Accountant Fee Query

I've a small limited company and I got a quote from an accountant was was reasonable, then after a few months he handed me a bill for £3,000 as there was more work involved than he thought then he increased his monthly fee by £100.

Has this ever happened to anyone before and is he justified to do this.

I really was not expecting this.

To get honest and fair answer you will have to give more detail

1. What fee was agreed
2. What was included in this fee
3. What size is company- is their a lot of transactions/employees.
4. what part of country are you in.
5. What did extra work involve
6. Does fee include vat

You quote £ . If you are not in Republic of Ireland you might get more appropriate answers from a UK forum. I appreciate that accountancy in ROI and UK are broadly similar but there would be some differences and in fees. Also, is the compnay audit exempt or not as that would have a major bearing on fees and as other poster has said, what was to be included and what was the extra for. Your letter of engagement ( which you should have ) would dictate the normal terms of reference of the work, i.e. who is responsible for what and the fee structure.

I would never accept a bill from somebody for a sum which I did not agree to. If there was more work involved he should have told you are raised his fee by agreement.
A unilateral retrospective increase is not the way to do business.

Purple said:

I would never accept a bill from somebody for a sum which I did not agree to. If there was more work involved he should have told you are raised his fee by agreement.
A unilateral retrospective increase is not the way to do business.

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A bit of a black and white answer! Usually the letter of engagement will state something like 'our fees are computed by multiplying the time expended on the work by the relevant charge out rate which is dependant upon the seniority of the staff member engaged'. When I give a 'quote' it is given on one of two basis
1) May go up in subsequent years depending upon the volume of work and the co-operation of the client or
2) This quote is only an estimate and more may be charged when the work is undertaken if the work takes longer than estimated.

Quoting for the job of doing accounts or audit is not like quoting for painting a house. Until you actually get into the work you do not know how long the job will take, how good the books are, how co-operative the owners or bookeepers are, is there missing information. Accountants who do set quotes are mad and you would need to question the quality of their work. Corners will be cut.