Accountant recommendation

**DaveB** · 30 July 2007, 09:59

Try the serach box on the menu bar. "recommended accountant" is a good place to start.

Failing that: SJD, Nixon Williams and 1st Accountancy all get good reviews.

**sathyaram_s** · 30 July 2007, 10:42

What services does this 250 GBP cover?

When comparing, make sure you compare the services as well. From their website, it appears that your fee to JSA includes insurances as well. On their own, these insurance will cost about 350 per annum (assuming a PI limit of 0.5 million, but the 2m PI will cost as high as 700 pa)

If you used MSCs before, I'm afraid, you'll find a lot of stuff expensive in the real world.

HTH

Originally posted by JulesG

Hi all,

Just had my first bill from JSA ... OMG ... it was over £250 ... correct me if I'm wrong but that seems extortionate!!!

Any chance I could get some recommendations of Accountants ... I've been told that 1stContact are good ... what do you think ... any others out there??

**JulesG** · 30 July 2007, 10:51

Thanks for that ... sathyaram_s : £250 is a monthly bill, that does include the insurance. But splitting the upper value of £700 you mentioned that's just under £55 a month that I should be paying in insurance alone. I can't see how/ why their monthly services should be costing me the other £200 a month.

DaveB: shall check those out ... seems to be allot of rave reviews for SJD - do you know whether they cover the insurances an IT Contractor needs?

Thanks again

**DaveB** · 30 July 2007, 11:01

Originally posted by JulesG

Thanks for that ... sathyaram_s : £250 is a monthly bill, that does include the insurance. But splitting the upper value of £700 you mentioned that's just under £55 a month that I should be paying in insurance alone. I can't see how/ why their monthly services should be costing me the other £200 a month.

DaveB: shall check those out ... seems to be allot of rave reviews for SJD - do you know whether they cover the insurances an IT Contractor needs?

Thanks again

They are all accountants, they do Accounts not Insurance. If you have been with an MSC previously you need to sort out a lot more for yourself now.

Join the PCG as a start. With PCG+ membership for £220 pa you get insurance cover for all your tax risks plus discounted rates on business insurance such as PI, PL and EL. The general consensus is that you really can't do much better.

The days of being able to run your contracting business without knowing anything about the business side are gone. You'll have a steep learning curve to catch up, but it's not impossible.

**JulesG** · 30 July 2007, 11:16

I realise they don't do Insurance ... I just wanted to see if annual payment would include the insurance that I'd need.

Just moved from an umbrella company to limited and going through that steep learning curve now. This site seems a great place to make a start!

Though you'd recommend PCG over SJD then??

**basshead** · 30 July 2007, 11:19

Originally posted by JulesG

Though you'd recommend PCG over SJD then??

Oh dear.

Both.

**DaveB** · 30 July 2007, 11:30

Originally posted by JulesG

I realise they don't do Insurance ... I just wanted to see if annual payment would include the insurance that I'd need.

Just moved from an umbrella company to limited and going through that steep learning curve now. This site seems a great place to make a start!

Though you'd recommend PCG over SJD then??

No. SJD ( and Nixon William and 1st Accountancy ) are Accountants. They will manage your company accounts, do your annual returns, payroll, calculate VAT, PAYE, NI, advise on dividend payments etc etc. They charge a monthly fee for this.

The PCG is the Professional Contractors Group, an organisation whose purpose is to represent the interests of the contracting and freelance community. As part of this they offer memberships that grant the benefits I listed earlier as well as a lot of other support and information.

You need an accountant. I'll say that again. You need an accountant. At least untill you get your head round the business and tax side of things. Getting your tax returns wrong or not paying your VAT will see you getting a hefty fine and possibly even jail.

PCG membership is worth the cost because of the extra support and information they can provide as well as the Tax Insurance you get with it and the members discount on business insuances.

The first thing you should do is ring one of the accountants mentioned, any of them will be happy to talk to you about the process of setting up and running a contracting business.

**mjshrimpton** · 30 July 2007, 12:16

Originally posted by JulesG

... seems to be allot of rave reviews for SJD - do you know whether they cover the insurances an IT Contractor needs?

No - you sort those out yourself. You are running the business......

**r0bly0ns** · 30 July 2007, 12:39

1st Accountancy has recently been renamed Upton Accountants, I can recomend them.

Accountant recommendation