Changing accountant - what to write in notification letter

[Smallbusinessman]

A friend has a company that has not traded for a couple of years and it is about to be dormant. He uses a large firm of accountants and their fees are very high. He wants to end the relationship asap and then find someone whose fees are more realistic. All fees are paid up to date - nothing is owed to the large firm of accountants. He will write to them to terminate the relationship (and change the registered office address to his home). What information should he ask them to provide to him? My guess is a trial balance and the last tax return. Is there anything else? Replies would be appreciated, thank you.

 

[Ecomccountant]

A friend has a company that has not traded for a couple of years and it is about to be dormant. He uses a large firm of accountants and their fees are very high. He wants to end the relationship asap and then find someone whose fees are more realistic. All fees are paid up to date - nothing is owed to the large firm of accountants. He will write to them to terminate the relationship (and change the registered office address to his home). What information should he ask them to provide to him? My guess is a trial balance and the last tax return. Is there anything else? Replies would be appreciated, thank you.

So you can terminate and all the services with them. As for the information, they have to keep it for a number of years so won't delete it. Great thing is, if you get a new accountant they talk to your old accountant and the previous accountant will send all the relevant documents to the new accountant for no fee.

If you want the information yourself, I would ask for the files they, and they have to send them. But really only your new accountant will make use this stuff.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

A friend has a company that has not traded for a couple of years and it is about to be dormant. He uses a large firm of accountants and their fees are very high. He wants to end the relationship asap and then find someone whose fees are more realistic. All fees are paid up to date - nothing is owed to the large firm of accountants. He will write to them to terminate the relationship (and change the registered office address to his home). What information should he ask them to provide to him? My guess is a trial balance and the last tax return. Is there anything else? Replies would be appreciated, thank you.

All your friend needs to do is to notify the accountants he no longer requires their services, he has appointed a new accountant (give them the name and address) and that they have his authority to supply all information the new accountants may request from them.

They may prepare and ask him to sign a letter of disengagement.

The new accountant will contact his former accountants for all of the information they require - all qualified accountants use the same procedure and most unqualifieds tend to do the same.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

The process of changing accountants is relatively simple.

Write to your existing accountant
You first need to write to your current accountant – an email should suffice unless they request a handwritten letter. You need to advise them that you are changing accountants to ********* and ask them to furnish your new Accountants with any requested information.

You should also indicate if there is an expectation of work to be finalised, for example; “I will require you to complete the financial year-end accounts ending 31/03/2019”.

Registering with the new accountant
The new accountant will usually send some type of registration form to capture your personal and limited company information.

They will also need to carry out an anti-money laundering check on you by law, so you will typically be required to provide a scan of your passport or drivers’ licence, together with a recent utility bill or some may actually perform electronic ID checks.

Authorising the new accountant to deal with HMRC
You will need to sign a new 64-8 form to authorise the new accountant to deal with HMRC on your behalf, for both personal and company tax affairs, or by using HMRC’s online authorisation service.

Letter of Engagement
The new accountant is obliged to send you a ‘Letter of Engagement’ which sets out the expectations and requirements between the two parties.

Professional Clearance
The new accountant will write to the previous one requesting professional clearance. Typically the letter would read something like this:

“We have been approached by the Director(s) to act as Accountants on behalf of their limited company ABC Ltd. Please advise us if there are any professional reasons or matters we need to consider prior to accepting the appointment.”

The letter continues to request copies of accounts and tax records, tax returns and any other information they may need.

 

[Smallbusinessman]

Many thanks to YourCloudAccountant, MyAccountantOnline, and UK Contractor Accountant for the detailed replies above - these are very helpful. I will pass this information to my friemd. This is much appreciated. Best regards.