When contracting, it’s important to find an accountancy firm that has the knowledge and experience you deserve. With so many accountancy firms on the market from specialised to high street, it may seem overwhelming when trying to come to a decision.
After all it’s a big decision, the result has huge effects on you and your contracting career. You need the right accountancy for the job and it’s best to do a little research into the differences between specialised contractor accountants and high street.
Brookson shine a light on this issue, bringing you an insight into the differences between specialist and high street accountants.
Expertise
Whether you work within Engineering, IT or other industries and sectors, you want an accountant that knows it, inside and out. This is where specialised and high street differ greatly. Specialised contractor accountants specialise in specific industries and sectors and have expert knowledge in those fields.
If you’re a contractor or considering working this way, they’ll be able to offer you knowledge and advice that specifically affect you. High street accountants are usually general practices that with a broad range of knowledge across a lot of areas, but rarely specialise in the contractor market. This may be okay for a small retailer, sole trader or start-up business handling stock, but when it comes to managing your finances, it’s extremely important you get it right.
You need an accountant that has full knowledge on legislation such as IR35 and MSC (Managed Service Companies), specialist contractor accountants will be able to watch out so you don’t incur financial penalties from ignoring them. In the eyes of HMRC, you’re responsible for your own paperwork being filed on time, blaming your accountants is not a valid excuse and you’ll end up paying the price.
Flexibility
In the fast-moving environment of contracting, with jobs and clients not set in stone you need an accountant that’s able to react and adapt whenever you need.
Specialised contractor accountants such as Brookson, often have comprehensive accountancy portals, allowing you to fully manage your accounts on the fly. Giving you much more control over your accounts and your life as a result. High street accountants rarely have this flexibility and accessibility on offer, often giving you monthly or end of year updates, giving you less time to adapt to unexpected tax bills. The choice is clear in this area, specialist contractor accountants give you, the contractor, greater control on the move, on a multitude of devices.
When choosing an accountant, you need to be sure that you’re being offered everything that’s available to you. Whether you need to work as a Limited Company or under an Umbrella, the choice needs to be on the table.
Specialised contractor accountants offer a wide choice of options when it comes to deciding how you’d like to operate while you work, giving you the best advice according to your specific working needs. Whether it’s Limited Company or Umbrella, specialist contractor accountants have the experience to know which is best. High street accountants often follow very traditional structures and are often unlikely to advice Umbrella solutions even when this may be the best option for you.
Don’t be forced down a path that may affect you and your contracting career in the future when the end of the tax year comes around.