What makes a good London Accountant?

In a city where accountants are in abundance, how do you know what makes a good London accountant and what makes a bad one?

For us, it starts with competence, trust and treating every client as equally important. It's also recognising that a good accountant is a good business advisor, not just good with numbers.

A good accountant should help you grow your business not just crunch the numbers

Nearly all accountants will help you prepare your statutory accounts, but surprisingly few will help you grow your business. And the reality is that small business owners don’t get any value from the paperwork that goes off to HMRC or Companies House. So unless your accountant is prepared to pitch in, help you interpret your numbers and plan for growth, then all you’ll be getting is basic commercial compliance.

Big firm or small?

The biggest accounting firms will charge a lot more and their main target audience and client is companies worth hundreds of millions, so there’s a risk that’ll you end up not being a very important client for them.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are self-employed accountants who offer accounting services from their front room. They’re cheap, might be qualified and are sometimes OK. But our advice would be to look for a firm like us who wants your business and also have a team with genuine experience in a multi-disciplinary set of services. Help with business plans, commercial analysis and basic legal work will be valuable to a new or growing business in London.

Do you need a local accountant?

London is a big city, but transport links are good. Choosing an accountant by their proximity isn’t always the best plan if you want an accountant who can help analyse and grow your business. A good relationship with a hands-on, responsive accountant will make your journey more fruitful and prepare you better for the future. And even better if they will travel to you.

Can your accountant relate to your business and are they genuinely interested?

A recommendation for an accountant is always good but if you’re a singer with erratic paychecks and your recommendation comes from a trades person with regular income operating a limited company then you could be looking for different advice.

Accountants who specialise in certain industries tend to be able to offer better commercial advice, so do your research and make sure you choose an accountant who has an understanding of what you do.

Why do we think we are the most interesting accounting firm in London?

At Accounts and Legal, our team of accountants are qualified and our Business Consultants are seasoned entrepreneurs. That means we can support small business owners through all aspect of growing and managing their business.

We can help you write your business plan, raise finance when you need it and analyse your accounts to help plan for growth. We have a hands-on approach and like to keep in touch to ensure you get the most from our services. We're also at the forefront of then new breed of small business online accountant ensuring that clients get the best and best value software available for making compliance easier.

If you’re looking for an amazing accountant in North London then we would love to help. Drop into our London head office or use our instant accounting quote tool to see how we compare in the market.