Reply to: JSA Accountants - Any good?

[Fred Bloggs]

Could anyone recommend an alternative please? I was with AccountsNet and the accountant I had from that was good. Now she's moved on or I don't know?, I'm very unhappy and want to change. My emails get responded by random people and the answers are contradictory. I have to check everything they do or say tripple times. Such a sham...

Whoever you choose, make sure they use FreeAgent. Myself, I would call Maslins if I were you. But I no longer need an accountant. If I did, that's who I would talk to first.

[cojak]

Could anyone recommend an alternative please? I was with AccountsNet and the accountant I had from that was good. Now she's moved on or I don't know?, I'm very unhappy and want to change. My emails get responded by random people and the answers are contradictory. I have to check everything they do or say tripple times. Such a sham...

Take a look at the first 2 pages of this forum, there are some recommendations on here.

[Blast]

Could anyone recommend an alternative please? I was with AccountsNet and the accountant I had from that was good. Now she's moved on or I don't know?, I'm very unhappy and want to change. My emails get responded by random people and the answers are contradictory. I have to check everything they do or say tripple times. Such a sham...

[ocalno]

I thought they were terrible. They are not qualified. Go for Chartered Accountants who have actually passed their exams and are regulated.

[jdt]

I believe JSA Services Limited is currently growing at the moment via a series of acquisitions. I believe this strategy is backed by their 43% investment firm owner Universal Partners.

They have bought various contractor firms such as Clever Accounts, K&B Accountancy, AccountsNet, Crest Umbrella, etc.

It will be interesting to see how big they plan on getting and whether off payroll means they put more emphasis on buying umbrella companies going forward.

Their prices vary quite widely depending upon the brand/company you are with:
Accountsnet Ltd: 65 per month plus vat
Clever Accounts Ltd: 79.50 per month plus vat
JSA Services Ltd trading as K&B Accountancy Group: 105 per month plus vat
JSA Services Ltd: 120 per month plus VAT

There was a good comment above about the service you get often depends on the specific individual that you deal with in the organisation.

Mmm... interesting. I mentioned that the accountant I have at JSA is excellent (I've been contracting for 20 years)... however I'm paying £120 + VAT per month, whereas looks like I could halve that by going to another firm in the group... that's the trouble. I'd rather stick with my very good accountant (the actual person I happen to have looking after my accounts) than save money and be worried every time an official document needs to be filed.

[Old Greg]

Worth asking psychocandy for an opinion.

[AR Tax]

I believe JSA Services Limited is currently growing at the moment via a series of acquisitions. I believe this strategy is backed by their 43% investment firm owner Universal Partners.

They have bought various contractor firms such as Clever Accounts, K&B Accountancy, AccountsNet, Crest Umbrella, etc.

It will be interesting to see how big they plan on getting and whether off payroll means they put more emphasis on buying umbrella companies going forward.

Their prices vary quite widely depending upon the brand/company you are with:
Accountsnet Ltd: 65 per month plus vat
Clever Accounts Ltd: 79.50 per month plus vat
JSA Services Ltd trading as K&B Accountancy Group: 105 per month plus vat
JSA Services Ltd: 120 per month plus VAT

There was a good comment above about the service you get often depends on the specific individual that you deal with in the organisation.

Would be interesting hearing how they get clients. Recruitment agency referrals? Word of mouth? Google? Something else?

A big plus point is that they are a FreeAgent firm.



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[jdt]

I'm with JSA by virtue of them taking over my previous accountant a few years ago. I suspect your experience depends on your individual accountant. One annoying thing is they send weekly emails asking if you want your self assessment done (the price goes up the closer you get to January). I've already done mine, and I've told them, but the automated emails continue.

[Ch0pper]

I am currently with JSA and I am not happy with the service they are providing. They make too many mistakes and I have to check everything they submit to HMRC. I am very close to changing accountants...

Did you change, as i am about to do the same, they are hopeless

[tuetsu]

I am currently with JSA and I am not happy with the service they are providing. They make too many mistakes and I have to check everything they submit to HMRC. I am very close to changing accountants...

[contractor79]

I used them when I first formed a Ltd company.

They were good at first, very helpful.

However, as time went on, I seemed to be doing most of the work, doing more and more things, and understanding less and less of what they were saying. They made more errors and I got fed up of checking their work and pointing out these errors. As time goes on do they pass you to less experienced staff, with poorer grasp of English and this country's tax sytem etc ? That's how it seemed to me. Also it was expensive. I moved to Nixon Williams and saved a lot of money and get better service. No brainer.

[Waldorf]

Didn't JSA go bang a few years ago?

Online Recruitment - JSA, Albany and Sunday Solutions damage umbrella reputation

Sounds like the ones who ended up paying were the poor taxpayer

[mclare]

SPAM

[configman]

I left them about 9 years ago when I could no longer understand what their staff were saying. Most of the staff I spoke to did not have good English pronounciation. They were also very inconsistent and even though now very experienced at doing my own accounts I still cannot see how they got their figures in the accounts they did for me - nor could other accountants when I tried to transfer. I'm glad over 7 years have passed and I can shred the accounts. I had one big gripe with them, they allowed many of their contractors to claim allowances that they were not entitled to and when confronted by HMRC they reached a global agreement with HMRC that meant those who did not over claim were also sent a bill or face investigation from HMRC. This was to save JSA re-tracking individual contractor accounts and for saving individual contractors paying what they owed - the innocent ones were expected to subsidise them but some of us did not.

They may be alright now but back then they convinced me to go alone and now I don't need accountants.

[slogger]

I used them a few years back when starting out, certainly not my worst experience with an accountant, however I ceased using them due to inconsistent info from them, didn't have one contact - each time I spoke with them got different info. Left after a few months, however they kept all the money I'd paid them - they kept around 1k essentially just for setting up my ltd co....things may have changed there but on my experience with them I'd steer clear of them and find a good,local firm.