inniAccounts PCG

[malvolio]

^^ that

I've explained before my reservations about the PCG scheme.

Not to me you haven't.

It's about a limited set of objectives centered on the accountant fully understnading the peculiarties of the freelance contractor business and its often confusing legislative demands. In other words they are offering their members a list of people who have made the effort to learn that particular segment in some detail.

The course is certainly not a rubber stamp process, you have to work at it. And clearly it is not a licence, others - including several who post on here - have an equal understanding without the accreditation. All PCG aims to do is simplify the search for their members and a USP for the accountant

As to how good you are as an accountant, they leave that to your regulatory bodies and your customers.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

Not to me you haven't.

It's about a limited set of objectives centered on the accountant fully understnading the peculiarties of the freelance contractor business and its often confusing legislative demands. In other words they are offering their members a list of people who have made the effort to learn that particular segment in some detail.

The course is certainly not a rubber stamp process, you have to work at it. And clearly it is not a licence, others - including several who post on here - have an equal understanding without the accreditation. All PCG aims to do is simplify the search for their members and a USP for the accountant

As to how good you are as an accountant, they leave that to your regulatory bodies and your customers.

And some of us were doing that long before PCG were born, indeed were in the room when they were...

[malvolio]

And some of us were doing that long before PCG were born, indeed were in the room when they were...

Nobody's saying you weren't, and I'm the first to say you (and some others) are perfectly well informed on everything it covers.

But can you prove it to a new customer, who will almost certainly have no yardstick to judge your knowledge against? After all, look at the level of the average newbie questions, even those that have done some reading. That's what it's for.

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

Nobody's saying you weren't, and I'm the first to say you (and some others) are perfectly well informed on everything it covers.

But can you prove it to a new customer, who will almost certainly have no yardstick to judge your knowledge against? After all, look at the level of the average newbie questions, even those that have done some reading. That's what it's for.

Aye, agree. Its a big world out there, and I would imagine it suits some accounting firms who are expanding aggressively; I'm afraid I really CBA at this stage in life.

[inniAccounts]

I'm aware this response is a little late in the day but I thought I'd respond for completeness.

As it stands today, we're not PCG accredited. This is something that we do review periodically but to date we've not come up with a case to justify walking this path.

As many of you are aware, the PCG Accredited Accountant scheme consists of a two day course, followed by a marked assignment. The primary topics covered are IR35, settlements legislation and marketing/customer service. It's designed to bring accountants up to speed on the particular needs and implications of dealing with contractors and freelancers, as well as providing tips on how to attract them to your firm.

As an accountant the benefits are thus threefold:

• You're providing your team with the training they need to better understand client needs
• You're provided with a means to demonstrate your credibility and commitment to prospective clients
• You'll hopefully win new business from the PCG listings

We've taken a pragmatic approach and instead sought out the best means to achieve these individual objectives. As it stands, in our opinion, PCG accreditation isn't the best approach for our practice.

As a background point of reference, three of our co-founders are former contractors, therefore an awareness of contractor's needs is ingrained deeply in our culture: hopefully the OP gained an appreciation of this through the conversations he had with our team. Clearly though, an awareness of needs is not enough. That's why we've concentrated on building the right team with the right skills and experience to serve contractors, and we focus and develop their skills through internal training and external professional qualifications (such as AAT and ACCA). In addition, we also have a number of partnerships with specialist organisations to provide additional expert advice when it's required. Therefore, I'm confident that our team has the skills and knowledge required to serve contractors, without the need for PCG certification. I believe this goes a long way towards our 98.1% recommendation rate.

I'm not dismissing PCG - I think it's fantastic for established accountants who are new to the world of contracting and wish to understand more about this market's needs. It's also an easy yardstick for contractors too - if you're going to a general accountancy practitioner then PCG accreditation, IMHO, is a valuable means to check they have an appreciation of your situation. If you're selecting a larger specialist firm then you would hope they have this knowledge already…

On that point, remember no qualification or certification is going to guarantee the quality or accuracy of your accountant's advice or output. My advice: seek out recommendations, compile your questions and give them a call. Judge them on the quality of their answers, their approach to customer service and how well they fit your needs as an individual.

[northernladuk]

On that point, remember no qualification or certification is going to guarantee the quality or accuracy of your accountant's advice or output. My advice: seek out recommendations, compile your questions and give them a call. Judge them on the quality of their answers, their approach to customer service and how well they fit your needs as an individual.

and if they are paying your CT to HMRC or pocketing it to lavish on young dolly birds

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

and if they are paying your CT to HMRC or pocketing it to lavish on young dolly birds

Accountant shouldn't be touching your CT funds at all, unless they are a MSC...

[Waldorf]

Accountant shouldn't be touching your CT funds at all, unless they are a MSC...

But as a warning to newbies, they should try searching/googling for Darren Upton.....

[SueEllen]

But as a warning to newbies, they should try searching/googling for Darren Upton.....

As I stated before use this site's fine search facility.

And another warning to newbies don't leave it all to your accountant.

[nigelspencer]

inniAccounts - brilliant

I've been contracting since 1989 and in that time have used 5 different Accountants - out of all of them inniAccounts are the only only ones I've recommended to anyone. Of the others certainly 2 are on the PCG list however I wouldn't recommend them.

for the first time now I'm with inniAccounts

• I can see my tax liabilities whenever I want
• I have everything online
• They got my accounts right the very first time
• they are a very reasonable price