How to switch accountants (and why the fear is the only hard part)

Most business owners are more loyal to their accountant than their accountant deserves. If you have thought about moving but never quite done it, this is what the switch actually involves, and why the fear is the only difficult part.

The signs it is time

• Emails answered in weeks, or answered with an invoice
• You find out about deadlines from HMRC letters, not from your accountant
• The only contact all year is in January
• Surprise bills for questions you thought were included
• Advice that describes what happened instead of shaping what happens next

One of these is irritating. Two or more means you are paying professional fees for administrative filing, and the difference between those two services compounds every year.

What actually happens when you switch

You sign one authorisation. Your new accountant sends your old one a standard professional clearance letter, a courtesy exchanged between firms every week. Records transfer, HMRC authorisations move across, software is set up, and every deadline is checked to confirm it has an owner. A competent firm completes the whole handover inside two weeks, and the switch itself should cost you nothing.

The three fears, answered

• “My accountant will be offended.” They will send a polite letter and your files. This happens constantly; it is business, not a break-up.
• “Something will get missed.” The incoming firm lists and verifies every filing before anything changes. In practice, switches usually catch problems the old firm left behind.
• “It is a bad time of year.” There is no bad time. Mid-year switches are routine, and waiting for a quiet moment costs another year of the same service.

Make the comparison honestly

Before you decide anything, get a real comparison: our instant quote tool shows your fixed monthly fee in 60 seconds, and the switching page shows exactly how the handover works. If your current accountant is genuinely good, stay: loyalty to a good adviser is worth money. If they are not, one email fixes it, and we will send it for you.