Getting the Best Accounting Prices

Decide on Your Own Involvement

At one end of the spectrum we have clients who are tech and software savvy and can find the time to do their own bookkeeping. At the other end, we have clients who are just too busy or don’t have the inclination to go through a software or spreadsheet ‘learning curve’. And in the middle we have clients who do some of their own bookkeeping, and we do the rest.

The price we charged for doing accounts is based on how much work is involved:

If you use your own accounting software and input all your transaction and categorise them, our fees can be as low as £140 a year to check and submit your tax return.

If you need us to do all your regular booking, your end of year accounts and your tax returns, our fees can be anywhere between £50 and £100 per month (including software subscription), plus £140 to submit a Self Assessment Tax Return (for sole traders) or £200 (for partnerships), or £300 to submit a Corporation Tax Return (for limited companies).

If you need us to do VAT or PAYE Returns in addition to your bookkeeping, there is an additional charge. Typically between £75 and £150 per quarter for VAT, depending upon number of transactions; and £15 to £50 per month for PAYE, depending on the number of employees.

The prices quoted above are not hard and fast and we are open to negotiation. If you want to keep your accounting and bookkeeping costs low, there is a lot you can do to help us:-

The GOOD things that keep your accounting costs down:-

• Get a dedicated business bank account and keep your business and personal finances separate.
• Make sure that you have online banking and you can download a CSV file of your transactions.
• If you are competent, use a spreadsheet or accounts software package to import your bank transactions, manually enter your cash transactions and do your best to categorise your transactions.

The BAD things that will mean higher charges:-

• Lots of CASH Income and Expenses: Everything has to be separated and manually entered into a spreadsheet or scanned into accounts software. This means that a lot of time is taken before accounting can get started.
• No Separate Bank Account: You’ve been using your personal bank account for both personal and business transactions. This means that someone has to go through all your bank transactions and exclude all your personal ins and outs. This takes up a lot of time before accounting can get started.
• Mixed Content Purchases: You spent £60.25 at an Esso fuel station, but of the £60.25, £12.50 was for cigarettes and £3.75 was for a can of coke and a sandwich. So one receipt needs to be manually split into three items before accounting can get started.

Spreading the Cost

If you want to spread the cost, we can provide all your accounting needs including regular monthly or quarterly bookkeeping, business summaries and all your Income Tax, Corporation Tax, VAT Returns and PAYE Payroll. All for a fixed monthly fee. Prices start from only £45 per month for a single self-employed business.