self assessment accounts, require confirmation Certificate from Accountant

[starbody]

Hi Mumsnet,
I wonder if anyone can advise me please, I'm a sole trader and submit my own accounts to HMRC without an accountant. I don't use any online service for the accounts part, just cash basis and a spreadsheet with totals. I am having to prove my income to the UK Visa applications as I am a sponsor for a visa application. As part of the application form it states the following:
(bb) If the business is not required to produce annual audited accounts, unaudited accounts for the last full financial year and an accountant’s certificate of confirmation, from an accountant who is a member of a UK Recognised Supervisory Body (as defined in the Companies Act 2006) or who is a member of the Institute of Financial Accountants;
I have submitted my tax returns to HMRC for 2018-2019, and believe that due to the above statement I require a certificate to either validate my submitted returns, and/or an evaluation of the unmade accounts for 2019-current.

Has anyone experience of this? I am wondering if I can sign up to an online accounting service, import all of data and then have a confirmation certificate created by the online service accountancy team? Or, find a local accountant who will look over my 2019-current and confirm the earnings. I apologise in advance, I have no experience in this arena. Thanks MN

I'd look for a local accountant. I cant imagine any professional accountant (whether online or not) would just issue a confirmation statement without doing some work! You will need an accountant that is qualified and regulated by one of the professional bodies. I also wouldn't hang around too long - this is a very busy time of year for accountants!

Thank you! Appreciated

I have done this for a few people, but basically I need to prepare the return myself to prove the figures you have are accurate and would then prepare a statement

We do this occasionally, but we do the job from scratch just as if the business owner hadn't done his/her own, so charge the same as we would if we did the full job start to finish.

I can't imagine any professionally qualified accountant would do any kind of certificate without doing a fair bit of checking/confirmations.

The accountant will also have to do proof of identity, due diligence, "know your client" etc which can take as much time as doing the job, so could even cost more than doing a year's accounts as accountants usually bear such set-up costs in anticipation of a long term client, whereas in your case, it's a one off with unlikely repeat/annual work, so they may charge full whack for all their time, especially at this busy time of year.