[pvcprinting]

Hi all you number crunches out there

We have been with our current accountant for 3 years and to be honest get next to nothing out of them except grief

Our books are due back to them on 31st March....what is a reasonable timeline for these to be prepared and sent back to us

Once I have a few answers will gladly continue this story

We are possibly looking to change accountant if anybody has any recommendations

We require a complete service to include ALL bookwork and tax returns
Monthly Payroll for 3 employees

We bascially give them a set of invoices and a set of recipts and they do it all for us...far to busy although maybe looking at using Duanes software from April 1st if I can get my head around it

Regards

Pete

[JohnG]

Originally Posted by pvcprinting

We are possibly looking to change accountant if anybody has any recommendations

We require a complete service to include ALL bookwork and tax returns
Monthly Payroll for 3 employees

We bascially give them a set of invoices and a set of recipts and they do it all for us...far to busy although maybe looking at using Duanes software from April 1st if I can get my head around it

Regards

Pete

Pete, it seems to me you first need a bookkeeper - much cheaper than an accountant for the day to day stuff. Just use an accountant for the end of year accounts.

Doing it like this you have two people who you can go to for advice: the bookkeeper when you want to know how to treat a particular expense, for example, and the accountant for strategic advice.

One advantage of doing the books yourself though is that you can keep a really close eye on all expenditure so you know where all the money is going, rather than have to get someone else to tell you.

[pvcprinting]

John,

Thanks, that surely would just double our accounting expenditure
We are too busy to be honest and dont find enough time in the day to also take on the book keeping....although as previously stated am considering using Duanes KashFlow software, if I can work it out

Appreciate your input though chap and some very valid comments - Thanks

[JohnG]

No, it should cost less. Accountants usually charge you a lot more than a bookkeeper would for just inputting receipts and invoices as most of them don't really want to have to do that.

I do bookkeeping for several local businesses and liaise with a couple of different accountants who both say things like "thank god you're doing that for us.."

[pvcprinting]

Well,

We got an all inclusive price of £1900 +VAT from them
Trouble is they dont seem to understand the term all inclusive and keep bombarding us with invoices or trival &hit

am just about sick of the mat the minute...besides they took until MID Jan of this year to finalise our accounts! Shocking I would say given they had them MID Mar 07

[boxby]

Originally Posted by JohnG

No, it should cost less. Accountants usually charge you a lot more than a bookkeeper would for just inputting receipts and invoices as most of them don't really want to have to do that.

I do bookkeeping for several local businesses and liaise with a couple of different accountants who both say things like "thank god you're doing that for us.."

I am a Chartered Accountant and used to work in Practise. My advise is the same. Get a book-keeper, they can either work at your premises or theirs, they would probably come in for a day or so a month and blitz the lot on site.

You'll get monthly management accounts out of this, your VAT and payroll done promptly. Most accountants can usually also prepare tax returns and accounts.

Then, once a year (or perhaps more if you are planning big changes etc) go and talk to a good accountant. Give him (or her!!) your management accounts and the lovely neat files the book-keeper will have prepared, and they can check the accounts, and more importantly discuss with you where you are going so that you can do tax planning etc.

Book-keepers are about number crunching, receipts and invoices. Accountants are about knowledge/advice/planning. If you delegate the work between these two parties, in this way, you'll get the most cost efficient solution, and the most useful.

Good luck
Sandra

[pvcprinting]

Sandra,

Thanks....trouble is our accountant is useless....didnt even know or tell us the national minimum wage had gone up in Oct!

We are rethinking the whole lot

Will take all your comments on board and look around

[JohnG]

Sandra - thanks for your support. I couldn't have put it better.... and indeed I didn't!

Pete: talk to some other accountants and see how they respond to your problem. You just might find one you like. Don't hang around though as the longer you leave it the worse the problem might get.

And, modesty apart, your new Small Business Guide to Employment will warn you when things like the minimum wage go up!!

[pvcprinting]

John,

That was just 1 example...I keep a close eye on things......to be honest they are useless

Need to change ASAP

[boxby]

Originally Posted by pvcprinting

Sandra,

Thanks....trouble is our accountant is useless....didnt even know or tell us the national minimum wage had gone up in Oct!

We are rethinking the whole lot

Will take all your comments on board and look around

Make sure that your accountant is properly qualified, either ACA, ACCA or CA.

Anything else isn't relevant to public practise. THese guys have to do somemany hours of training every year to ensure that they are up to date with all knowledge requirements. And they have to have professional indemnity insurance.

I would definitely go for a new accountant. Your old accountant is obliged to pass all working papers etc onto the new one, so it will be easy for him to pick up from where the old one left off.

The book-keeping and accounts side of things can be sorted within 6 weeks of year end, and you could be sitting with signed accounts and your tax return sent off within another couple of weeks. Accountants love clients that want to get this all sorted out in September instead of January.

Most accountants do a free initial consultation. Go and have a chat with a few, ask them if they have other clients in your field. Find out what accounting package they use, and then get your book-keeper to do it all on the same one. If you want to use cashflow, go and ask Duane for a good accountant in your area.

Kind regards
Sandra