Reply to: Annual Accounts incorrect 2 years in a row

[Lewis]

Nixon Williams all the way, have yet to come across anyone better.

I've recommended a few friends who have moved to them and they've all been happy too.

[northernladuk]

I haven't seen as many of those, but I am happy to stand corrected.

Just as an aside, I don't think people should be able to come on here and publicly knock a firm, without having got an answer from the company first. It does assume that we as contractors are always in the right.

As a consultant, I wouldn't be happy if I received a public slating for my work - when the client hadn't tried to sort it out with me first.

Totally this for me. I find it annoying people will say this firm is rubbish on the actions of one person. I have lost count the number of people that came on here slating their accountant who then came on and handed his ass on a plate to him. Hilarious.

Christ if everyone judged contractors by the actions of some of the numpties that post on here we would be dead in the water!

Even agents need to be cut some slack. The blacklist thread makes me uncomfortable. To name a whole business just because one guy is a bit slap dash (which is their job to be to be honest) is a bit tight.

I don't think the OP has done anything too wrong with his rant. He did try and keep it slightly anonymous. Seen a lot worse on here.

[Sally@InTouch]

Thanks to everyone for all the lovely comments

You may have seen a lack of Clare this week! Only because she's on annual leave, and for once, is not working!

[Notascooby]

Hi all,

I was happy enough to let this thread die as I've been contacted by PM (which wasn't my intention).

Although obvious who the accountancy firm was from the spreadsheet reference - I wasn't out to name and shame but it was in part frustration and in part to get a feel for if I've just been unlucky.

I'm about to do a complete a thorough check of my accounts to ensure I'm happy that everything is as it should be, then I'll await the full response from the firm to determine my next course of action.

I'm in no way an expert on these things and I'm still learning as I go after a couple of years and I've screwed up a few things, which I noted and passed on to the accountant when I became aware of those simple mistakes.

But did I catch all my errors? Have I done something inefficently that could be improved through some clever accounting? These are the value add services I initially expected , that possibly when I submit for a quarterly someone would give them a quick glance and phone to say - eerm NAS - you've messed up there or did you know that.....


Anyway, off to spend an hour trawling figures....and to live in hope that I get more than just a new set of accounts from the service provider.

[malvolio]

I haven't seen as many of those, but I am happy to stand corrected.

Just as an aside, I don't think people should be able to come on here and publicly knock a firm, without having got an answer from the company first. It does assume that we as contractors are always in the right.

As a consultant, I wouldn't be happy if I received a public slating for my work - when the client hadn't tried to sort it out with me first.

That's rather the point. If anyone does start a war against any company the first question has to be "Have you spoken to them?". Otherwise, in a competetive world, you have to query the motives of the various OPs; some may be genuine, but how can you tell?

As for SJD, I've used them for years; they, like my bank, are largely invisible and only appear when you need them (and when the invoice is due... ) which is what I pay them for.

[Higgs Boson]

I haven't seen as many of those, but I am happy to stand corrected.

Just as an aside, I don't think people should be able to come on here and publicly knock a firm, without having got an answer from the company first. It does assume that we as contractors are always in the right.

As a consultant, I wouldn't be happy if I received a public slating for my work - when the client hadn't tried to sort it out with me first.

[Sausage Surprise]

I do notice from the Accountants that post on here, some only post when their firm is being shouted at. The other side of the argument - if you get lots of complaints on this forum, you probably read this forum quite a lot.

The only one that doesn't is Claire from Intouch. She seems to post answers to questions anyway.

For fairness, so does Alan at NW.

Edit: Oops just noticed that NLUK pointed this out

[Higgs Boson]

I don't think that is fair to be honest. SJD have 11k customers compared to some others that have a few k so there is going to a be a scaled response. I guess the bigger guys would be a little less personal than the small ones though so a few more complaints because of that granted. Nathan posts information and even Simon Dolan comes on and adds comments as well. I don't think that is too shabby at all.

I have to say that the InTouch guys n gals are very impressive with their input to the forum as is Alan from NW. It does give you a warm feeling to see their input and would most definitely sway me if I did need to move.

I also think from being on here alot over a year or so we see a lot more complaints about the non contract accountants than we do the people we are speaking about. They also seem a lot more serious.

I think that was covered previously when I wrote

"I think if you are the largest firm of contractor specialist accountants, you are likely to receive the most complaints. Just because you have more clients than anyone else"

The point I was making was more of a general nature. From what I have read over the past year, Claire from Intouch seems to post answers to general questions that she could not possibly get a client from. Whereas some of the more Supermarket firms tend to come on here when they are being knocked (usually wrongly IMHO) or another firm is being knocked and they want to join in with the slapping.

[northernladuk]

I do notice from the Accountants that post on here, some only post when their firm is being shouted at. The other side of the argument - if you get lots of complaints on this forum, you probably read this forum quite a lot.

The only one that doesn't is Claire from Intouch. She seems to post answers to questions anyway.

I don't think that is fair to be honest. SJD have 11k customers compared to some others that have a few k so there is going to a be a scaled response. I guess the bigger guys would be a little less personal than the small ones though so a few more complaints because of that granted. Nathan posts information and even Simon Dolan comes on and adds comments as well. I don't think that is too shabby at all.

I have to say that the InTouch guys n gals are very impressive with their input to the forum as is Alan from NW. It does give you a warm feeling to see their input and would most definitely sway me if I did need to move.

I also think from being on here alot over a year or so we see a lot more complaints about the non contract accountants than we do the people we are speaking about. They also seem a lot more serious.

[d000hg]

So it was SJD then?

I am looking at moving accountants and couldn't decide between SJD and InTouch, this has put me off SJD a bit.

If you go Intouch I'm happy to take/share your referral bonus

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

To add a bit of balance (and I'm not in any way associated with SJD as my earlier posts will bear out), the number of times they are moaned about on here at least is fairly small for the 12,000 clients they seem to have.

[Higgs Boson]

Not advocating either but the personal touch on a public forum is not too shabby, is it not? Not saying InTouch wouldn't do the same of course, as I'm sure they would! But it wouldn't put me off is my point.

I do notice from the Accountants that post on here, some only post when their firm is being shouted at. The other side of the argument - if you get lots of complaints on this forum, you probably read this forum quite a lot.

The only one that doesn't is Claire from Intouch. She seems to post answers to questions anyway.

[captainham]

So it was SJD then?

I am looking at moving accountants and couldn't decide between SJD and InTouch, this has put me off SJD a bit.

Not advocating either but the personal touch on a public forum is not too shabby, is it not? Not saying InTouch wouldn't do the same of course, as I'm sure they would! But it wouldn't put me off is my point.

[PorkPie]

was going to ask but I scrolled down and low and belold they'd already fessed up

[Ketchup]

Hi,

Sorry about your experience with the accounts preparation.

Regarding the accounts preparation, the procedures are not as straightforward as you mentioned, but I agree completely, there is no excuse for mistakes if procedures have not been followed.

I have dropped you a PM to get some details on who your accountant was (is) at SJD.

Please let me know, then I will be able to put this forward.

So it was SJD then?

I am looking at moving accountants and couldn't decide between SJD and InTouch, this has put me off SJD a bit.