I use this crew - basically solely because they are the biggest in their field and I want maximum arse coverage at all times:
Might be overkill depending on what your specific needs are however…
self assessment in particular. thanks, will take a look
Is it self-assessment that is too complex to do yourself? Most SA is fairly straightforward unless you have multiple income streams or unusual/one-off items.
[Says the chartered accountant who can’t be bothered to do his own accounts so employs an accountant to do it for him…]
I have a PhD in economics but basic accountancy eludes me as well! I’m also pretty lazy when it comes to personal finance and really need to get things in order.
without going too much into the weeds, I’m a high earner and receive quite large bonuses for my job which causes havoc with my tax codes. I ended up with a £5k tax bill as a surprise and would like to avoid that in future, plus could do with some more generic personal savings/investment advice too.
I would probably err towards a local firm in that case, one that does accounting and also independent financial advice services. If you can’t get a local recommendation from your network, you can search for chartered accountancy firms here:
Alright Kwasi Kwarteng 
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Hello, fellow soloists.
Has anyone got things in place for what might happen with their business if they get incapacitated/shuffle off this mortal coil? For example, login details for business bank accounts, client contacts, etc.
I need to put this in place because me getting hit by a bus would leave my clients without legal representation. I have a regulatory fallback for this, but I’d prefer to securely arrange something that a few people could access in case of emergencies so they can get into everything that’s needed to keep things ticking over until a different, less dead, legal representative can be appointed.
No, and this is something that I do actually think about several times a year. Not done anything about it obviously…
anyone gone from sole trader to ltd company in the last year or so/post-covid? could use some advice if so. ta!
I would also like to piggyback on Eric’s question with the same question ta
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obviously a lot of ltd people got fucked over covid support but even aside from that it feels like there are less incentives now, or the margins are finer and not worth the hassle or something idk. weird finance GO AWAY
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Yeah I was tolf there was no point in becoming a ltd company when I went freelance, but now I’m working with my wife and I think it makes more sense for us to both be directors of the one company – I think. Also to pitch for certain types of work. but the financial structure/bookkeeping part of it confuses me so much (also I’d quite like to understand if my personal debt/tax payments affect the business finance but I’m too scared to ask a professional).
oh yeah that’s basically what my accountant said to me actually, there’s no point if there’s just me but more incentive if there were multiple people or you had employees. basically you’ll have to charge VAT and do quarterly returns, so in theory you’ll pay slightly less tax but have to pay for more accounts anyway 
Yeah, if you’re providing a service rather than selling goods (and turning over under £85k annually) it’s almost never worth becoming VAT-registered as bar quarters you make big one-off purchases you’ll almost never reclaim enough VAT.
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