Ltd company year end.. Can I use software?

HI Shaamone,

Assuming your a small Ltd company, your fee sounds quite reasonable to be honest - although good accountants should give you more add-on services than just a set of numbers submitted annually. They should be advising you on how to save tax, offering email/telephone support, advising where costs are looking high or disproportionate etc etc.....

Your average book keeping package just wont do the job for you in terms of statutory year end accounts. You not only need to be able to submit abbreviated accounts to Companies House (assuming you fit the small companies criteria), but you also have to submit full, statutory accounts as prescribed by the Companies Act to HMRC with your Corporation tax return. How comfortable are you with working out your own Corporation tax bill, calculating allowances available etc?

I would always advise that business owners stick to what they are good at (running their business and developing it), in the grand scheme of things £600 for a set of accounts is really quite minimal. It sounds to me like the issue might really be that you arent getting value for that £600 - perhaps rather than looking at not paying for an accountant, you could think about changing Accountants and getting more for your money?? Having been on the receiving end of clients that have attempted the work themselves, I would really suggest that you think again!

Good luck whatever you decide!!

Kath
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www.gamagesaccountancy.com
We operate nationally at no extra cost to you.
No fuss, no jargon.

To be brutally honest if you truly are "accounting illiterate" then leave things alone would be my advice!

I've worked in an accounting firm as a bookkeeper for a year and I wouldn't tackle my own year-end...

If you don't feel that you are getting value for money then talk to some other accountants about what they can offer you and also talk to your accountants about what else you can do to save yourself some money!
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Sara Parr

Virtually Everything Done For You
www.aboveparr.co.uk
www.stiltonrecruitment.co.uk

Hi,

Couldn’t agree more.

We would charge you slightly less (around £495.00) for the same job. Although we do send monthly newsletters, offer tax saving advice etc.

It certainly sounds as though your current accountant in not particularly proactive – although his/her fee is not too bad!

There simply is and never will be a software product that will do what your accountant does. If you are accounting illiterate then don’t get involved – stick to what you are good at.

Rather than look to go alone it might be better to change accountant.

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Online Accountant
Cash Book Pro – free excel bookkeeping spreadsheet
Cheap accountant!
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Nick Robinson
Director
Yorkshire Accountancy Limited

Online Accountant
Cash Book Pro – free excel bookkeeping spreadsheet
Cheap accountant!

There are plenty of easy to us accounting products out there that will give yo more functionality than a spreadsheet.

But it's year nd where an accountant earns his fee IMO. Software shouldn't do year ends - it takes too much knowledge of what you can and can't get away with.

£600, whilst not extorinate is perhaps at the high end of what you should expect to pay. A lot dpeends on number of transactions, accuracy of data, etc.

Keep an accountant - they're worth having for aa number of reasons as listed here http://www.kashflow.co.uk/whyacc.asp
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