# Hookhead - Virtual Accountant



## Mahons (27 Jan 2008)

Hi,

I'm an IT contractor and I'm just wondering if anyone has use the Virtual Account by hookhead.com?

I was using Sage QuickPay 3(it was free last year but no update for 2008 budget) last year for all my prsi/paye payments. Anyone know of any other free payroll software. 

Regards,

Mahons


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## z107 (27 Jan 2008)

If Sage have stopped doing Quickpay 3 (pay for payslips) , then there is no free software for Irish payroll currently on the market. ClearCutPayroll used to be free (premium line for support), but this looks like it has stopped too.

We used to do up to 4 employees for free, but it was unsustainable. Payroll software is very expensive to develop and support.

Payback is €120/year for unlimited employees and companies. I'm affiliated with Payback. Please post if you do find a free product.


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## Brendan Burgess (27 Jan 2008)

I use Collsoft and it is excellent. Great support and around €120 a year.

Brendan


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## simplyjoe (28 Jan 2008)

Brendan said:


> I use Collsoft and it is excellent. Great support and around €120 a year.
> 
> Brendan


 
Collsoft is super!


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## MsGinger (28 Jan 2008)

I'm another Collsoft fan!


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## TonyFitz (28 Jan 2008)

I used Payback last year and thought it was pretty easy. From what I can see you can setup as many companies in it as you like and they don't charge anything extra. Which is nice.


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## Mahons (28 Jan 2008)

I downloaded Payback last night and it seems very straight forward to use so I'll prob go with that.


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## mcgwilliam (1 Feb 2008)

Mahons said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm an IT contractor and I'm just wondering if anyone has use the Virtual Account by hookhead.com?
> 
> ...


 
Hello,

I am using the Virtual Accountant on Hookhead and I think it's great. Having said that, I haven't compared it with any other package so I am probably not the best person to ask. 

What I like about it is the fact that it is online and I can do my accounting while I am in work. There is something very satisfying preparing an invoice while still in work 

The price has been reduced this year to €250 which I think is reasonable considering CFO Services http://www.cfoservices.ie (the "real" accountants behind the Virtual Accountant) give a substantial discount (€700) if you use their services in conjunction with the Virtual Accountant. I guess it reduces the amount of work they have to do, since they simply login and get your transactions and can produce the formalised books without even having to contact you! - You've got to love that.

CFO Services are charging me €1700 per year on top of the €250 I pay hookhead for the Virtual Accountant subscription, but apparently if you use their services without the Virtual Accountant, they charge €2500, so for me it's a bit of a no-brainer - I guess it ultimately depends on how much you pay your accountant if this is good value for money ...


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## LaserLips (1 Feb 2008)

mcgwilliam said:


> CFO Services are charging me €1700 per year on top of the €250 I pay hookhead for the Virtual Accountant subscription, but apparently if you use their services without the Virtual Accountant, they charge €2500, so for me it's a bit of a no-brainer - I guess it ultimately depends on how much you pay your accountant if this is good value for money ...


 
Are these CFO Services guys good? My current accountant is crap, no financial planning and my P35 makes me cry every year! 

(I'm a one man IT contractor)


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## ubiquitous (1 Feb 2008)

mcgwilliam said:


> they simply login and get your transactions and can produce the formalised books without even having to contact you! - You've got to love that.
> 
> CFO Services are charging me €1700 per year on top of the €250 I pay hookhead for the Virtual Accountant subscription...



Do they REALLY compile company accounts and tax returns without contacting the client, and without reference to source documents?


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## mcgwilliam (3 Feb 2008)

LaserLips said:


> Are these CFO Services guys good? My current accountant is crap, no financial planning and my P35 makes me cry every year!
> 
> (I'm a one man IT contractor)


 
They're very good, in that you can rely on them doing what needs to be done. They haven't messed me around in any case. I do all the data entry which suits me just fine, and they do the "hard bit" i.e. dealing with the CRO etc, tax returns etc. We have a clear divide on who does what and using the Virtual Accountant facilitate this because we are all looking at the same underlying data.

Bill


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## mcgwilliam (3 Feb 2008)

ubiquitous said:


> Do they REALLY compile company accounts and tax returns without contacting the client, and without reference to source documents?


