This is my first business venture on my own, and as such im still learning the ropes of what to and what not to pay! I'm astonished at the cost of accouting fees and wonder if im paying over the odds.
I use Sage 50 on a daily basis to add invoices, stock, etc etc. However i still ask my accountant to complete our vat each quater and our end of year accounts. I usualy send over our sage backup and a couple of files for it to be checked over.
I'm wondering how much more of a challegne it would be for me to do the VAT return and End of year reports if i'm doing all the daily work already? Maybe im wrong and there is alot more to do after i've sent them the back up file?
I'd really appreciate if anyone able to suggest a figure i could expect to be charged by an accountant for; 1) Vat return each quater 2) End of year accounts based on the company being LTD and in its 1st year.
What you should expect to pay comes down to a number of factors
1. How much work the accountant has to do?
2. What the standard of your books are like?
3. What is the experience and qualification of the accountant?
4. What is the size of your business?
If you are doing all the processing so it is really just a case of running the VAT return on SAGE and checking that it seems reasonable then i would say something like £50-£100 per quarter is a reasonable charge.
For the year end accounts provided that you reconcile your bank on SAGE on a regular basis and all other control accounts are reconciled on a regular basis and all costs are correctly allocated to to the appropriate nominal then as you are VAT registered and assuming it is compulsory registration as you are above the VAT threshold (assume your turnover is in the range £80k - £150k) then i would say a reasonable fee for the year end accounts and company tax return would be anything between £500 and £1k.
Hi Trevor, My fees are on my website(s) if you want to use them for comparison. (If you are using Sage 50 correctly, the VAT returns shouldn't be too much at all - I will say this for Sage - it's got one of the better VAT reconciliation functions) If you aren't sure about what you're doing with Sage or your understanding of VAT is not great, then that's a different kettle of fish. (It also depends on what line of business you are in - some VAT schemes are easier than others).
That said, fees aren't the only issue - you have to be able to trust your accountant/bookkeeper etc... and be happy with the advice and support they give you.
Unless they are checking everything, then the charge from your accountant will probably be driven by the quality of the work you have done.
Do you do the bookkeeping professionally with sales/purchase controls and a bank reconciliation? Are you accounting for VAT correctly? Are you using business money for personal use?
If you are doing your bookkeeping well then the VAT return will basically be done for you by the software.
So, you could be paying £100 for review and submission or much more for completing the work, finding/correcting errors and submission.
I would suggest you arrange a meeting with your accountants and ask them specifically what you can do to minimize the work they need to do for your VAT returns and year end accounts; explain to them that you want to control costs and appreciate that you need to pay for their time. They should be more than happy to help you. If you are using properly qualified, insured, experienced accountants or book-keepers you can expect to pay accordingly, and certainly in most cases there are loads of things that they do that you could manage.
Before deciding wether to do it all yourself, first, consider if you have time. Then think what "added value" things your accountants might be doing - are they pro-active about giving you business advice? This can be quite valuable, esp to new businesses which tend to flounder due to poor cashflow rather than poor profitability. Do they give informal help re: book-keeping quesations? What about tax and other deadlines - do they keep you straight as far as they go?
I'm not trying to keep your accountants in business here, but just trying to make sure you knw what you'd be taking on before you did it!
You've not really provided enough info for anyone to give you an accurate figure, as a lot of it is driven by the volume of transactions, and the state of your books. We have clients who use Sage, some of them are great and some are not so great.
I'm guessing you're just finalising the acccounts for the 1st year, given that they are due with Companies House by the end of next week, and you've got the bill!
