If you think about accounting firms, you will probably imagine a company that deals with standard...
The decision to hire an accountant is one that all business owners face. A good accountant can make or break your business.
It can be hard to know when to hire an accountant. If your business has just started, you can probably manage to do the books yourself.
But there will come a point where you need to bring in some outside help. In today's article, we'll talk through your options and what to consider.
Can I Do My Own Books?
There's nothing to say you have to hire an accountant. HMRC does not care what your qualifications are as long as you:
- Keep your books in order
- Pay your taxes on time
- Stay up to date with reports
In fact, for very small businesses, you can probably do your own accounting. You should make sure you keep good records. And choose a good accounting software package. We recommend Xero to our clients.
If you decided to go it alone, make sure you give it your full attention! If you fall behind with payments or make improper declarations, you can get in trouble with HMRC.
How Can An Accountant Help?
You may want to bring in an accountant early on just to free up your time. If you find yourself wasting time trying to get your head round tax returns and VAT bands, an accountant can let you focus on your business.
As your business grows, an accountant may be necessary to take care of more complicated financial tasks. Payroll is a good example. With only one or two staff, you can probably do this by yourself.
But payroll very quickly gets complicated when you start to build a team. You have to worry about:
- Taxes & NI
- Pensions
- Expenses
- Allowances
- Bonuses & commission
- Sick & holiday pay
- Redundancies, severance and notice periods
A good accountant can also save you money (even after his fees!). Lots of small businesses fail to take advantage of (completely legal) allowances and schemes that could reduce their tax. Even an initial chat with an accountant could save your business thousands of pounds.
Full-Time Or Outsourced Accountant?
So you've decided to bring in an accountant to your business. You now have to decide whether to hire a full time member of the team. Or use a remote/outsourced account. At Key Business Consultants, we offer both.
We are London-based chartered accountants who can meet face-to-face at your business or our Kilburn office.
We also offer an outsourced bookkeeper service. Our team have vast experience working remotely for clients across the UK and farther afield for accounts, tax returns, bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, furlough compliance, and systems advice helping our clients get online and sharing data in a safe way.
If you've decided it's time to hire an accountant for your business, please get in touch. Our accountants and tax experts have over a hundred years of experience working with small businesses just like yours.
We'll help you with your bookkeeping, payroll, reporting and compliance. Check out our case studies for some inspiring stories and happy customers!
