanswered emails and incomplete information being sent. I've just rang my supposed personal accountant's number, InTouch's existing client number (which also fields HMRC calls) as well as the new enquiries number. All rang out until I gave up. Not looking good.

[mgrover]

I remember using Brooksons as my first accountant a while back.

As accountants they we're fine but the software was truly terrible.

Mostly because it was limited to a certain number of banks rather than any that support the OpenBanking API.

I went with CashPlus(stupid idea). Never had an issue except his one time I was buying a car, it must have been after either 5-6pm on a Friday. So I transfer the man the money and except to drive off with the car right? Wrong, at the time they weren't a real bank so transfers don't go through on the weekend and after a certain time.

Could they cancel the transaction? No.

So I had to leave the man with the car and the pending money till Monday. He thankfully didn't decide to sod off with 5k but still.

FreeAgent though is light years ahead.

[edison]

Just a quick update. Did my due diligence on the accountancy practices suggested/recommended in this thread (and others) and decided to go with Paper Rocket.

Thanks everybody for your input. Much appreciated.

You've made a good decision IMHO.

I switched to Paper Rocket from SJD (don't even get me started on that) after seeing a few recommendations on here and the difference in service is staggering. Everything is done so efficiently. Every email I send gets responded to quickly by my accountant and not some other bod (and there were a lot of emails in the early days.)

Been with them just under 18 months and they are honestly one of the best B2B companies I've dealt with. You really get a personal service that seems excellent value for money compared to one of the big sausage factor accountancy firms.

[fatJock]

Personally think it's handy to have an accountant - mine tends to save me as much as he costs and it's always good to have someone to ask instead of some of the stuff you see on here that tends to end with NLUK saying "have you asked your accountant".

I use Kashflow and do the day to day inc. invoicing, expenses, VAT returns etc. and he does my end of year accounts for CH, my self assessment and Corporation Tax. I'm sure I could do other bits myself but not worth the saving to be honest. Think my last bill for the year from him was £800 plus the VAT.

[oliverson]

Just a quick update. Did my due diligence on the accountancy practices suggested/recommended in this thread (and others) and decided to go with Paper Rocket.

Thanks everybody for your input. Much appreciated.