[petski2]

Hi guys.
I pay £700 a year to my accountant.
Im a sole trader so its all simple incoming and outgoing.
Anyone on here use accounting software (im thinking more to do with self assessment)?
If so does it do the job and is it easy to use?
Cheers
Pete

[p1w1]

Hi guys.
I pay £700 a year to my accountant.
Im a sole trader so its all simple incoming and outgoing.
Anyone on here use accounting software (im thinking more to do with self assessment)?
If so does it do the job and is it easy to use?
Cheers
Pete

At £700 he or she is robbing you blind mate. I pay less then half that for the same thing once a year

[petski2]

Hi P1w1,cheers for that mate.
Do you fill in a simplex d type book weekly and just present it to your accountant once a year?

[p1w1]

Sort of yes, before i would just give him my receipts for the year and then just my incoming and outgoing figures, he would then work it all out and add on the extra things i could claim for and submit the tax return. Nowadays I use cleaner planner now so print of a yearly income and expense sheet and send those in with my receipts. I pay about £320 for this.

[petski2]

Thanks for that P1.
Im thinking about getting some accounting software and ditching the accountant .
If I get a decent software for say £20 a month that does all my accountant does im still saving £40 a month.

[P @ F]

Why dont you just get a new accountant without a Dick Turpin mask 

I give mine 2 hand filled in spreadsheets 1 of outgoings 1 of daily earnings , and 13 envelopes of receipts along with £250 he does the rest .
Last year i didnt pay tax , which was nice     

[petski2]

Good point P@F but I was hoping for info on accounting software to do away with any accountants.

[P @ F]

Ahh , did not see that bit , but i see the accountant as important , back in the day i was told i had to have one before any bank would give me a mortgage , i got one and got a mortgage , i also sit back and let him do the books with no stress on me , far less chance of getting the grief of investigation , which i suppose can still happen more so with software , but then if you go by the book as i do you will have nothing to worry about , i just want an easy life and £250 gives me that .

[Spruce]

If you register with the Receiver you can use their software to complete your own return.

The receiver offer basic courses covering topics that you need to understand - what you can claim for and what you can't, how to claim capital expenses etc. You can also register for on line courses they do.

[Kev Martin]

An accountant is very important in my opinion.  If you do your books once a month, hand your income, outgoings and receipts and present them in a chronological order then your maximum cost should be around £300 pa.  You have the added advantage of free advice regarding things like, Capital Purchases, Expenditure, Expense Claims, VAT,and WDA along with the fact that they sign to say all OK with your books  That to me is peace of mind and a no brainer  for £25 a month or put another way, less than  a £1 a day.

[Marc Stock]

I use a chartered accountant firm. They do my payroll, provide tax advice, keep me up-to-date with all the latest legislations from employees to capital allowances and ensure my ta  and business structure is working for the business.

It's a lot more expensive about £1500 a year but imo well worth every penny and I consider it the most important service to my business over even what sort of window cleaning equipment to buy..

As I use a firm im not reliant one one relationship, my relationship is with the company not an individual which also has benefits in terms of investigations should they happen and I can call.in a team of experts in various fields if needed at no extra cost.

If your' Accountant' is charging you for basicly submitting your tax return with the information you provide..(something you can do yourself) then really he is a bookkeeper. And £300 a year for a bookkeeper is about right in terms of pay.

Problem is many business owners don't know the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant and often think they have the use of the latter when in fact it's not the case at all.

[JandS]

Spruce...who do you mean by the Receiver?

[Walter Mitty]

Hi guys.
I pay £700 a year to my accountant.
Im a sole trader so its all simple incoming and outgoing.
Anyone on here use accounting software (im thinking more to do with self assessment)?
If so does it do the job and is it easy to use?
Cheers
Pete

That sounds expensive for a sole trader. I pay about £300. If I shopped around I could get it even cheaper.  However, he is the only accountant I've had since the beginning (many years now) and I've always been happy with the service.