I am a qualified book keeper with my own practice licence. I am also company secretary for my husbands building business which is a limited company.
Currently i do all the book keeping, vat and payroll, the only thing the accountant does is the final accounts and dealing with companies house.
For doing this they charge us £1,800 a year!!!! Have now received a letter asking for another £150 to pay for insurance to cover their fees for their additional time for if we were ever investigated by HMRC!!!! So am peed off as I think this is too much
Am now thinking that I could do the final accounts myself, am i allowed to do this, with it being a ltd company? and save £2k a year.
Would appreciate any knowledge/advise!
Thanks
-- Edited by SIMPST on Friday 2nd of March 2012 07:29:27 PM
The £150 is (or should be) an offer rather than a demand so that shouldn't be anything to worry about. Just phone them and say no thanks... Or Yes please dependant upon you're companies risk strategies (avoid, transfer, reduce or accept. At the moment you seem to be going for a risk acceptance strategy).
There are too many variables to consider in relation to whether one can simply say yes or no as to whether you can do your company accounts. For example, the complexity of the companies tax affairs.
Before dumping the accountants ask yourself how much are they saving you?
There are two elements to that.
(1) Direct savings through knowledge of the tax system.
(2) Savings by HMRC considering that you have a good accountant so they trust that your affairs are in order more than they would if you were doing the returns yourself.
I appreciate what you are saying about you being a bookkeeper in practice but before making any rash decisions based purely on current outlay just take a minute to ask yourself :
1) What will you lose by dropping your accountants 2) Do you have the necessary tax expertise to provide a similar service 3) Is the cost significant in terms of your companies turnover (£2k is an awful lot worse if you have a £20k turnover than a £200k one).
Non of the above is in any way intended to detract from your skills as a bookkeeper but just to be aware that there is an awful lot of knowledge of accounting standards and tax behind the service that your accountant provides for you.
I'm not saying don't jump but before you do just ensure that you understand completely everything that you would be giving up.
kindest regards,
Shaun.
-- Edited by Shamus on Friday 2nd of March 2012 07:50:54 PM
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
For doing this they charge us £1,800 a year!!!! Have now received a letter asking for another £150 to pay for insurance to cover their fees for their additional time for if we were ever investigated by HMRC!!!!
One of my clients had a letter such as this from her accountant and it was definitely only a suggestion as Shaun said. The client decided not to take it up at this time
With regard to doing the company's final accounts Shaun offered some very valuable advice, but quite importantly it also depends on what level you are qualified to. What professional body are you with? With the ICB you are only qualified to do "draft final accounts" at Level 3.
Remember there is a third option, too, which is look for another accountant! Unless the company's affairs are very complicated I'd be surprised if you couldn't find someone a) cheaper and b) who you thought offered good value for money, in terms of things like minimising tax and adding value through suggestions or analysis.
Remember there is a third option, too, which is look for another accountant! Unless the company's affairs are very complicated I'd be surprised if you couldn't find someone a) cheaper and b) who you thought offered good value for money, in terms of things like minimising tax and adding value through suggestions or analysis.
Couldn't agree more, just doing a set of accounts for a business who's fees had just kept increasing for the last 30-odd years, they came to us and reduced their fees by 75%.
