alternative to chartered accountant

M cebee

hi

im a vat registered sole trader

and normally i deal with a chartered accountant

due to the downturn i'm wondering is there a cheaper way of filing the accounts

thanks

tenchi-fan

Get a competent bookkeeper to do most of the data entry.
And consider using an ACCA / CPA Accountant in a smaller practice.
Agree a fee rather than being hit with a surprise invoice.

M cebee

Thanks

Price around with different accountants. The accountancy is very competitive at the moment.

M cebee

thanks

plys

My wife is ACCA qualified, but does not currently work in an accountancy practice. She does VAT and income tax returns for small sole traders (small meaning turnover less than say 150k, usually farmers or tradesmen).

Her fee would be approximately 30% of what an accountancy practice would charge.

Don't think for a moment that I'm trying to plug her mini-enterprise - I'm definitely not; she works a salaried job and does this in her "spare" time; she's overburdened as it is...

However, when shopping around, don't keep it to accountants in practice. I'm pretty sure there are loads of unemployed accountants out there who could do.the job ably and at a rate much less than you have been paying to date.

barneystinson

plys wrote: »

My wife is ACCA qualified, but does not currently work in an accountancy practice. She does VAT and income tax returns for small sole traders (small meaning turnover less than say 150k, usually farmers or tradesmen).

Her fee would be approximately 30% of what an accountancy practice would charge.

Don't think for a moment that I'm trying to plug her mini-enterprise - I'm definitely not; she works a salaried job and does this in her "spare" time; she's overburdened as it is...

However, when shopping around, don't keep it to accountants in practice. I'm pretty sure there are loads of unemployed accountants out there who could do.the job ably and at a rate much less than you have been paying to date.

I presume she has a practicing certificate, appropriate professional indemnity insurance, and is declaring the additional income to the tax office herself...? in which case she can't be making a whole lot out of it, given that accounting firms tend to charge out at about 4 times the labour cost...

plys

barneystinson wrote: »

I presume she has a practicing certificate, appropriate professional indemnity insurance, and is declaring the additional income to the tax office herself...? in which case she can't be making a whole lot out of it, given that accounting firms tend to charge out at about 4 times the labour cost...

I didn't say she was making anything out of it, barney...!!
Income is declared of course, but she doesn't have a practicing cert. But then again, she's not practicing....
This is simple bookkeeping, not eg audited accounts being submitted to the CRO.
Plenty of sole traders submit their Form 11/VAT3 returns themselves with little or no professional advice. I'm not saying that this is the way to go for the OP, but my point is that you don't need to pay the fees an accounting practice would charge out, especially when the work is in fact being prepared 95% by a trainee and 5% by a qualified accountant (ie none by partner).

OP it really depends on the size of your business and the number of transactions involved, but there are viable alternatives to having everything done by a practice. Do you do any of the bookkeeping yourself?

plys

plys wrote: »

I didn't say she was making anything out of it, barney...!!
Income is declared of course, but she doesn't have a practicing cert. But then again, she's not practicing....
This is simple bookkeeping, not eg audited accounts being submitted to the CRO.
Plenty of sole traders submit their Form 11/VAT3 returns themselves with little or no professional advice. I'm not saying that this is the way to go for the OP, but my point is that you don't need to pay the fees an accounting practice would charge out, especially when the work is in fact being prepared 95% by a trainee and 5% by a qualified accountant (ie none by partner).

OP it really depends on the size of your business and the number of transactions involved, but there are viable alternatives to having everything done by a practice. Do you do any of the bookkeeping yourself?

If your wife is a member of ACCA she might want to check that the work she carries out does not meet their definition of Public Practice.

kennyb3

Lets be honest here there are good accountant and there are bad accountants. There are cheap accountants and there are expensive accountants. OP the problem isnt that they are a 'chartered accountant' its that they are expensive - there are many expensive CPA and ACCA accountants.

My advice is to ring a number of places in your area and get a range of quotes. Or if you have friends in business get a recommendation as to who they use.

M cebee

thanks i've only ever dealt with one chartered accountant in 15yrs

up to now

tenchi-fan

plys wrote: »

Income is declared of course, but she doesn't have a practicing cert. But then again, she's not practicing....
This is simple bookkeeping, not eg audited accounts being submitted to the CRO.
Plenty of sole traders submit their Form 11/VAT3 returns themselves with little or no professional advice.

OT, but Income Tax returns, even if your wife only prepares them, is still considered public practice and she shouldn't be doing them under ACCA's rules. PAYE and VAT would be fine.