 
We do have some interaction throughout the year, but it's normally for clarification on something I've entered incorrectly. The beauty of the Virtual Accountant is that we both have a shared view of the same data so there is nothing to submit to the accountant - they simply login and get the information at the end of the year and assuming I've done my bit correctly, the preparation of the books is supposedly relatively straight forward.

Regarding Tax returns I enter the VAT3/P30 returns myself  using ROS and the reports generated by the Virtual Accountant - takes all of 2 minutes per period.

Bill


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## ubiquitous (4 Feb 2008)

mcgwilliam said:


> there is nothing to submit to the accountant - they simply login and get the information at the end of the year and assuming I've done my bit correctly



How on earth can your accountant assume this without seeing ANY of your prime records, for example bank statements? How can they tell whether you have made an error, or neglected to enter some entries? Unless your accountant is unqualified and unregulated, I can't see how they can operate like this without bringing the wrath of their Institute down upon them. I don't know what their professional indemnity insurers would think?


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## mcgwilliam (4 Feb 2008)

ubiquitous said:


> How on earth can your accountant assume this without seeing ANY of your prime records, for example bank statements? How can they tell whether you have made an error, or neglected to enter some entries? Unless your accountant is unqualified and unregulated, I can't see how they can operate like this without bringing the wrath of their Institute down upon them. I don't know what their professional indemnity insurers would think?


 
I think you're jumping to some conclusions here. Of course I send the accountants the records in paper form aswell once a year - This goes without saying.

The point I was making is that they can "silently" look over my shoulder throughout the year, and see what I have entered. This prevents me from shooting myself in foot, and I take great comfort from this as I am not an accountant. 

In short, all I am saying here is that there is less direct interaction with the accountant which suits me just fine. 

Bill


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## Brendan Burgess (4 Feb 2008)

> The beauty of the Virtual Accountant is that we both have a shared view of the same data so there is nothing to submit to the accountant





> I think you're jumping to some conclusions here. Of course I send the accountants the records in paper form as well once a year - This goes without saying.


Ubi didn't jump to any conclusions. You said quite clearly and quite astonishingly that "there is nothing to submit to the accountant". 

McG, can you just clarify that you have no commercial involvement with Hook Head, apart from being a very satisfied customer?  It's just that we have to be careful about recommendations from people who have no other posts on Askaboutmoney except to recommend a particular company.

Thanks

Brendan


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## mcgwilliam (4 Feb 2008)

I don't have any commercial involvement with Hookhead except having to pay them once a year  I am relatively new to contracting and these guys are the only people I have dealt with - I haven't used any other accounting package, so I am not really in a position to recommend them as such as I have nothing to compare them to. Really all I wanted to say was that I am happy with them is all.


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## mcgwilliam (4 Feb 2008)

Brendan said:


> Ubi didn't jump to any conclusions. You said quite clearly and quite astonishingly that "there is nothing to submit to the accountant".


 
Ok, fair point, what I meant was no emails, spreadsheets etc. ... of course the paperwork needs to be sent in once a year ...

Bill


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## ubiquitous (4 Feb 2008)

I honestly don't think that emailing a spreadsheet to/from an accountant is a big deal.


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## mcgwilliam (4 Feb 2008)

You're right, emailing a spreadsheet is not a big deal, but there's a lot to be said for not having to email anything


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## ClubMan (4 Feb 2008)

mcgwilliam said:


> You're right, emailing a spreadsheet is not a big deal, but there's a lot to be said for not having to email anything


You're confusing *me *now...


mcgwilliam said:


> Of course I send the accountants the records in paper form aswell once a year - This goes without saying.


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## Jo90 (6 Mar 2008)

i downloaded the free trial versions of payback couple of weeks ago and started entering in emp info as want to generate own payslips without having to pay the accountant to provide these.

found it very easy to use and quick scan through user manual all self explanatory, have ordered it for €120 (ex vat) as felt it ticked most of the boxes and well worth a look. we are small scale operation 4 /5 employees and every penny we can save makes a difference


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## slav (10 Jun 2008)

Do you have any other experiences with Virtual Accountant?

Other users than mcgwilliam please. I'm sceptical about his opinion since in all his posts he praises hookhead (http://www.askaboutmoney.com./showthread.php?t=275&highlight=hookhead.com)

Thanks!


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