Last Tuesday, October 11, I was contacted by a local business owner who was looking for an accountant, but he only wanted a cheap one. He didn’t want to pay too much because he told me he could prepare the accounts for his company and submit the corporation tax returns himself, he just didn’t have the time! He wasn’t interested in expensive accountants (he had been quoted £900 by an unnamed firm) and wanted a cheap job.

Despite his attitude, I did listen to him and it turned out that he had six days to submit his accounts to Companies House. I said we would do it and we would guarantee to submit the accounts before the deadline otherwise we wouldn’t charge him and quoted a fee which was considerably less than £900. He said he would contact me the next day but I didn’t hear from him.

I can only presume he found a “cheap accountant”. Sadly they didn’t submit the accounts on time!

The company’s penalty notice from Companies House, demanding £150, will arrive in the next few days. The cheap accountant he was looking for is starting to look quite expensive.