Accountancy fees - how much?
Discussion
As a one-man-band limited, I have an accountant who does everything for me. And I do mean everything, he's very good. To the extent he writes our company minutes and all I have to do is sign and send them back. However I have an inkling he may also be very expensive. Might I ask what is the going rate?
Eric you are in the ballpark - inclusive of VAT. I literally don't do a single thing I'm afraid... bar issue the invoices to the client.
He came recommended to me by a colleague and I didn't shop around. I'm not complaining about the service as it really is top notch, however I'm thinking it would be easy to do the easy stuff myself and go with someone else who would be charging in the region of 1000-1200 plus VAT.
He came recommended to me by a colleague and I didn't shop around. I'm not complaining about the service as it really is top notch, however I'm thinking it would be easy to do the easy stuff myself and go with someone else who would be charging in the region of 1000-1200 plus VAT.
hornetrider said:
Eric you are in the ballpark - inclusive of VAT. I literally don't do a single thing I'm afraid... bar issue the invoices to the client.
He came recommended to me by a colleague and I didn't shop around. I'm not complaining about the service as it really is top notch, however I'm thinking it would be easy to do the easy stuff myself and go with someone else who would be charging in the region of 1000-1200 plus VAT.
If you're VAT registered then it's not awful. Why not discuss with him what bits you could do to reduce his fees rather than ditching him?He came recommended to me by a colleague and I didn't shop around. I'm not complaining about the service as it really is top notch, however I'm thinking it would be easy to do the easy stuff myself and go with someone else who would be charging in the region of 1000-1200 plus VAT.
smartie said:
Tuscanless Ali said:
Are the fees outlined in your Letter of Engagement? Did you not discuss it before you engaged him?
Maybe he did, but I doubt he showed a comparison to his competitors! 
My previous employer would have charged £1500 just for accounts, corp tax comp, company secretarial and SA (As long as it was pretty straightforward), VAT returns £1000pa, PAYE and P11d dependent on number of employees, but for a small business would be at least £350pa.
They are based in Surrey which probably doesn't compare like for like to South Wales.
smartie said:
I would imagine most Engagement Letters have some speil in about "charging at varying hourly rates depending on experience level of staff etc" rather than quoting £xxx,xx per year?
Exactly.Engagement Letters don't tend to set absolute fees. Accountants, like any other professionals, need to have some flexibility to amend their fees each year to take into account the changing nature of the work they may be asked to do for a client each year and, of course, to keep in step with inflation.
hornetrider said:
Eric you are in the ballpark - inclusive of VAT. I literally don't do a single thing I'm afraid... bar issue the invoices to the client.
He came recommended to me by a colleague and I didn't shop around. I'm not complaining about the service as it really is top notch, however I'm thinking it would be easy to do the easy stuff myself and go with someone else who would be charging in the region of 1000-1200 plus VAT.
If he's giving you good service and you've built up a bit of a relationship, I think you'd be barking to switch for the sake of a few hundred quid. A missed VAT return is around £500 I think; it doesn't take too many of those to suck up your saving. OK so most of running a small company isn't rocket science, but it's considerably more than just 'issuing the invoices to the client', and it's very easy to get it wrong.He came recommended to me by a colleague and I didn't shop around. I'm not complaining about the service as it really is top notch, however I'm thinking it would be easy to do the easy stuff myself and go with someone else who would be charging in the region of 1000-1200 plus VAT.
He's not ripping you off, and accountancy is one of those things that's just not worth scrimping on. Stay with him, and buy him a bottle of whisky at Christmas just to make sure he knows he's appreciated
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