How much do you pay an Accountant to prepare your annual accounts?

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shellbert

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Hi guys
I've just paid my accountant's bill which normally I do by monthly standing order but cancelled it last year as I wasnt too sure what I was doing business wise.
I'm a sole trader with a small beauty business of just myself so its not anything to time consuming for him.
So ..... having just had to pay £587.00 which didnt please me much as you can imagine, I was just wondering what people's thoughts were.
I'm rubbish at getting paperwork together on time but really am trying to be organised now, and I dont think I have the time/patience to do it all myself?
Can anyone tell me what is a fair amount to be paying an accountant these days?

Many thanks
 
My accountant charges per hour (£80).

Your bill does seem a bit high but it depends what your accountant is doing for their money. If they have to spend hours just getting your accounts into some basic order then, obviously you will be charged for this time.

I would ask them to itemise the invoice. After all, this comes out of your earnings (albeit tax deductible) but I would definitely want to make sure the charge is justified.

I would highly recommend you getting some basic book keeping knowledge. Not only will it save you money, you will be in much better position to analyse your own business.
 
Hi guys
I've just paid my accountant's bill which normally I do by monthly standing order but cancelled it last year as I wasnt too sure what I was doing business wise.
I'm a sole trader with a small beauty business of just myself so its not anything to time consuming for him.
So ..... having just had to pay £587.00 which didnt please me much as you can imagine, I was just wondering what people's thoughts were.
I'm rubbish at getting paperwork together on time but really am trying to be organised now, and I dont think I have the time/patience to do it all myself?
Can anyone tell me what is a fair amount to be paying an accountant these days?

Many thanks

Hi, you say you are a small beauty business with just yourself - do you really need an Accountant. I am a mobile therapist and have been doing my own tax/self-assessment for the past 7 years and so far the tax man has been happy with my figures. It may be that you would need an Accountant if you are into VAT and such but if it's small you may be able to manage by yourself. You can always go on the Inland Revenue free workshops for self-employed people to learn how to do self assessment.
 
Accountants can save you a lot of money but if you put yourself on a book-keeping course and get familiar with spreadsheets and basic finance you could save yourself a bit of money doing the basics yourself.
 
Hi Kamosa

Thanks for your reply.
Well, this is what I am asking myself now.
I think I might take your advice and see where I can get to one of these self assessment workshops as I dont really have any major questions or big accounts to deal with.


Many thanks:wink2:
 
I too am a small business with just myself in the salon. I do my own book-keeping. Nothing complicated, very simple, income and outgoings. I then do the self-assessment online and it is very easy.

My general thinking is that if I were to have an accountant do my return, I would more or less have done most of the work myself before I gave over the paperwork.

Save yourself the money and keep monthly tabs on your income and outgoings and away you go.:biggrin:
 
Zero because luckily for me, my parents own and run an accountancy co..otherwise I dread to think what would have to pay.
 
I too am a sole trader and did my own tax return for 2 years in a row but hated it, felt stressed and worried unnecessarily, this was after going into the inland revenue and someone holding my hand and getting me to fill it in the first time.

I got an accountant just to fill my tax return in for me, I do all my incomings and outgoings on excel sheets and print them off and submit all my receipts in monthly envelopes and any p60s if I've down outside work.

The first year he got me a good tax rebate as I'd paid out for tax but hadn't deducted it from my allowed allowance.

Because my books are so in order I was paying less than £100 but he filled it in after looking through my books, worked out capital gains and also said that if the inland revenue had any queries he would deal with them first.
 
Hi guys
I've just paid my accountant's bill which normally I do by monthly standing order but cancelled it last year as I wasnt too sure what I was doing business wise.
I'm a sole trader with a small beauty business of just myself so its not anything to time consuming for him.
So ..... having just had to pay £587.00 which didnt please me much as you can imagine, I was just wondering what people's thoughts were.
I'm rubbish at getting paperwork together on time but really am trying to be organised now, and I dont think I have the time/patience to do it all myself?
Can anyone tell me what is a fair amount to be paying an accountant these days?

Many thanks
Mmm that is a lot to be paying out specially as your a sole trader. I am also self employed but I do my own accounts and always have done. I went on a 3 day business course a few years ago which helped a lot. I also hate that type of paperwork and sometimes I fall behind but I'd hate to have to pay that much out if I could do it myself.:biggrin:
 
I have a small salon with me and one employee.
I send my accounts to my accountant all typed up into spreadsheets, so most of the work is done, but they do my payroll for my employee weekly.
I pay roughly £400 a year, so I think either you are paying a bit too much or maybe they are having to spend extra time to get them in order. Hope this is some help.
Diane x
 

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