Anyone with Experience of NW Vantage Software

[D4T4]

Firstly, I have been reading the accounting forums for a couple of days now so I hope I am not duplicating. I can so far summarise my research as follows : -

There appear to be two main categories of (on-line or non-local) accountants
1.) Established "local" companies that have specialised in Contractor accounting (NW ans SJD being the 2 main ones that are active on the forums)
2.) Online accounting firms who have developed web based software who generally rely on moderate to highly experienced contractors who want a mostly self service approach (Crunch, Intouch and Clever Accountants being the main and active ones on the forums).

The pro's and cons' of these two categories as I have understood them from the forum postings are as follows :-

1.) You get face time or talk time with an "actual" accountant, they are (generally) pro-active and appear to provide a better quality of advice. They have less fancy software and rely more on spreadsheet based book keeping. Though they will happily interface with 3rd party online software (freeagent / xero)
2.) You get access to competent online web based software, that is intuitive and graphically rich with a real-time view of your accounts. You have to keep the software up to date to get most of the benefits. You may have to research the answers supplied by non-accountants and this appears to suit more experienced or pro-active business owners.

I am a new business starter (first month of trading) and although I am capable of researching and understanding the various tax positions I do not want or have the time to do so as I am busy earning a living (sound familiar). I am leaning towards NW or SJD as a new business starter and will want a greater degree of assistance in the early years.

And now finally to the question.

Ideally I would like the Crunch web based software with the NW/SJD reputation for solid accounting. I see that NW have launched "Vantage" as their on-line web base offering. It is clearly new and so I would welcome reviews from anyone who has used Vantage, especially if they are able to compare against Crunch et al or Freeagent et al?

I will just add that I applaud the account companies that have an active presence on the forums this has been factored into my decision as they at least care enough to monitor what the great unwashed think of their services. Keep up te good work!

Thanks in advance

[D4T4]

Anyone

Bump

[TheFaQQer]

Can't answer about NW, but your premise that SJD are "local" doesn't seem right to me - the vast majority of people who I know that use them are not near to their offices and have never spoken to them in person.

Also, InTouch aren't an "online" accountant like Crunch - they provide the same level of professional advice and guidance as SJD and NW and many other accountants do - in my case, significantly more than my previous local accountant who charged three times the price.

From my experience, InTouch gives me advice when I ask for it, a nice shiny portal so I can see my accounts accurately (which a spreadsheet never gave me), and a presence on cuk (until Clare left recently, although Louisa had since joined).

I suspect many of the bigger boys are much of a muchness, but no-one knows how SJD and NW being taken over will impact on service.

[JonNorris@Crunch]

Also, InTouch aren't an "online" accountant like Crunch - they provide the same level of professional advice and guidance as SJD and NW and many other accountants do

Actually we do that too.

[mudskipper]

I think it also depends what you mean by pro-active. I've been with both SJD and InTouch, and both were pro-active in as far as reminding me what was due when. Both supplied generic advice on expenses and suchlike. But neither were what I'd describe as pro-active in as far as making suggestions as to what I could be doing differently.

[Dan@OrangeGenie]

I think it also depends what you mean by pro-active. I've been with both SJD and InTouch, and both were pro-active in as far as reminding me what was due when. Both supplied generic advice on expenses and suchlike. But neither were what I'd describe as pro-active in as far as making suggestions as to what I could be doing differently.

I guess a proactive quarterly advice slip would be handy then, that way stopping any nasty surprises. It helps maximise tax saving and certainly goes down well with our clients.

[Craig at Nixon Williams]

With Vantage, we set out to build a portal that covers the typical needs of a contractor, whilst being simple enough for anybody to use and understand. You still get exactly the same level of accountancy support via telephone and email that you would get on our other service, but with the online interface which does contain more detailed information.

Give us a call and ask for a demo of our software, I’m sure you can also get demos from Crunch and inTouch to compare.

Craig

[Maslins]

I don't agree with the OP split, you seem to think (exaggerating to emphasise the point) you either get:
1) a brilliant accountant with an archaic method of getting data,
2) some whizzy software but with only numpties to answer questions.
I don't see that.

There will be some firms who create their own in house software. This will have some perks, but it does mean if you want to change accountants, you've likely got all the hassle of changing bookkeeping too. Other firms will work with an independent piece of software (eg us and FreeAgent), whereby if you love the software but get fed up with the accountant, moving is perhaps easier as there's less upheaval. Also for the smaller accountancy practices, this is more realistic, as they simply don't have the resources to build a competitive product ourselves...and why reinvent the wheel.

You'll get good and bad accountants in all areas...but I certainly don't think it's the case that ones who use spreadsheets = good, ones who use cloud software = bad!

[Maslins]

I think it also depends what you mean by pro-active. I've been with both SJD and InTouch, and both were pro-active in as far as reminding me what was due when. Both supplied generic advice on expenses and suchlike. But neither were what I'd describe as pro-active in as far as making suggestions as to what I could be doing differently.

I hate the word "proactive" when it comes to accountancy. Mainly as (like tax avoidance) it means completely different things to different people.

Some people like you suggest think nudging someone about a deadline a few months beforehand is great proactive advice.

At the other extreme, some think that if they do something in a daft way out of the blue without warning, and we didn't somehow use our crystal ball to know in advance what they were thinking of doing and warn them to do it differently...then we're not being proactive.

[regron]

I am a user of the NW Vantage SW and as Craig says it is plain in simple, but it does what it says on the tin and I find it perfect for what I need as a contractor. Also, I was with NW prior to the Vantage SW going live and I still receive the same amount of customer one on one service as I always have. It certainly hasn't appeared as a replacement service and there are no extra costs involved.
Haven't used Crunch or anything else, so can't give a like for like review.