Accountant recommendations in East Anglia

[GTIR]

Can anyone recommend a good accountant for a small business, 6 month old company needs help!

Middle of the road pricing, but I need someone who will give a fair assessment of my business and be thoughtful and honest with me and the tax man.

I am based in Newmarket, Suffolk so anywhere around the Cambridge, Ely, Bury way would be super.

[timskipper]

I'm South-Norfolk based and for the last 8 years have been using Lovewell Blake. I can't recommend them highly enough.

Call Brian Floringer (Thetford office) and tell him I sent you. He's a good guy (and likes his cars too).

http://www.lovewell-blake.co.uk/brian-floringer.as...

Edited to add, when I first started up I was using a london firm for the first year, who fvcked up my accounts good and proper. Brian sorted it out, and save me a bundle of cash in the process.

Tim.

Edited by timskipper on Wednesday 21st November 12:39

[thewave]

timskipper said:

I'm South-Norfolk based and for the last 8 years have been using Lovewell Blake. I can't recommend them highly enough.

Call Brian Floringer (Thetford office) and tell him I sent you. He's a good guy (and likes his cars too).

http://www.lovewell-blake.co.uk/brian-floringer.as...

Tim.

I think he said "Middle of the road pricing" which if going to LB will most definately NOT be the case. Sorry Tim. If you're a fairly large business, with moderately complicated affairs then it is probably worth while being with a firm that can handle the time and specialist work, but you'll certainly pay for it.

Speak to friends, or anyone in a similar trade and get a recommendation that way.

If you want to PM some more details of what you do, and what's involved, i'd happily give you a guide price to aim for, as I'm sure Eric would, at least that way you have something to go by.

[timskipper]

thewave said:

I think he said "Middle of the road pricing" which if going to LB will most definately NOT be the case.

What's your view of middle of the road pricing then? For what they do for me (i.e *everything*) I'm not complaining at the fees I pay.

[thewave]

timskipper said:

thewave said:

I think he said "Middle of the road pricing" which if going to LB will most definately NOT be the case.

What's your view of middle of the road pricing then? For what they do for me (i.e *everything*) I'm not complaining at the fees I pay.

I can't say too much, but as a guide, in six years we have gone from one small office with 6 employees, to two offices (one new custom build) 11 employees at this office, 6 at the other without any advertising.

I pick up clients regularly from LB, and can make a decent profit, even by knocking a third/half off their fees, and I am of the opinion our firm are just as capable as theirs (having worked at both).

Edited as I thought last para was a bit unfair.

ETA You're at one of the smaller offices, I'd imagine you are actually getting a better service there than the other offices. IMO.

Edited by thewave on Wednesday 21st November 13:23

[timskipper]

That's not a guide, that's just telling us how great you are, which I'm sure you are.

But I'm interested in what you think middle of the road fees are, rather than just a don't use LB use us instead response with nothing concrete to back it up.

[Eric Mc]

I'm rubbish - but cheap

Accountant's fees are always rather difficult to pin down. Bear in mind that middle tier firms will have partners who will be charging close to or above at a rate of £200 per hour. Their staff will be charged from around £50 right up to the partner rates.

Smaller firms or sole practitioners will normally be able to undrercut these rates by quite a bit.

[thewave]

timskipper said:

That's not a guide, that's just telling us how great you are, which I'm sure you are.

But I'm interested in what you think middle of the road fees are, rather than just a don't use LB use us instead response with nothing concrete to back it up.

I'm not saying i'm great, but I do like to think I do a good job, and always have my clients best interests in mind. I never once asked him to come with me, he wanted someone local.

With respect to fees, I can't say exactly what a middle of the road fee is, however, a smaller firm doesn't have anywhere near the overheads of a company like LB. Advertising, networking, seminars (effectively advertising again), big salaries, fancy offices, a whole IT department monitoring all employees at every office. Somewhere those costs need to be absorbed, and it's the client who pays. If you are invited on the golf days and gentlemans evenings etc, and have the opportunity to network through them, then it's probably worth your while.

[thewave]

Eric Mc said:

I'm rubbish - but cheap

Accountant's fees are always rather difficult to pin down. Bear in mind that middle tier firms will have partners who will be charging close to or above at a rate of £200 per hour. Their staff will be charged from around £50 right up to the partner rates.

Smaller firms or sole practitioners will normally be able to undrercut these rates by quite a bit.

And not necessarily worse at doing the job either.

[timskipper]

thewave said:

With respect to fees, I can't say exactly what a middle of the road fee is

Yet you can say "I think he said "Middle of the road pricing" which if going to LB will most definately NOT be the case". Which doesn't make sense.

Ok, assume a LTD company, one employee/director and doing absolutely everything accounting related biz & personal. How much is too much? £1k, £1.5k, £2k a year etc?

Sorry, I'm not trying to be an arse, it's just that the OP asked for recommendations, I gave mine and you shot it down as being too expensive without actually qualifying why, and then going on to say you can't say what's too expensive anyway. Doesn't make sense, and looks to me like a slightly sneaky "Hi, I'm local Accountant" plug.

p.s. do you need any IT services and/or grot?

[thewave]

timskipper said:

thewave said:

With respect to fees, I can't say exactly what a middle of the road fee is

Yet you can say "I think he said "Middle of the road pricing" which if going to LB will most definately NOT be the case". Which doesn't make sense.

Ok, assume a LTD company, one employee/director and doing absolutely everything accounting related biz & personal. How much is too much? £1k, £1.5k, £2k a year etc?

Sorry, I'm not trying to be an arse, it's just that the OP asked for recommendations, I gave mine and you shot it down as being too expensive without actually qualifying why, and then going on to say you can't say what's too expensive anyway. Doesn't make sense, and looks to me like a slightly sneaky "Hi, I'm local Accountant" plug.

p.s. do you need any IT services and/or grot?

Without knowing the business, I can't say. However, most of our 1 man limited companies range from £700 to £1200 + vat. With more complicated affairs maybe £2000? Who knows? Fees are time based, but we certainly don't charge out £200 an hour, even the directors here only charge around £100.

I'm not a local accountant, and didn't intend for it to come across as a "use me" advert. I've not been recommended to him by anyone, which goes against what i've said.

[timskipper]

Fair enough. I definately don't think I'm being overcharged then.

[thewave]

timskipper said:

Fair enough. I definately don't think I'm being overcharged then.

As long as you're pleased that's the main thing I suppose.

timskipper said:

p.s. do you need any IT services and/or grot?

IT all dealt with by a client, best I don't upset him

I like the grot

[Exigeowner]

Hi Mate,

I use a guy in Downham Market who is like a small business advisor as well as doing all my accounts etc, If you want to email me I will be happy to pass you his details.