Accountant Required - Online or in Person?

[northernladuk]

I think it’s fair to say that we are the only firm that offer face to face meetings to our all clients at a location to suit them. From experience over the last 20 years I'd say we actually meet around 50% of all clients during the lifetime of their Company.
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To add to this I am with SJD and in 3 years I have never had the need to pop in. Everyone this answered quickly and clearly by mail or phone. Never had a problem. I did the local accountant before SJD and he screwed me over royally not knowing contracting so would never go back there. Remote contractor accountant over local accountant anytime IMHO.

[malvolio]

Just as an aside, I'm one of Simon's clients and in the 50% that have never been to meet the team (hey, it's along walk to Cheltenham). However I have regular contact with team and don't think I suffer from being invisible. As he says, they are there if I ever do need them.

SJD is also PCG Accredited, incidentally...

[simondolan]

I think it’s fair to say that we are the only firm that offer face to face meetings to our all clients at a location to suit them. From experience over the last 20 years I'd say we actually meet around 50% of all clients during the lifetime of their Company.

The real benefit of having someone you can actually meet is that they are there if you ever do need them. If something went wrong, you needed to sign accounts urgently, pick something up same day or simply to have a face to face chat with your accountant about business / the state of the contracting market, would you really like to travel up to some industrial estate in the middle of nowhere?

Online and call centre type businesses are great for transactional relationships like banking and buying insurance. However, I feel that it isn’t appropriate for helping clients running their own Limited companies. Sure there would be massive savings for SJD in not having to employ so many accountants, not having offices around the UK or just communicating via email/telephone, but for me, I simply don’t believe we could deliver the same level of service - it's a peace of mind thing I think.

In terms of fees, there is so little difference between us and the call centre/on line type operations that I don't think the fee level would really be a consideration in most cases.

My friend recently came over and advised me of going limited than staying under an umbrella.

He has an accountant that charges hm around £100 to do all his accounts per month and even meets him, if required.

I know there are cheaper accountants but how good can they be?

Can anyone recommend any accountants that are known for their fantastic support, break down of information (It will be my first time going through as LTD) and overall service.

Thanks

[TheFaQQer]

When I first started, I wanted a decent local accountant so I could pop in and discuss things as necessary.

I've just finished the accounts for the year (well, my preparation for him) and seen how much I'm paying, so I'm looking to change (I can't believe the current firm can cut their prices to become competitive). Now, I don't think I need as much hand holding as I did at the start, so I'll probably go with one of the "remote" accountants.

£100 a month doesn't seem that bad to me, but I know I'm getting royally fleeced at the moment.

[northernladuk]

Here is a link to a post I made with all the most commonly suggested accountants and a list of other recommendation requests..

Accountants Recommendation Threads

[malvolio]

My friend recently came over and advised me of going limited than staying under an umbrella.

He has an accountant that charges hm around £100 to do all his accounts per month and even meets him, if required.

I know there are cheaper accountants but how good can they be?

Can anyone recommend any accountants that are known for their fantastic support, break down of information (It will be my first time going through as LTD) and overall service.

Thanks

Try using the Search facility. There's a big thread on accountants in general, and a host of comments on the usual suspects. I've used mine for 9 years now and never met them, so where they are is probably irrelevant (and the previous one I used to use and have monthly meetings with was a complete waste of space). Just make sure you get one that understand the contractng business (it's different to the average small business) and ideally find one with PCG Accreditation. Probably worth revisiting the guides as well, it's a different world to umbrella-la-la land*

Also, £100 a month is about what you're paying for your brolly, so that's not really a fator, is it. Good accountants are actually free and you should never pick such a key supplier purely on the basis of their fees.




*PCG just re-issued their Guide to Freelancing, so worth a read anyway.

[mobad]

My friend recently came over and advised me of going limited than staying under an umbrella.

He has an accountant that charges hm around £100 to do all his accounts per month and even meets him, if required.

I know there are cheaper accountants but how good can they be?

Can anyone recommend any accountants that are known for their fantastic support, break down of information (It will be my first time going through as LTD) and overall service.

Thanks