[Smudger]

Hi chaps,

Sorry if this is a daft question, we had an accountant do the books this year, all ok, we are goign as a partnership from april 2010 onwards and we appreciate his fees will be higher for this period ongoing - BUT is it usual/standard practice for an accountant to ask for some of his fees in advance (approx £300) as he has to "set up the partnership"
We run a tight ship here on our accounts and use WCP so all accounts are "pre done" complete with monthly and annual figures - receipts etc all sorted, he is not given a box of paper to sort.

My query is if we approached an accountant in say feb to do our accounts they would not ask for an upfront fee the books would be handed in and then the bill would be paid.

Any clarification would be great.

Thanks

[RO-Sheen]

I have an accountant and I pay a monthly DD for next years accounts ie I have just paid my monthly DD for Sep 2011.
My accountant is very good and want to keep him BUT I do feel that I am a little trapped though. If I wanted to change my account tomorrow Im not sure if I will be refunded the money I have already paid for next years accounts or if I would be obliged to carry on using his services until Sep 2011.

In hindsight I think I should have insisted that I pay-as-i-go or maybe a month ahead at a time. I think you should insist on that if they want to keep your custom.

Adie

[martinj]

Hi smudger

If you are just forming a partnership, not a limited liability partnership, then essentially you are just two or more self employed people trading. You need a deed of partnership drawn up detailing capital introduced, profit split, working arrangements etc but from an accounts point of view theres really not much more to do. Is this £300 for the deed, or for registering a new company  or just for the privilage of becoming a partnership with your accountant, because if its the latter I would question it.
On paying in advance I wouldnt, some accountants take regular payments could be monthly dd could be quarterly chq whatever to pay for the years services as you go. A lot invoice after the accounts. I think it depends on your relationship with them but they may try to "encourage" you to pay upfront - why not we'd all like to be paid first wouldnt we?