Whilst many contractors think it’s an effective use of their time to manage the books and accounts, this more often than not turns out to be very costly decision not only financially but in time. By having a professional accountant working with you you can easily offset the costs from money that will be saved by their professional knowledge and in time.
Not all accountants are created the same and the local accountant on the high-street may not be the most suitable. You should always look for accountants that specialise in or have strong experience in dealing with freelancers and contractors as they are more in tune to what is required for the sector. All good contractor accountants will do a contract audit once they start working with you to make sure that your IR35 is in check. A number of accountants that specialise in contractor marketplace are offering online portals which is similar to what umbrella companies offer, these portals allow you to upload your expenses, timesheets, issue invoices and manage your tax and VAT.
When deciding on a new accountant it’s important to make sure you find out exactly what is included in the price on what services they will be providing. A number of accountants’s that offer their services to contractors will offer very low monthly fees but charge for many extra services. Another point that was mentioned by Paul Rawlings in a recent interview regarding limited companies and picking a accountant is it a good idea to make sure the person you speak to in the interview is the person who will be dealing with your account on a day to day basis. You don’t want to be in a situation where you are asking questions to a different person every time you call. It’s very frustrating and not time effective
How to find your new accountant
There are a number of websites that provide reviews and recommendations of accountants some of the best that I’ve found are;
While the design and layout isn’t that appealing it does give you an overview look at some contractor accountants. Information you can find out about each accountant covers
- If they offer an account manager
- Do they provide an portal
- If they offer company formaiton
- Monthly Price
Website screenshots
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Freelancer Supermarket
Freelance Supermarket do a great job of really going into detail and provide a league table of the best contractor accountants in the UK.
The scoring formula they use is base on the following formula
Score = ((competency score (50%) + A&A (40%) + benefits package (10%) + bonus) x 1000
Formula breakdown
Competency score is generated from questions that are asked the accountant clients and cover Price, Customer Service, Would you work with them again, Proficiency of Payroll team and Joining and / or leaving process
A&A stands for Audited and Approved, this indicates if the accountant has been audited by HMRC or any third party in the last 12 months.
Benefits package points are given if the accountant offers any of the following
- Account Manager
- Direct Line to Account Manager
- Online Portal
- Pension
- Child Care Vouchers
- Free Expense Processing
- Minimum Joining Period
- One Week or Less Notice
- Free Tax Planning
Bonus Points
Scoring Bonus: Users are rewarded an extra 0.5 points each time they receive 10 out of 10 for a particular competency.
Volume Bonus: Users are rewarded an extra 0.1 points each time they receive feedback through our website. This provides an incentive to request feedback whenever possible.
While I really like the amount of detail Freelance Supermarket goes into I do like to see individually reviews to really get an idea of how contractors feel about the service.
Website screenshots
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
While all the details on Google Local are added by the accountant what is really valuable about Google Local is the reviews. More often than not if an accountant has reviews they are going to be bad. This is down to our nature to tell the world about this that went wrong instead of what was good. So look and no reviews as an indication that everything is good and if they have positive reviews then they are worth a call.
Another great way of finding quality accountants is by talking to other contractors or freelancers as you’ll always get an honest answer from a fellow colleague. Social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter can also be a great place to get some background information about the accountant that you may work with.
Website screenshots
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
I hope this helps you find a new accountant and if you have any tips you use then please share it with us in the comments.
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