Accountant for IT contractor

[brian]

Hi All,

Can anyone recommend a good accountant for someone beginning IT contracting. I have talked to the CXC and Prima and now just want to evaluate the option of using an accountant.

thanks in advance,

Brian

 

[Helen]

I did a bit of shopping around last year and found prima to be the best value. You should be able to do your own payroll, P35 & VAT returns so it cuts down on what the accountant needs to do.
If you find a deal for under 1000 you're doing really well, but you definitely shouldn't have to pay more than 1400 (ex VAT).

 

[ubiquitous]

Shopping around solely on the basis of price is madness. Recommendations from trusted friends and family are by the far the best way of locating a quality professional service provider.

 

[Helen]

Shopping around solely on the basis of price is madness.

I should clarify, my advice was for the bog standard IT contractor who generally does not have any complicated situations that need 'expert' advice. Generally they need the simplest set of accounts drawn up so don't necessarily need the best of the best.

Recommendations from trusted friends and family are by the far the best way of locating a quality professional service provider

Ideally yes, but this is easier said than done. A lot of people do not know someone in their same situation and in my case, people I do know all seem to have a brother or an uncle that does it for them in their spare time.

As with anything, when you meet your accountant you will get a feeling of their competency and helpfulness and if you can't get personal recommendations then this is all you have to go on .. and the price does inevitably come into it too.
I haven't changed to Prima myself as I'm giving my current accountant one more chance this year (he jacked his prices up last year without telling me ), but based on my talks with them last year I found them very reassuring and they would definitely be my choice if I do decide to move.

 

[brian]

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for your responses.
As regards using a contracting services company, Prima seem to be the best option. I cannot distinguish between any variation in service between themselves as CXC, however Prima is e175 a month and CXC is e300.

Is there anyone out there who uses CXC and would like to comment?

One thing of interest is contracting services companies do not provide services to sole traders, maybe because they would find it hard to justify higher fees for the smaller amount of tax returns involved.
In order to keep costs down, I want to get a quote from an accountant for doing the books for a sole trader based company.


I do not have any recommendations at present on any accountants and so unless I get some here, I will just have to go through the phone book.

thanks and regards,

Brian

 

[thedreamer]

Okay, while generally shopping around on price alone is a bad idea in regards and an accountant theres several questions you need to ask yourself.

What services do I need?
Do you need audited accounts or unaudited ones. Or is it just the basics, a simple set of accounts and submission to the revenue. If its the first then it will be more costly, and the second you'll need to consider if your capable enough of submitting them yourself to the Revenue, I wouldn't recommend that but it is an option.
In regards Payroll theres several good programs out there, such as Thesaurus or Collsoft. If your not too accountancy minded Collsoft is the more user friendly to use.
In regards VAT, how many invoices do you have and how complex are the the transactions. If its all standard then the odds are you can handle it yourself.

Getting an Accountant
If you've friends in a similar scale business ask what there accountant is like and if the price is right and their happy with them then this maybe a suitable choice. If you want to check around, then if your a relatively small business then local accountant, or a small firm elsewhere if you prefer them not to be local, would probably suit better than a larger firm where your account may be less of a proirity.

Competance
Competance you'll probably have to judge on a personal basis, a good way to check is to have some general questions and see if the advice given is sufficient. Does he/she answer the questions or just try and give an an answer to get you out the door, and are they will to get back to you if there any outstanding issues?
Also try and get a feel for what kind of businesses their use to dealing with; do they have many sole traders like yourself? Or are they more company orientated.

 

[brian]

Hi,

Thanks for all your replies.
I called a few accountants and the best available seems to be www.accountingconcepts.ie. Their price tax, vat returns for a sole trader was e600 plus vat. While this cannot be compared with the prices of cxc or prima directly as their prices was for a limited company, which involve more paperwork, they do not offer sole trader services and such an arrangement seems to be the most appropriate structure for a IT contractor.

Aside from price, they seem helpful, quick to respond to queries and design their services from small to medium enterprises.

I would also like to stress that I have no affiliation or connection with accountingconcepts,

regards,

Brian.

 

[Helen]

Just check with your agency/company about the sole trader arrangement, as most of the time they require you to have a limited company setup.

 

[ubiquitous]

Hi,

Thanks for all your replies.
I called a few accountants and the best available seems to be www.accountingconcepts.ie. Their price tax, vat returns for a sole trader was e600 plus vat. While this cannot be compared with the prices of cxc or prima directly as their prices was for a limited company, which involve more paperwork, they do not offer sole trader services and such an arrangement seems to be the most appropriate structure for a IT contractor.

Aside from price, they seem helpful, quick to respond to queries and design their services from small to medium enterprises.

I would also like to stress that I have no affiliation or connection with accountingconcepts,

regards,

Brian.

Their website does not inspire confidence
No contact name
Address in a private house in a housing estate
No mention of professional qualifications, regulation or insurance.

 

[sdoherty]

Their website does not inspire confidence
No contact name
Address in a private house in a housing estate
No mention of professional qualifications, regulation or insurance

I am a representative of Accounting Concepts and would just like to respond to the above comment. Accounting Concepts is a member firm of, and regulated by, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. We are professionally qualified to carry out accountancy services. We also have professional indemnity insurance, as all regulated firms are required to have.

ad deleted - Brendan

 

[ubiquitous]

I am a representative of Accounting Concepts and would just like to respond to the above comment. Accounting Concepts is a member firm of, and regulated by, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. We are professionally qualified to carry out accountancy services. We also have professional indemnity insurance, as all regulated firms are required to have.

In that case you would do well to consider the provisions in the ICAI ethical code concerning advertising and promotion of a CA firm, specifically those which:
- require disclosure on stationery and promotional material of details of relevant ICAI authorisations and other specified particulars

- prohibit the publication of advertising or promotional material that would be likely to damage the public perception of the profession or other practitioners in general

Do you get all this from your current accountant? Or instead do you:

* find it hard to get in contact with your accountant?
* only speak to them once or twice a year?
* hear about problems with your tax returns from the Revenue before you hear about them from your accountant?
* feel that you are less important to them than you used to be?
* find that you are repeating your requests to several different people before you can get anyone to deal with them?
* rarely, if ever, get any advice on how to grow your business, increase your profits or reduce your tax liabilities?