In part two of our freelancers survey results we explored how a freelancer’s relationship with their accountant can change the way they work, and their knowledge on industry matters. In part three we’re going to cast a beady eye over whether freelancer’s service costs are going up as the recession continues, and what proportion of those surveyed are looking to change the way they work.
If you’re particularly narcissistic, you can go ahead and scroll to the bottom, where we’ve shared some of the juicier accountant horror stories we received.
Are costs rising?
We asked those who took our survey if the cost of their accountancy services were going up – and the news here is good! Ninety two percent of respondents reported that their fees had not changed. We get a slightly clearer picture if we break those results down between local and online accountants -
So it would appear that although the chances of your accountancy costs rising are still rather slim, it is more likely if you are with a local firm than an online accountant.
Which approach is best?
Next up, what are freelancers’ attitudes towards doing their books in a good old Excel spreadsheet vs. using online software? Of all our respondents, 62% believe an online approach to accounting is better, while 21% are looking to switch from a local accountant to an online system. Again, if we break it down by those using local and online accountants the figures show an interesting divide -
Interestingly, less than half of those using local accountants believe this is the best way of working. In fact, more are looking to move their accounts online than are satisfied with their current service. A stubborn 16.7% believe online accounting is better, but are apparently not looking to switch.
Unsurprisingly the vast majority of those using online accountants believe they are superior, apart from an apparently confused minority who are using online accountants but are also looking to move their accounts online (perhaps moving to a more online service, if that’s possible?).
Horror stories
Now the juicy part – accountant horror stories. About one in five respondents filled in this optional section of the survey, and interestingly about half of the comments were saying “Never had a bad experience”! Inevitably though there were some real howlers - here we’ve cherry-picked the best ones for your enjoyment.
Overcharging
“My previous accountant sent me a bill for £700 for responding to 2 emails and having a 20 minute phone conversation – and the worst thing about it was, the conversations were about him trying to get me to register for VAT so that I would have to pay him £300 for the setup fees!”
“I was overcharged by £500 and when I questioned it was told it was a typing error!”
“Massive overcharging so I refused to pay my bill and sacked him. My partners accountant is in prison for embezzlement!”
“He charges too much, I know he does hardly no work, he’s a git!”
Poor service
“My first accountant was definitely old school. He didn’t get the fact that I have no concept of numbers or explain anything in a way I could understand, which I thought was fairly important as a newly self-employed person. I had to take my husband with me to meetings so he could ‘translate’ but that just made me feel stupid, and I’m actually not! Then there was the time I travelled an hour to meet him first thing in the morning and he’d forgotten our sppointment. Needless to say I now have a really good accountant who’s coming round in the morning to explain PAYE to me after a plaintive email today. Great service!”
“Being charged £75 a month only to find that they don’t do any work for the money. All the paperwork had to be sent to them each month but they could never tell me what my tax liabilities were at any time, only, “do what you’re told and it will all be fine”. They were late with year end accounts (three months) and also made a lot of mistakes. They only pulled their finger out when we stopped the standing order.”
Dodgy advice
“Our previous accountant failed to give us correct VAT advice leading to our paying about 7K too much over 4 years. Also incorrectly invoiced us for several years, leading to our having a 1K bill owed when they finally got their act together when we moved to our current accountant (due to total frustration with having to fill out an excessively complex excel spreadsheet every month).”
“I had a large firm set up my company and made a mistake re the type of company I needed – it turned out I wasnt allowed to take dividends due to the type of set up and so I ended up having to fold the company!”
And finally…
Surely the ultimate indignity?
“I had to babysit for a couple of accountant’s kids….they were a real pain in the ass!”
