Reasonable accountancy costs?

[Ocsltd 133]

Just wondered what you guys were paying on average, or thought was  a reasonable cost...

As with everything going up, my accountant has just increased his fees. I trust him and have been with him since I started, so he knows the business well, but as with everything, I wonder if I could get a better deal.

He does my book keeping, handles my vat return each quarter, deals with my year end accounts, deals with my personal tax return, and does quarterly management accounts. I'm the sole director of my (small) limited company. He's currently asking £390 inc. vat per month. Does that sound reasonable given the amount of work they are doing.

Problem I have is, during quieter periods I think I could do more myself, but during busy times when I'm running around like a headless chicken, I think it's money well spent!

Interested on what you guys think / do / pay?

Edited October 10, 2016 by Ocsltd

[SC Derby 259]

I pay £100 per month plus Vat but I do my quarterly VAT return (takes me about 10 minutes).

[Ocsltd 133]

2 minutes ago, SC Derby said:

I pay £100 per month plus Vat but I do my quarterly VAT return (takes me about 10 minutes).

Is that for book keeping and year end accounts / tax?

[SC Derby 259]

Yes. The lot including my tax return.

i keep stockbook recording all sales and spreadsheet recoding all spends. 

[Rory RSC 596]

£390 a month? 

Thats a lot .

[Ocsltd 133]

24 minutes ago, Rory RSC said:

£390 a month? 

Thats a lot .

Yeah I agree, it is a lot. What does your accountant do for you? (if that's not too personal a question). I'm just trying to see how much you guys do yourself and how much your accountants do....

[Ocsltd 133]

Does anyone use QuickBooks? Any good?

[Tom 164]

I pay £700 per annum for my accountant to do my yearly corporation tax return, all my accounting and vat returns I do myself. 

[justina3 518]

imo £300 a month is way over the top of course i do not know your business but i wasnt paying that when my accountant worked on 4 different sets of books from 4 companies.. 

That said i am much smaller these days and i do everything myself vat end of year bank recs ect he only goes over my end of year returns and signs off on them for a fee of £450, last year was a bit of a mare as i was away for two months and my son !! messed the job up paperwork everywhere so i am expecting it to be a tad more this year.

 

 

[M.J 35]

Does anybody have a setup where they literally just hand over all sales invoices, receipts and purchase invoices to your accountant and they do everything?

So you're not doing anything.

I'm just wondering what an accountant would charge for something like that?

[Ocsltd 133]

1 hour ago, M.J said:

Does anybody have a setup where they literally just hand over all sales invoices, receipts and purchase invoices to your accountant and they do everything?

So you're not doing anything.

I'm just wondering what an accountant would charge for something like that?

This is what I do, but they charge £390 per month for the privilege! I'm going to explore cheaper options!

[M.J 35]

So you don't have a stock book/spreadsheet, they take care of that as well?

[SC Derby 259]

I thought maintaining a stockbook was a legal requirement

[M.J 35]

4 minutes ago, SC Derby said:

I thought maintaining a stockbook was a legal requirement

I'm assuming the accountant would have your stockbook, if there is such an option.

I would love to just hand everything to the accountant and be done with it.

[Ocsltd 133]

Yes I keep a stock book, but hand everything to them. It's great when I'm busy, as it frees me up to do what I do best, buying and selling cars! However, I'm certainly paying for the convenience, and during quieter times, I do question it. 

But it does give me peace of mind knowing it's being done correctly and properly, albeit I need to find a more cost effective service....