Question for Ltd Company owners ref accountant
Discussion
Hi all,
I was hoping to ask for some input from other ltd company directors regarding what you pay your accountant.
We are a 2 man band, I don't want to be crude mentioning figures which can sometimes be frowned upon but I guess context is needed to answer the question, so turnover around £500k (just under last year, but hopefully just over this).
When we set the business up nearly 5 years we anticipated growing it out and hiring lots of people etc, and went with an accountant who we could upscale with if that makes sense. Now that we are almost 5 years in and just the 2 of us, we intend to keep it that way (headache and drama free!), and I feel we may be overpaying for what we are getting in return.
We basically get/need;
Statutory accounts
VAT returns
Tax returns
Monthly dividend certificates
Corporation tax returns (or however they are defined)
Accounts reconciliation
On top of this our accountant is helpful in terms of ad hoc advice - so when we've looked at, for example, cost comparison of putting a car through the business versus paying personally.
Typically, what would you expect to be paying monthly for that level of service? Any thoughts/input much appreciated.
I was hoping to ask for some input from other ltd company directors regarding what you pay your accountant.
We are a 2 man band, I don't want to be crude mentioning figures which can sometimes be frowned upon but I guess context is needed to answer the question, so turnover around £500k (just under last year, but hopefully just over this).
When we set the business up nearly 5 years we anticipated growing it out and hiring lots of people etc, and went with an accountant who we could upscale with if that makes sense. Now that we are almost 5 years in and just the 2 of us, we intend to keep it that way (headache and drama free!), and I feel we may be overpaying for what we are getting in return.
We basically get/need;
Statutory accounts
VAT returns
Tax returns
Monthly dividend certificates
Corporation tax returns (or however they are defined)
Accounts reconciliation
On top of this our accountant is helpful in terms of ad hoc advice - so when we've looked at, for example, cost comparison of putting a car through the business versus paying personally.
Typically, what would you expect to be paying monthly for that level of service? Any thoughts/input much appreciated.
Mr Pointy said:
Why would we tell you what we're paying if you won't tell us what you're paying?
I didn't want to influence the outcome by sharing this in the first post and prompting loads of "you're paying too much/too little" responses, I was keen to see from what I've outlined what people would typically expect to be paying.I'm a one man band limited company and I pay £120 a month inc VAT.
That includes:
They send me a huge book keeping spreadsheet where I put all my invoices and expenses, I would imagine this vastly simplifies things on their end.
That includes:
- Company formation
- VAT returns (although I usually do these myself as it's easier)
- Corporation tax return
- Personal tax return
- Company accounts
- General advice via phone/email, they tend to reply within 24 hours
- Payroll (although I don't have PAYE tax/NI due to taking most income as dividends)
They send me a huge book keeping spreadsheet where I put all my invoices and expenses, I would imagine this vastly simplifies things on their end.
XJ75 said:
I'm a one man band limited company and I pay £120 a month inc VAT.
That includes:
They send me a huge book keeping spreadsheet where I put all my invoices and expenses, I would imagine this vastly simplifies things on their end.
What will be your arrangements for the new MTD VAT system starting 1 April 2019?That includes:
- Company formation
- VAT returns (although I usually do these myself as it's easier)
- Corporation tax return
- Personal tax return
- Company accounts
- General advice via phone/email, they tend to reply within 24 hours
- Payroll (although I don't have PAYE tax/NI due to taking most income as dividends)
They send me a huge book keeping spreadsheet where I put all my invoices and expenses, I would imagine this vastly simplifies things on their end.
Cheers all, that's really helpful.
We are paying WAY over the odds based on comments here (about £650 a month).
We use Xero too for our accounts......
As mentioned, at the time we signed up it was based on us growing a business and all the requirements that come with that, as opposed to being a 2 man band forever.
We've never really taken the time to review it, except once about 6 months into the business when we spoke with another accountancy firm who pitched themselves at about the same. Again, that was based at the time on us growing a business out, rather than having the basic requirements as outlined above.
Seems a conversation with our accountant is in order
We are paying WAY over the odds based on comments here (about £650 a month).
We use Xero too for our accounts......
As mentioned, at the time we signed up it was based on us growing a business and all the requirements that come with that, as opposed to being a 2 man band forever.
We've never really taken the time to review it, except once about 6 months into the business when we spoke with another accountancy firm who pitched themselves at about the same. Again, that was based at the time on us growing a business out, rather than having the basic requirements as outlined above.
Seems a conversation with our accountant is in order
rockin said:
Eric Mc said:
What will be your arrangements for the new MTD VAT system starting 1 April 2019?
Any suggestions as to the simplest/cheapest "VAT only" software to achieve compliance with this?Whether they are being 100% truthful is not clear.
Some of them will allow the upgrades to their software to facilitate the move to VAT/MTD to be uploaded for free. Many will charge - and will probably charge on an annual basis.
Some accountants should be able to provide a VAT fioling service based on data provided by their clients - but there are professional and legal issues regarding submitting VAT returns based on data provided by a client - especially if the service is a "submit only" service rather than a full checking and verification service prior to filing.
If you just use a spreadshet at the moment, you can continue to do so but will need to convert the quarterly totals to a viable filing format using what HMRC refers to as Bridging Software". You need to find out fort yourself what Bridging Software is available and at what cost.
rockin said:
Any suggestions as to the simplest/cheapest "VAT only" software to achieve compliance with this?
You can use a spreadsheet and bridging software. A cloud based bridging solution that is free is http://liquidaccounts.com/liquid-vat-filer/ and supports MS Excel spreadsheets. There are no non cloud based bridging software released yet AFAIK but my company hopes to release it's non cloud solution in January.Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff