montly or percentage

[Buckstewerbuck]

My friend is with an accountant that charges percentage per invoice....when he told me this, I was in shock.

5% per invoice through your ltd company. Okay he doesnt pay any fees when he is not contrcating, but if I were to do that, I would end up paying almost 4 times as much.

accountant get more money, the more you work....doesnt sound right.

any views

[4Contractors]

The idea of an option to pay a percentage of your income for an accountant is not a bad one. This is how most umbrella companies currently operate.

The probem is that accountants have to do more or less the same work for you whether you are working or not.

I currently pay around 1% of my turnover in fees to my accountant so a figure of 5% seems mighty high.

[oaksoft]

It will totally depend on how you operate your business and whether you have employees or not.

For example if you are the traditional one man band with no office and one client paying you once a week then it is scandalous to be charged much more than £450-£600 per year because your accounts will likely require no more than 8 hours of effort - particluarly if you agree to keep all your records up to date and do your own VAT (which takes 20 mins per quarter).

I know of many people charging 2-3 times this.

The lesson is as always, shop around and get 3-4 quotes otherwise you'll get screwed.