Wanted: Good, cheap accountant in Manchester/Oldham area

[redstarcreative]

Hello

Would love to know if anyone can recommend an accountant in Central Manchester or Oldham who are good at working with me - any experience with small businesses and the creative industries would be a big bonus.

Hopefully they will be pro-active in helping advise how my business can grow

Many thanks

Darren

 

[TaxAssist]

Hi Darren, we can help you and do have accountants in both Oldham and Central Manchester. We aren't cheap but we are good. We give a value for money service and specialise in small business.

Call us on 0800 0523 555 and we will transfer your call through to the local office you desire.

 

[KateCB]

Cheap OR good? Don't tend to get both!!

 

What sort of business growth advice would you expect from an accountant.?

Earl

 

[Alpha]

What sort of business growth advice would you expect from an accountant.?

Earl

Depends on the accountant

 

[Richie N]

I would be interested as well but would prefer Kashflow partner.

 

[Fernhurst Solutions Ltd]

We are based close to Manchester - Blackburn, and can be in the City Centre most days for a meeting ...

 

[Richie N]

We are based close to Manchester - Blackburn, and can be in the City Centre most days for a meeting ...

Hi Andrew, do you work with Kashflow?

 

[elaine@cheapaccounting]

Cheap OR good? Don't tend to get both!!

totally disagree

 

[Fernhurst Solutions Ltd]

Richie, to be 100% I haven't made the move over to Kashflow yet ... I presume that is the package you are using?

 

[Jenni384]

totally disagree

You are the exception though dear!

In general, cheap is not usually good. You [mostly] get what you pay for.

Any good computer savvy accountant should be able to work with pretty much any accounting package that is fit for purpose, once you know one or two, you can get to grips with others relatively easily.

 

[Gillie]

As Jenni says, if you know your stuff, you can work with all/most packages so that shouldnt be an issue.

You shouldnt base your main criteria as cheap first and foremost ... get a recommendation and chat to them, find out if you can actually get on with them and take it from there. Aint saying you dont get cheap and good, just go for good first ...

 

[DFL]

Yep, time and time again we have to pick up the pieces of the costly errors of cheaper firms. Cost should be only one of many factors when choosing your accountant.

 

[LJones-Sedulo]

Hi there, I think I could help you both. Not a Kashflow expert but dont believe that it would be difficult to understand.

I am a young, vibrant accountant based in Manchester/Cheshire and I am able to meet to discuss your requirements. I am able to perform basic duties to rasing finance, projections, cashflow etc.

I have been an accountant for 10 years and work in the SME market.

Email or PM me if you are interested in a meeting or even an over the phone chat to discuss your requirements

Cheers

Lee

 

[STDFR33]

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I've seen you post the link on other forums today. Today must be 'spam the sh*t out of the internet' day.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

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I've got a feeling that the OP will have found an accountant by now

 

[SteveHa]

Redacted

 

[samkma]

Hi Darren, we can help you and do have accountants in both Oldham and Central Manchester. We aren't cheap but we are good. We give a value for money service and specialise in small business.

Call us on 0800 0523 555 and we will transfer your call through to the local office you desire.

I did contact my local Tax assist for a new company accounts (to get a quote) by phone and email and its been over a week now with no response, so looks like I should not deal with an accountant who ignores business?

 

[STDFR33]

I did contact my local Tax assist for a new company accounts (to get a quote) by phone and email and its been over a week now with no response, so looks like I should not deal with an accountant who ignores business?

If they don't respond to new client enquiries, it would raise concerns to me about their response times to existing clients.

 

[The Byre]

1. Any Joe Blow can (in the UK) call themselves an accountant.

2. There are loads of cheap accountants - the only problem is, they're not actually real accountants! They're just some git with a laptop. A git with a laptop can be the most expensive accountant you have ever hired! This forum is full with posts from numpties that have fallen for the old "We are a respected practice and accountancy partnership!" routine.

3. Almost every other European country makes it a criminal offence to falsely claim academic or professional status.

4. It is not an accountants job to give a business, business advice, other than in matters of books and taxes.

 

[samkma]

Just had an email from a local accountant, for a new start up with expected TO of 85 to 100K /year.
Based on the information provided about turnover I would estimate the fee for preparation of your quarterly vat return at £300 to £400 per annum.
The preparation of the company's annual accounts and tax returns I estimate to be in the range of £400 to £500. The cost of running a weekly payroll for 2 staff would be £300 per annum

Is £1000 - £1200 ie 100 a month a good quote?

 

[STDFR33]

It's cheap. But it's only an estimate, not a firm quotation.

But what about the confirmation statement and directors self assessment?

 

[The Byre]

Just had an email from a local accountant, for a new start up with expected TO of 85 to 100K /year.
Based on the information provided about turnover I would estimate the fee for preparation of your quarterly vat return at £300 to £400 per annum.
The preparation of the company's annual accounts and tax returns I estimate to be in the range of £400 to £500. The cost of running a weekly payroll for 2 staff would be £300 per annum

Is £1000 - £1200 ie 100 a month a good quote?

Suspiciously low!

Accountants are there to keep two monsters from destroying your business - HMRC and your own stupidity! Over and above that, you should keep tabs on what is going on at all times and that means doing your own mail, payroll, ledger and VAT returns.

Never forget that!

As your company expands, you can hand over those tasks to a trusted employee, but keep a very tight grip on them and ask to see them every few weeks.

Accountants are there for the annual returns and the occasional advice on company tax structures. Nothing else!

When HMRC sees returns coming from a respected and known partnership with experts for all aspects of accounting, they will leave you alone.

And before you do any silly moves like creating a separate company, where none is needed, your accountant should be consulted and should tell you to be sensible.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

He has been given an estimate not a fixed Fee QUOTE - it's a start up so nobody knows at this stage if he is going to keep a shoe box full of screwed up invoices and receipts which is dumped with the Accountant each quarter to sort out or balanced accounting records maintained on a software package.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

Accountants are there for the annual returns and the occasional advice on company tax structures. Nothing else!

We also do shoe shinning & cake making classes.

 

[STDFR33]

We also do shoe shinning & cake making classes.

And the occasional therapy.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

And the occasional therapy.

Shoulder to cry on! - no charge, all part of the service.

 

[SteveHa]

Shoulder to cry on! - no charge, all part of the service.

Thank heavens for that, I thought it was just me. I have a client who phones every week just to chew the fat for 20 minutes. Can't remember the last time she actually wanted something to do with tax.

 

[Jeremiah@RHJ Accountants]

Shoulder to cry on! - no charge, all part of the service.

Agreed Accountant/counsellor

 

[GLAbusiness]

In my industry the rule of thumb is that you can only pick any 2 from cheap, good and quick.

Be clear about what your priorities and needs are, then choose on you most important criteria