How much does an accountant cost?

[Thandeka]

Think I may need to get an accountant as my tax affairs are getting complicated.

Just wondering about how much one costs and whether anybody had any recomendations (or is an accountant!).

[legoprincess]

I pay £450 per year, in the south east. I am self employed but have a very straightforward tax situation and only really have contact with the accountant once a year.

[Thandeka]

I'm london based but travel about a bit and think accountants can be elsewhere (my mate's lives in France!)

The only reason my tax affairs are complicated is because my dad has a lot of investments in trusts etc which I don't really know the details of, but I have just gone to part time (and soon to fulltime) consultancy so I need to start organising my own tax affairs and figure an accountant is a good place to start since the cost of it is tax deductible anyhow.

[LoveMyGirls]

Mine is £145 a year but he only deals with working families tax and tax return, I do my books.

[Thandeka]

Doing books as in income/expenditure/keeping recipts etc etc.

I do that anyway so I think I just want a standard tax return filed by someone who knows what they are doing.
I think......

[geekgirl]

we (dh and I as a ltd company) pay £60 per month for company & personal accounts stuff. We are very disorganised and crap really, and this is the best £60 I spend every month. The accountant manages to transform our chaos into neat and tidy annual returns, tax returns, whatever the tax man requires. The accountant we had before used to moan and whinge about the unordered piles of papers.

[Eddas]

The cost will vary enormously from accountant to accountant, the only thing you can do is ring round and get some quotes. Smaller one-man-band types will cost less than a firm of accountants.

I would say however, that getting someone to recommend someone would be the best way to get the right person for you. do you have any friends/family that use an accountant?

Also, remember that cheapest isn't always best.

Good luck!

[Thandeka]

Hi Eddas, I read somewhere on another thread you are an accountant- how much do you charge? Only accountant I know is my ex and somehow I am thinking that is a really bad idea......

Also need to make an appointment with a financial adviser. Nargh.

[mrsbaldwin]

Thandeka - I probably pay mine about £2K per year - but I am a ltd co, file a return to Companies House/pay corporation tax, am VAT registered plus the accountant employs a payroll clerk to run his clients' payrolls. This may sound a lot but actually he saves me more than that much money in various tax efficiencies.

So you are looking at somewhere between £150/£200 a year at the simple end and £2K at the complicated end.

Like Geekgirl I feel it's money very well spent - the qualities that make you a good consultant may not be the same ones required to be a good book-keeper - well, that's how I feel anyway.

[ShrinkingViolet]

I'm a bookkeeper not an accountant, but charge between £350 - very basic tax return - and £3000 - ltd co, VAT, payroll, acting as financial controller - per year. However, I specialise in "hand holding" for clients who are good at what they do, but need/want financial stuff explained lots of times in very straightforward language. So I'm more expensive than many because I'm being paid for my "permanently on call" time.
Most accoutants will quote you based on your turnover, standard of records (carrier bag stuffed with teastained receipts more expensive than nicely reconciled spreadsheets ) and perceived value of service to you.
HTH.

[fymmumoftwo]

I'm like mrsbaldwin in complexity pay about £3000 per year - £850 to accountant and £200/m to bookkeeper.

Try taxassist - it's a franchise accountant for small business people www.taxassist.co.uk/

The first accountant quote I got was from a big firm, £1500. Then smaller firms quoted between 850 and 1k. My accountant also runs my payroll for me. My bookkeeper prepares my VAT returns and reconciles all transactions including lots in $$$$'s so am at the more complicated end of the spectrum....

[Eddas]

i'm employed as an accountant, nd also do self-employed work, but that is really more bookkeeping type stuff. although i do prepare tax returns. send me a CAT if you'd like more info on me and what I offer and if I can help i'd love to

[Thandeka]

Hi Eddas, I tried to CAT you but I have to sign up to Mnet and don't have a card handy to do it. Thandeka_thomas at the yahoo dot co dot uk is me.

Cor even the range of prices is complicated- will have to look at sort of thing I need.

[mrsbaldwin]

ShrinkingViolet - handholding and teastained receipts

[Laughs a lot]

That is definitely me!

[geekgirl]

am also at the 'teastained receipts in carrier bags' - surely that's how they're meant to be presented to one's accountant?!

[Eddas]

i'll email after bedtime thandeka

i also lol'd at the description of receipts. The way some people do a spreadsheet we'd rather have a bag of crumpled receipts I prefer it that way anyway how sad I am

[Thandeka]

Hahah now I have a vision of you surrounded by bags and bags of teastained receipts happily sorting them into date order

[ShrinkingViolet]

Thandeka you watching me on a webcam or something?. I love bags of miscellaneous receipts - sadly most of my clients are a bit more organised than that (although one does send me unopened bank statements ).

[Thandeka]

oh you mean you are supposed to open your bank statements?



So say I am a consultant (not a company or owt) earning 30k ish a year with fairly good spreadsheets and receipts vaguely well filed and some investments with the gross interest all worked out (annoyingly a few of them won't tax interest at source)- what might be a ballpark for someone like me?

[hf128219]

I would say do it yourself - the guidance on www.hmrc.gv.uk is very good.

[Eddas]

Thandeka i've emailed you

[SarahS27]

Hello

I'm an accountant just setting up my own practice. More than happy to help if I can! I specialise in low cost accountancy for small businesses such as sole traders and monthly fees start from £20 per month.

Sarah

[eleftheria007]

Hi, how much do you get in these days? for a new small online company?

[propoint87]

hello

[DanaFitPro]

Hi SarahS27,

My name is Dana and I need your help. Can you please contact me on [email protected] to discuss the details.

Regards,

Dana

[emma123456]

I don't quote over the phone to clients because the costs can vary so much depending on the client's requirements. I also think talking to the client is a good opportunity to see what their business is all about and see how much you are able to assist. Jobs vary from the small clients that can prepare their records from bank statements in an excel spreadsheet to those that present their records to you in a carrier bag and want you to create something from nothing! Obviously the costs vary massively, even if both types of clients have similar turnovers. Most accountants will be happy to chat/Skype or email to workout requirements and the estimated costs.