Do you hire an accountant to overlook your finances?

It takes me about a day to earn the fees I pay my accountant every year.

In exchange for those fees, he does work that would take me about two days, and he does it better than I ever could. 

In my case it's the very definition of a "no-brainer."

(However, his main task is preparing annual tax returns and taking a look at the big picture once a year; he doesn't "oversee" things on a day-to-day basis. I find that an easily managed daily task.)

I should have followed Albert's thoughts on hiring an accountant (or "expert-accountant" as we say in France), it would have saved me a lot of hassle.  An option to consider for next year, then... among other things discussed in this very forum!

Laurent K.

I use an accountant, but this decision was taken for another business I co-run alongside translation. I would wake up in mad panics, thinking the police were going to turn up on my doorstep. (yes, a little irrational and no, I don't traffic anything). I oversee all my own books and the accountant checks it through, gives it the ok and arranges for the money to be taken out of my account and given to the state He is rather expensive (450 euros per year) but he got me out of a mess and sorted out what I should be paying for all the different activities I do. I can e-mail him whenever I want and he replies within 24 hours. However, now that I am more settled and know my financial way round the different things I do (and have all my excels in order), I am considering swapping to a cheaper accountant. Where I currently live (a little village) I was told it would cost me less than 100 euros a year. Yet, I am reluctant to change as I know my accountant is good, and I don't just use him for my translation turn over. What do other people pay? (personal question but heh we're all in the same boat )
 

Hi Genevieve,

standard fees for an accountant performing the tasks you describe will amount to some 900 euros ex VAT per annum.

Laurent K.

Originally written by Laurent J Krauland on February 11, 2009 3:26 PM Hi Genevieve, standard fees for an accountant performing the tasks you describe will amount to some 900 euros ex VAT per annum. Laurent K.

There are several variables to consider...

- In Canada, at least, someone commonly referred to as an "accountant" is not necessarily one of the various varieties of chartered accountant. Rates will vary accordingly. (To be clear, people who aren't chartered accountants can't represent themselves as such, but that doesn't prevent clients from using "accountant" as a shorthand/synonym for "tax preparer", "bookkeeper" or what have you.)

- Different countries' tax laws may make the required tasks more or less complex. 

- One freelancer's personal and business situations may be considerably more or less complex than another's.

- Some people are more organized than others. Handing your accountant a disorganized box of papers will cost you more -- possibly much more -- than handing over well organized files with accompanying spreadsheets. (I know, I've done both!)

-  Some people may be happy to pay a premium for availability, experience, special expertise, and so on.

I hired the services of an accountant / general compliance advisor as soon as I became a freelancer. The main reason was that I had seen a number of freelnacers struggle with their tax declarations and understanding the intricacies of quarterly VAT declarations while "walking it alone". It just made sense to hire someone who could do this for me effortlessly.

The other reason is expertise - I can call these people anytime and make an appointment to deal with any questions or enquiries I might have (invoicing foreign companies, working with other translators as an outsourcer, dealing with VAT payments on unpaid bills, etc.), and they are extremely helpfull in these cases.

Finally, like Genevieve, I do have other activities outside the translation field, so it is good to also have advice on how to invoice them.

Unlike your accountant, Genevieve, mine are actually more expensive - about twice as much.

But I think it is generally a good idea - the world of tax declarations, VAT, income taxes, business expenses, etc., requires its own professional expertise.

Best,

Kamen

Well, then, you see this is why this forum is actually very useful. So, what I thought was expensive is actually 50% cheaper than the experience of at least two other forum users. That is good to know. So, I guess I may well stick with my current accountant as he is good

As I am in Spain, we have to do quarterly, rather than only annual, tax declarations.  So, it gets a little complicated.

Actually, I think it is quite unfair that in the UK, freelancers are exempt from paying VAT if they earn less than 50.000 pounds. Should this not be homogenized as an EU thing?

Hi Gen,

 Actually the cuurent VAT threshold here in the UK is £67,000 before you have to register. It was £64K before last April, and I wouldn't be surprised if it went up again in the next financial year given the government's stated aim of doing all they can to help small businesses.

To answer your original question, I haven't had to do a tax return yet as I only registered as self-employed last September (I've got that pleasure to look forward to!) but I'm not planning on using an accountant as I did a business training course last year and they said that for a self-employed (sole trader) it only involves completing one or two pages of the form.

I hope they're right

      Andrew Williams