How much does an Accountant cost?

How much does an Accountant cost?

Author
Discussion

LotusMartin

Original Poster:

1,112 posts

151 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
After emailing a couple and getting zero response, can anyone give me a very rough estimate on Accountancy costs for:

Setting up Ltd Co
Annual accounts
advice on expenses and tax efficiency

I'm not looking for exact, but are we talking £1k, £3k?



LordHaveMurci

12,034 posts

168 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
Depends on the accountant & the level of work you require them to carry out.

How long is a piece of string?

Landlord

12,689 posts

256 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
IME accountants charge based on time rather than the type of job - therefore as mentioned, the more complicated the job, the more expensive it'll be.

It'll also depend on what the company does. If you have lots of very complicated, "tax adjustable", foreign jurisdiction etc. sales/purchases and so on it'll cost more than someone who operates solely in the UK doing one single "vanilla" thing. Also, will you have to budget for personal tax preparation and so on?

I see you're based in Surrey. I would recommend my accountant but they're based in South Bucks so you might want to have someone closer to you. I'll happily forward their details if you'd like though.

N8CYL

457 posts

149 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
We were paying £4k per annum, but changed to another charging £99.00 per month for everything. Better service and advice from the latter too. Calls in when we ask, provides all advice, accounts, wages etc.

LordHaveMurci

12,034 posts

168 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
We have a book keeper for wages, VAT returns, basic year end & other stuff, she costs us £20ph self employed.

We use a very large (& expensive) accountants for anything else (considerably more than £20ph!).

Works out better & much cheaper this way (for us).

trickywoo

11,706 posts

229 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
My accountant does payroll, vat returns, annual accounts and annual corporation tax return for about £1,200 all in.

It's a simple company structure with a low number of invoices in and out each year and I do the daily accounts to the format which suits him.

IATM

3,779 posts

146 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
trickywoo said:
My accountant does payroll, vat returns, annual accounts and annual corporation tax return for about £1,200 all in.

It's a simple company structure with a low number of invoices in and out each year and I do the daily accounts to the format which suits him.
snap me too

bazza white

3,552 posts

127 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
http://www.lowcostaccounts.co.uk may be worth a look if on a budget but a good accountant can pay for themselves

red_slr

17,124 posts

188 months

Friday 6th March 2015
quotequote all
We are on 1% T/O.

johnfm

13,668 posts

249 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
Try:

John Whelan at sapphire accounting

Gavin McBride at Smith McBride; or

Kevin Shotton at Clive Owen LLP

I spoke to all three last week for exactly the same query. Annual charges for company accounts, Vat returns, annual filing, corp tax returns and personal tax return was £1300 to £2300. All three seemed to know their onions.

s2kjock

1,678 posts

146 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
You're best to find a few by reccomendation then go and meet them. They should all be able to meet you for free to assess your needs better and provide a more accurate quote.

They may also highlight things you might have overlooked.

MagicalTrevor

6,476 posts

228 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
I suppose it depends how involved your accounts are. By the sounds of it, just simple accounts. Are you a contractor?

I've been using inniAccounts for 2 years now and I'm very happy. What I like best is the software front end they have which tells me how much money as it ring fences my tax (so I don't end up spending my Corporation tax like my mate did!), which is why I asked if you were a contractor as you might be more likely to want to extract more money from the company.

IA are £79 +vat per month but if you use my referral code then you'd get 10% off (and so would I).

Referral code: CA3693

Eric Mc

121,788 posts

264 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
£350 per annum is very low for the completion of limited company accounts, the related Corporation tax computations and Corporation Tax return and the submission of the accounts to Companies House and the submission of the accounts, computations and Corporation tax return to HMRC.

dcb

5,834 posts

264 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
£350 per annum is very low for the completion of limited company accounts, the related Corporation tax computations and Corporation Tax return and the submission of the accounts to Companies House and the submission of the accounts, computations and Corporation tax return to HMRC.
I think I used to pay something like that.
It sounds pretty reasonable to me.

At £20 an hour, that's 17.5 hours paid work i.e. about two days work.
Straightforward tax accounts need not be complex.


Eric Mc

121,788 posts

264 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
What do you mean by "tax accounts"?

snowley

183 posts

125 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
£20 per hour for someone with the skill and expertise to complete that work is not much. You would expect a minimum of £40-50 per hour realistically.

snowley

183 posts

125 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
The Crack Fox said:
I'm a sole trader, self-employed.
The administrative needs for a self employed individual are far less than a limited company. Hence the fee would be greater.

RichB

51,435 posts

283 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
red_slr said:
We are on 1% T/O.
Do you pay start ups when there making a loss in their first year laugh

Eric Mc

121,788 posts

264 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
The Crack Fox said:
Eric Mc said:
£350 per annum is very low for the completion of limited company accounts, the related Corporation tax computations and Corporation Tax return and the submission of the accounts to Companies House and the submission of the accounts, computations and Corporation tax return to HMRC.
I'm a sole trader, self-employed.
£350 would not be unreasonable for a sole trader such as yourself.

We are discussing limited company accounts - which are often at least double the complexity of the equivalent for a similar sized sole trader - when you take into account the additional work required to satisfy Companies Act, Accounting Standards and Corporation Tax disclosure requirements.

Eric Mc

121,788 posts

264 months

Monday 9th March 2015
quotequote all
RichB said:
red_slr said:
We are on 1% T/O.
Do you pay start ups when there making a loss in their first year laugh
A loss making entity may still have a sizeable turnover.