Issues with Clearsky Accounting - any advice?

[interactivejunky]

Hi everyone, I'm having a bit of trouble with my current accountant and I'm wonder if anybody has any advice ...

I joined Clearsky Accounting at the beginning of January 2012. The sales pitch was smooth and even though it was twice the price of my current accountant I kind of felt like I needed a bigger company looking out for me and my finances...

Overall after a year they've been pretty ordinary to be honest ... copy paste emails that had nothing to do with my business, they messed up my VAT registration costing me about £800 but here's the big issue I had with them - my CT600.

They pretty much forgot to do my CT600 and after I reminded them about 5 days before that it was due they had a sudden massive rush to do it, asked me to scan and sign documents within 1 - 2 days (despite the copy paste emails saying I had a whole month to review them) all while I was on holiday which was pretty stressful. They then sent over the 'how to pay' email a week after the payment deadline and sent me an invoice of over £900 for doing the CT600.

My letter of engagement states that all the accounting work including the CT600 would be done as a part of the £120 a month I pay them so this invoice really threw me off. I talked to them about it and they said because I joined part way through that the monthly payments were going towards the next Ct600 - which I was never told by sales and isn't stated in the letter of engagement. They've lowered it to £500 but I still think I shouldn't have to pay anything.

Am I right here or is that something I should have known? If you go to their website at Contractor & SME accountancy services | Freelancer & tax accountants there are a lot of pages about how easy it is to switch to them and how there are no hidden costs.

I'm switching to another smaller accountant now in my area who has agreed to take my accounts on for half the price and do my 2012/2013 CT600 included in the price - so why is Clearsky so expensive. Also they said all my accounting fee's are going towards the 2012/2013 CT600 which I'm getting a different accountant to do anyway - so shouldn't it cover the 2011/2012?

To give you an idea of my business I do 1 or 2 invoices a month and turn over about £70k - my expenses for the entire year fit on one A4 sheet (it's just computer stuff) so it's not like my business is that hard to do accounting for.

Any advice or opinions? Should I just pay the £500 they reduced it to or should I fight it a bit harder? I know nothing about accounting really so I don't know if I'm being taken for a ride or it's all standard practice.

Thanks,

Marty

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

The devil is in the detail - you should have had from them some terms of business, a engagement letter (maybe part of a overall welcome letter rather than headed up as such) and possibly something like a service level agreement?

You will need to look and see what these say about charging and how it is allocated to accounting periods. It could be what they are saying is correct - what you paid was "pay as you go" and there is a separate catch up for last year - but equally it could be wrong - its all down to the contract you had with them.

If there is any doubt ask them to expressly explain how and when these charges were notified to you.

[interactivejunky]

Hi my Terms of engagement states the following for corporation tax:

"

We are responsible for providing the fixed price monthly accounting service; you have selected the "Freedom Service" which includes the following:

• Completion of CT600 and tax computations based upon annual financial statements.
• Submission of financial statements and CT600 to HMRC.
• Dividend documentation.
• Correspondence on agreement of liabilities and agreement of liability.
• HMRC compliance visits.

Monthly fixed fees are invoiced as a continuing service for calendar months and are payable on the first working day following the month in which the services are made available.

"

Looks to me like the CT600 is included - hiring a lawyer to look over all the contracts would probably cost more than the invoice they sent me though. I'm a bit frustrated now as they won't give my next account professional clearance (whatever that is) until I pay the invoice and I'm guessing they've got legal fire power and know how that I don't.

Financially the invoice isn't a huge hit to the company accounts but I just don't want to pay for something that they should have already provided (and something they never asked me or invoiced me for until the work was finished).

Anybody have any experience with Clearsky know the best person to speak to about this? I've been passed around to a fair few different people (there's a completely different team handling my accountants than at the beginning of the year)...

[Optionis Mike]

Hi Marty,

I work for Optionis Group, home of ClearSky Accounting.

I’m really sorry to hear that you are disappointed with the service you have received. We take great pride in our client relationships, and will work to address the issues you have identified.

I understand you have already spoken to one of our personal accountants about this matter. As you indicated in your post, we have offered to reduce your fee for the year ending 31/03/2012 accounts down to £500 plus VAT as a goodwill gesture.

Please call our Poole office on 01202 753100 so we can explain your fees further and ensure the matter is resolved amicably and smoothly.

Many thanks and best of luck for the future,

Mike

[stek]

Issues with Clearsky Accounting - any advice?

Hi Marty,

I work for Optionis Group, home of ClearSky Accounting.

I’m really sorry to hear that you are disappointed with the service you have received. We take great pride in our client relationships, and will work to address the issues you have identified.

I understand you have already spoken to one of our personal accountants about this matter. As you indicated in your post, we have offered to reduce your fee for the year ending 31/03/2012 accounts down to £500 plus VAT as a goodwill gesture.

Please call our Poole office on 01202 753100 so we can explain your fees further and ensure the matter is resolved amicably and smoothly.

Many thanks and best of luck for the future,

Mike

Can you reduce my fee too? I'm with Nixon Wiiliams by the way...

[interactivejunky]

This was resolved yesterday, because I'm switching accountants the monthly fee's I paid up until now covered the CT600 for the previous financial year so looks like it may have been a misunderstanding along the way.

Something I learnt from this and others might want to is that when you switch accountant (any accountant) ask them (in writing) whether there terms of engagement and your monthly fee will go towards your next CT600 because it's not always clear and you might get a really huge invoice you weren't expecting.

[Optionis Mike]

Can you reduce my fee too? I'm with Nixon Wiiliams by the way...

Hi stek,

Please send me your contact details via private message, so a member of our team can get in touch to discuss your current position.

Thanks,

Mike