What to look for in an accountant

[Marshall_Clegg]

Hi,
It is likely that I will be setting up a Limited Company to do some IT contracting in the near future, and I understand that I really need to get an accountant.

I know that there is a directory of accountants on this site, but I wondered if anybody could give advice on the best way to find an accountant and what to look for.

I am in the unfortunate position of knowing plenty of people with accountants, but not any contractors with accountants (or any contractors at all), and I imagine that I really need to find an accountant with substantial experience of advising contractors.

Any advice on how I should best go about looking for an accountant and what to look for, would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks,
Marshall

[Clippy]

<cough> Have you tried looking at the first timers guide? </cough>

[doodab]

Hi,
It is likely that I will be setting up a Limited Company to do some IT contracting in the near future, and I understand that I really need to get an accountant.

I know that there is a directory of accountants on this site, but I wondered if anybody could give advice on the best way to find an accountant and what to look for.

I am in the unfortunate position of knowing plenty of people with accountants, but not any contractors with accountants (or any contractors at all), and I imagine that I really need to find an accountant with substantial experience of advising contractors.

Any advice on how I should best go about looking for an accountant and what to look for, would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks,
Marshall

When I started out I used a firm specialising in contractors recommended by my agency. They were good at first but were bought out and descended into farce, they kept cocking things up and forgetting to send me important paperwork and tell me things. Things like "you'll have a 10k tax bill next month"

Then I did my own accounts / PAYE for a while. Don't do this. It's a lot of work and surprisingly east to run up thousands of pounds in fines and penalties.

Eventually I got the yellow pages out, found a local accounting firm with an office over a shop on the high street, went down, had a chat, explained the ltd company contracting setup and they have been fantastic ever since.

[Marshall_Clegg]

<cough> Have you tried looking at the first timers guide? </cough>

Hi Clippy. Yes I did look through it and it is very useful, but maybe not in terms of actually identifying an accountant and what to look for.

So I just wanted to do as it recommends and "ask other contractors for advice"

A key question I have is, do I need an accountant that has deep experience of Limited Companies for contractors, and how do I judge how deep their experience is?

Thanks,
Marshall

[Marshall_Clegg]

When I started out I used a firm specialising in contractors recommended by my agency. They were good at first but were bought out and descended into farce, they kept cocking things up and forgetting to send me important paperwork and tell me things. Things like "you'll have a 10k tax bill next month"

Then I did my own accounts / PAYE for a while. Don't do this. It's a lot of work and surprisingly east to run up thousands of pounds in fines and penalties.

Eventually I got the yellow pages out, found a local accounting firm with an office over a shop on the high street, went down, had a chat, explained the ltd company contracting setup and they have been fantastic ever since.

Thanks Doodab.

Just wondering whether they deal with a lot of companies that specialise in IT contracting, and whether you have any thoughts on whether it is important to have somebody with that experience - in other words is accouting for contractors very different from accounting for other companies? I imagine it is because, for example, you would want somebody who really knows the ins and outs of IR35.

Thanks again,
Marshall

[northernladuk]

You are looking for someone that is open and honest and will be proactive with their approach to your accounts. Someone that can add up and take away and that will communicate in a concise and timely manner...

Failing that you will just have to pick one of the people mentioned regularly on these 'which accountants' threads we are knee deep in

[Clare@InTouch]

Phone the usual suspects and talk to them. There's a guide on Contractor Calculator (I think) that gives you a checklist that you can use to compare each one - price, what's included and what's not etc. It would also be useful to get an idea of what each firm knows and how they respond to questions - whether they call you back straight away and ask enough questions to give you proper advice or just offer you standard 'guideline' advice.

[malvolio]

Hi Clippy. Yes I did look through it and it is very useful, but maybe not in terms of actually identifying an accountant and what to look for.

So I just wanted to do as it recommends and "ask other contractors for advice"

A key question I have is, do I need an accountant that has deep experience of Limited Companies for contractors, and how do I judge how deep their experience is?

Thanks,
Marshall

Might I suggest you look here...

http://www.pcg.org.uk/cms/index.php?...st&Itemid=1204

HTH