Reply to: Crunch accountant or personal one ?

[Fred Bloggs]

The share price took a bit of a knock on Wednesday PM but it seems to have recovered. The fact that the city backed them so strongly on the float gave me some assurances that either (a) contracting is here to stay or (b) they have a diverse enough portfolio to continue to grow. Personally, I', not convinced about (a) anymore.

Yes, I noticed. I was tempted to bung a small portion of my SIPP into the shares on float but didn't. I'm watching them now and if things seem to be blowing over, I might still invest in the business in a small way.

There can be no doubt HMG want a big change in the contracting landscape, whether they will succeed or whether the industry will carry on with new blood replacing old, the jury is out for me. If they succeed, large numbers of contractors will move onto FTC's or agency payrolls.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

My other half has been doing that as well

I knew, as soon as I wrote that, it was open to interpretation ....

[northernladuk]

Having been servicing the sector for 25 years,

My other half has been doing that as well

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

But yes, there's no doubt that your IT contractors/similar will make up a huge chunk of their, and indeed our, clients. IR35's been around for a long time and there's regularly been fear of "what if the market's destroyed overnight", which has thankfully not yet materialised. Whilst I imagine there may well be a continued squeeze to follow the dividend tax & FRS hit, it doesn't make sense for them to kill it off completely. Of course these could be (not very) famous last words.

Having been servicing the sector for 25 years, and remembering the gloom post 1998 and the IR35 announcement by Gordon Brown, the knockbacks do seem to get overcome and the the sector adapts and thrives.

I think HMG may find their squeeze on the sector, especially the Public Sector rules, shoots them in the foot with the massive programme of change happening with things like MTD and Brexit. They will need whatever good help they can get, and I suspect that will mean some olive branches and/or humble pie. Watch this space...

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

I'm certainly not a FreeAgent spokesperson, but I think that whilst FreeAgent are fairly heavily dependent on contractors, they also have lots of more clearcut freelancers who are a long way from IR35 (eg web designers knocking up websites for £500/pop fixed price, lots of clients at same time etc), and increasingly drifting into construction industry CIS stuff.

But yes, there's no doubt that your IT contractors/similar will make up a huge chunk of their, and indeed our, clients. IR35's been around for a long time and there's regularly been fear of "what if the market's destroyed overnight", which has thankfully not yet materialised. Whilst I imagine there may well be a continued squeeze to follow the dividend tax & FRS hit, it doesn't make sense for them to kill it off completely. Of course these could be (not very) famous last words.

The share price took a bit of a knock on Wednesday PM but it seems to have recovered. The fact that the city backed them so strongly on the float gave me some assurances that either (a) contracting is here to stay or (b) they have a diverse enough portfolio to continue to grow. Personally, I', not convinced about (a) anymore.

[Maslins]

Yes, the question I have for the business is - What are their plans for diversification if the HMG/HMRC attacks on free lance working spreads to the private sector and damages their business model?

I'm certainly not a FreeAgent spokesperson, but I think that whilst FreeAgent are fairly heavily dependent on contractors, they also have lots of more clearcut freelancers who are a long way from IR35 (eg web designers knocking up websites for £500/pop fixed price, lots of clients at same time etc), and increasingly drifting into construction industry CIS stuff.

But yes, there's no doubt that your IT contractors/similar will make up a huge chunk of their, and indeed our, clients. IR35's been around for a long time and there's regularly been fear of "what if the market's destroyed overnight", which has thankfully not yet materialised. Whilst I imagine there may well be a continued squeeze to follow the dividend tax & FRS hit, it doesn't make sense for them to kill it off completely. Of course these could be (not very) famous last words.

[Fred Bloggs]

Edinburgh-based FinTech firm FreeAgent IPOs on AIM, raises £10.7m | Tech City News

Edinburgh-based FinTech company FreeAgent has floated on AIM, raising £10.7m.

Yes, the question I have for the business is - What are their plans for diversification if the HMG/HMRC attacks on free lance working spreads to the private sector and damages their business model?

[saptastic]

Edinburgh-based FinTech firm FreeAgent IPOs on AIM, raises £10.7m | Tech City News

Edinburgh-based FinTech company FreeAgent has floated on AIM, raising £10.7m.

[Fred Bloggs]

it's very hard to fold once you're pot committed! [/pokerreference]

Quite. Doesn't mean they made a good business decision though. As I see it, FA is close to gaining real critical mass in the industry now. The ability to be able to move all your accounts across to a new FA accountant whenever you want to effectively locks the likes of Crunch out of a huge and growing portion of the market. IMO, of course.

[pr1]

Crunch and others with their own portal solution are simply reinventing the wheel

it's very hard to fold once you're pot committed! [/pokerreference]

[dingdong]

I've used Crunch for yours without any issues as have thousands of other happy customers hence why they continue to be a market leader. You can immediately see the impact on your directors account anytime you make record expenses, dividends or make any payments.

I'm quite sure there are individuals who end up in a mess regardless of what package or firm they use.

Anytime I email crunch with an accounting question it is passed onto an accountant to deal with and year end accounts are always reviewed by two accountants before being submitted.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

It's probably unfair to say crunch were reinventing the wheel. When they started off free agent wasn't that great

Not crunch perhaps, but certainly a lot of others. There's a bit of ego involved in having your own app I think, especially when it's going to be difficult to match freeagent or the like.

[eek]

As I see it, Crunch and others with their own portal solution are simply reinventing the wheel, when a very good contractor focused solution is already available. I would have thought that an accountancy practise rolling out FA would be close to the ultimate one size fits all sausage factory. 99% of contractors aren't so different that a standard FA implementation can't cope with it?

It's probably unfair to say crunch were reinventing the wheel. When they started off free agent wasn't that great

[Fred Bloggs]

Crunch tried being software only for a while (about 4 years ago). The sausage factory approach was far more profitable (possibly because they priced their software too cheaply in the first place)..

As I see it, Crunch and others with their own portal solution are simply reinventing the wheel, when a very good contractor focused solution is already available. I would have thought that an accountancy practise rolling out FA would be close to the ultimate one size fits all sausage factory. 99% of contractors aren't so different that a standard FA implementation can't cope with it?

[eek]

If only they used FreeAgent, eh?

Crunch tried being software only for a while (about 4 years ago). The sausage factory approach was far more profitable (possibly because they priced their software too cheaply in the first place)..