How much do Accountants charge?

[daynite]

All this time I have managed to do my accounts personally using SAGE. However, I am about to move up the ladder and will be supplying big companies and along the way will employ a lot of Temps. Basically I am a Recruitment Agency moving from private to public sector and would like to set my accounts right, right from the start. Especially my payroll and all that goes with it.

I need to know from those Accountants familiar with Recruitment & Payroll how much they charge for services? I mean we can talk about me supplying figures to them and them compiling the accounts etc or any other arrangement.

[boxby]

Sage accountants are 10 a penny, most of them are familiar with it, so finding an accountant shouldn't be an issue. Re Choosing one, that's a little different. The best way is recommendation, and also, accountants tend to build portfolios around partic market types. The best way therefore is to ask some of your colleagues/competitiors that you are on friendly terms with.

Rates vary depending on what it is that you are asking for, do you want accounts, book-keeping, tax returns, vat returns, company secretarial duties etc.

[Peter W]

Accountancy charges vary a lot. If you are looking for some figures, you will have to post a lot more information, such as:

Level of turnover
Structure of business (sole trader, limited company, more than one company?)
Number of staff on payroll
Frequency of payroll (monthly, weekly?)
Quality of bookkeeping on Sage (eg, does the bank account reconcile?)
Location (which part of the UK, and how near to a city centre)
Are you VAT registered?

[Paul Norman]

Like everything there is no straight answer to the question. There are lots of accountants out there that will do your work for close to nothing, and lots of good accountants out there.

How much overlap between the two groups is hard to say! But, as with all things, you need to get clear, transparent pricing agreed up front, and a clear understanding of what they will do for you. Make no mistake about it, the right accountant will add value even if they seem a bit pricey up front.

[James Smith]

It sounds like you are after two things to me:

1. Bookkeeping and payroll
2. Accounting/tax.

Huge difference in skill/cost on these activities. If you try and get a bookkeeper to do your accounting/tax they will come quickly unstuck, similar if you get an accountant to do your bookkeeping it is likely to costs £££££'s although some do have bookkeeping depts.

Hard to say but I would suggest that you probably want a solid bookkeeper to come in PT (say one a week) and do all the day-to-day work and crucially the core payroll function which if I where you I would keep very close to you as its a core part of your business activity. You then would need an accountant to give periodic advice and do your year end accounts/tax etc.

How much does this cost? Depends entirely on your business but this sort of structure is likely to be the more cost effective and give the best mix of skills for the job.

Hope that helps

Regards,

[RedEvo]

We pay £150 a month. That covers payroll (5 staff), VAT and other stuff. There's usually a top up at the end of the year to cover end of year accounts and misc bits and bobs. They are Chartered Accountants - not sure if all accountants are.....

d

[tax-sorted]

It all depends what you (the client) want

Our charges range from £400 for a sole trader, £700 for a partnership and £1,200 for a limited company. These are just guidelines and I ask clients what they want and then set a fixed price.

What you need to watch out for is an accountant who, on the surface seems cheaper but then keeps billing you for "extras" during the year.

We and many other firms have now adopted a fixed price approach where you are quoted a fee based on what you want and we stick to it. this includes unlimited telephone and email support and many other benefits.

Most of my clients also pay by monthly standing order to spread the cost.

So to recap : -

• Get a few quotes
• Ask for testimonials
• Make sure the price you are quoted is fixed and won't change during the year
• And finally make sure you appoint an accountant you can understand and you can get on with - many accountants I have worked with just talk gobbledygook and no-one understand what they are talking about!

[jbladeus]

They are Chartered Accountants - not sure if all accountants are.....

Accountants in UK do not need to be members of ICAEW They can also be members of ACCA and/or CIMA to be able to provide accounting and book keeping services.

[Paul Norman]

Hate to be too cheesy, but use an accountant from here!...why not?...you can even ask other A1'ers if they are any good!!!!

[James Smith]

"Accountants in UK do not need to be members of ICAEW They can also be members of ACCA and/or CIMA to be able to provide accounting and book keeping services."

Unfortunately thats not actually true right - my profession is in a bit of a muddle when it comes to qualifications and what you can/cant do. There is NO law protecting the word "accountant". Absolutely anyone can wake up in the morning and put "accountant" on their door and start trading so you have to look a little deeper than that.

The word "chartered" is protected by being a member of either the ICAEW or the ACCA which mean their member are regulated (to an extent) and have passed 3 years of fairly tough exams plus have at least 2 years supervised experience in a firm before you can get your "practicing certificate" and work on your own. There are also a few other bodies of repute that offer this status. There are also bookkeeping qualifications of a quite bewildering array and some rather dodgy but nice sounding organisations where you pay a fee and get letters after your name no questions asked (!) And to cap it off there are also a lot of perfectly decent non-qualifieds who can do the job just as well as the accountants with nice shiny certificates but have for whatever reason not actually fully qualified (some may actually be exam qualified but not like the fees - others failed the exams - some timed out due to having a family break, some kicked out and still in business (!!) could be any number of reasons), and like any profession there are plenty of accountants with nice certificates on the wall who you wouldn't want anyhow.

Confused? Yes my profession is a mess. All I can say is get some recommendations.

Regards,