accountancy

[dmuir]

I run a small business based in Ayr and turnover approx £500000 per year. I am currently looking to change my accountant as I think the 10K to 15K per year is a bit expensive, could anyone give me any ideas

 

[Gouldie0]

Hi David,

I would always suggest speaking with any friends, fellow business owners who feel that they could recommend their accountant.

Possibly try and think about the following as well; -

- What makes you unhappy with your current accountant? If it's just the cost like you suggest, why not raise this with them to see if they'll bring the price down.

- Are you looking for someone in your particular area or would you be prepared to spread the net further?

- Do you require someone to complete the entire process or would you be willing to split the process? i.e. employing a seperate bookeeper to manage the accounts and then supply them to the accountants. (It can generally work out cheaper this way)

Kind Regards

Neil

 

[profitxchange]

I would agree. what is the current accountant doing for you- everything or just specific things. £15000 seems high but it is the equivalent of one decent book keeper.
I would sit down (on a no fee basis) with your accountant and explore how the costs could be reduced - they will get the hint. Hopefully they will be constructive. If not move.
To find another accountant do by recommendation - try ringing up some co's you do not know and ask them how they do their accounting and who they use. If you do it in a very un-intrusive way they are unliekly to object - rather see it as a compliment

 

[Boxby]

HI

I can recommend Iain Allen, based out at Riverside, Irvine. Accounts preparation Tax returns VAT accounting Payroll processing from Iain Allan, Chartered Accountant
I used to work with Iain, and he is a really nice chap, in the proper sense that you don't see that often. I don't know what industry your business in but Iain has experience of a wide range, full CA practise service for Companies. He is very very good at looking after his clients.

Hope that helps.

Kind regards
Sandra.

 

[stugster]

What is your accountant actually doing for you? If they're running your PAYE, Payroll, NIC, VAT, and general book keeping for you, then £15k might not actually be a staggering amount to be paying.

It really depends on what they're doing for you, what you need them to actually do, and how good your books are when you send them to the accountant.

 

[dmuir]

we run Sage so we do all the general book keeping and VAT with the accountant doing the year end and payroll for a total of 6 employees

 

[Gouldie0]

we run Sage so we do all the general book keeping and VAT with the accountant doing the year end and payroll for a total of 6 employees

On that basis i would say £15,000 is quite excessive. What type of end of year accounts are they preparing??

Are they audited as this may explain some of the cost??

Kind Regards

Neil

 

[dmuir]

no not audited accounts I get a feeling its more historic as we use to run a Irish Division but stopped this a couple of years ago, they are also a Glasgow City centre firm

 

[Gouldie0]

Obviously i don't know the full service your accountant supplies so i'm making a comment based on what i know, but the only time i've heard of accounts and payroll costing that kind of money is in a very large firm with quite a large turnover (£3m +),they were also audited accountants and had a large number of employee's.

I would suggest looking around as you could be saving yourself quite a sum of money without reducing the level of service you receive.

The most important thing though is don't go for the cheapest option for the sake of it, sometimes you pay a little extra to get someone who know's what there doing. I just wouldn't pay between £10,000 and £15,000 a year though :thumbup1:.

Kind Regards

Neil

 

[Adventurelife]

I pay a similar amount but for that I have a in house bookeeper 3 to 4 days a week who also helps with admin etc and she does everything with regards finance prior to handing to the accountant

The accountant charges a fixed fee per company for checking what has been submitted by the bookeeper.

He also charges for one of projects etc. For example he just produced a lenghty report on the advantages and disadvantages from moving from sole trader to ltd company or limited partnership for my main business

I prefer this sort of arrangement as it is very clear what you are paying for

 

[Boxby]

Peter shows a perfect example of how an accountant should be used in a business of that size. Accountants are wasted doing book-keeping. Manangement of the company need to have that book-keeping done in house so that they have active, current, accurate information for managing their business.

Accountants are about knowledge, advice, planning, special projects, restructing, tax planning, corporate structures, etc.

If your business is big enough to support it, then having the skills in house for VAT, PAYE, Book-keeping & management accounts means that the business will be better run.

If you don't have the skills inhouse, then yes, definitely contract it out to an accountant, because inaccurate and out of date financial information, and tax debts, are factors that lead to a lot of bad decisions and business problems.