When you think of your accountant - do you think of the bloke or girl that you pop in to see once a year so that they can sort the books out to keep the tax man at bay ?

Yes - then you are buying a basic product (accounts to keep the tax man happy) which you know will cost the same as last year (plus a bit for inflation).

There is nothing wrong with this, and Accountants go through years of training to qualify, and, attend courses every year, so that they keep up to-date, all to make sure they know how to keep your business compliant with the tax man.

There are loads of accountants in Jersey, so why not get a quote from another every couple of years ?

But before you do read on ................................


You might not realise, but you do know the value of this product that you receive from your Accountant. If its more than what you pay, your happy, but if its less than what you pay, you grumble about the fee, or look for another accountant, or maybe both

But your Accountant will generally try and convince themselves that Accountancy fees are based on the time spend preparing your accounts, but know (deep down) that its last years fee plus a bit, and if the plus a bit is to much, then they could have unhappy Clients who might look elsewhere.

So what they do ?

Worry about time - All the time

Basically charge out rates can be £120 per hour | £30 per hour or anything in-between. But remember just because someone charges 4x more for an hour of their time, doesn't mean that they can do the work 4x quicker, and lets face it, who would pay 4x more for the same product ?

So Accountants become busy, busy, busy with never enough time. Professional responsibility means that all work must be to a suitably competent standard, and the bulk of 'available time' goes on making sure the product is to this standard.

So important things, like meeting with the client to actually explain the numbers and suggest ways to improve results, finding out what you want from your business and helping you achieve it, or even just being on the end of the telephone as a sounding board, become things that they just don't have time for !

And for work (time) of a much greater value !

So, everything else other than the accounts preparation such as meetings with you, reviewing your tax and helping you plan, discuss and explore ways to take your business forward and increase profits, they want to bill you for based on........................... yes ! the time that they spend.

How do we know this ?

Because for many many years we worked in traditional practices where this is the norm, but it need not be.

What Accountants don't train for or attend courses on how is to let you, our customers, know the full range of services that we can offer, and find out what it is that you really want. 

More than that we are generally terrible at 'selling' and our culture is based on billing our time, so we don't tell you what we can do for your business !

How can it be different ?

A good accountant can do much more than make sure that you claim for 20% tax on every business expense, and that only business income is included in your accounts.

We have experience of many businesses, their problems and opportunities and can give you advice on every situation that your business will encounter. And if we can't we know where to find out.

We work alongside businesses and make sure that we are providing real value, and proactively work with you to achieve your goals, be that to maximise profits, go for growth or even your aim that your business runs as simply as it can, so you enjoy running it.

Remember that if we can help increase your profits by 15% every year for 5 years then they will double.

The information that you give can make a huge difference in the amount of work (time) needed to prepare your accounts (Check out this post for what to provide and some of the issues) but normally the time when you find out that your accountant did not get the information they needed is when the accounts are finished. They have spent more 'time'  so want to bill you more than you expected (because as far as you were aware its the same product as last year !)

You will never have this with us. We agree fees up front, and if there is any additional worked needed, we will let you know before we start it and agree a fixed fee before starting. Simply if you receive a bill that you have not agreed beforehand, then you don't pay it.

And,

You will get so much more than a basic product.

So ?

You know that if you are in business, you need an accountant to prepare accounts and send them in with your tax return so that the States can send you a bill for the amount that you owe.

But, are you really getting true value for the fees that you are paying ?