Hello
What would you say is reasonable to charge for the preparation of accounts and submission to Co. House for a Flat Management Co. consisting of 4 x newly built flats??
I will admit, this is a new one for me.
Many thanks for your time.
Replies (11)
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Steep learning curve
Hi - If you are new to Flat (Residents) Management Companies then have a look at this recent discussion to get an understanding of why things are a little up in the air on this topic at the moment. In addition this gives more detail of the recent UITF release.
So whilst the accounts may be easy there's potentially a lot going on behind the scenes and it's important you get a copy of the 4 leases (or 1 if they are all the same) as this will determine whether you have to prepare service charge accounts as well as the company accounts.
As well as the technical issues, many on this site will tell you not to touch FMCs with a barge pole because, getting a group of disparate individuals (or couples) to agree to something is not worth the hassle. It's important therefore to have someone who lives there to do the books and arrange agreement to accounts & queries, ie don't get involved with them as a group.
With the last small block I dealt with, I had no hassle and it was all neat & tidy and I charged them £400 ish pa, then my main contact moved and I quoted them £1,000 in anticipation of the mess. If you're still interested then work out what your normal fee would be and add 30%-50%.
null quote
I wouldn't quote as I steer clear of them. Totally endorse Paul's points. Only be prepared to take it on if you are looking to have several/many of them, as you will need to learn stuff that will be of no use to you with your more mainstream clients.
Rules is rules!
As we are both accountants and communal property managers, we know the rules. They aren't that complicated, but its important that the owners company and service charge bank accounts are set up properly, following Court of Appeal guidelines.
If you need any call, just ask.
Service charge Accounts
I agree that, in order to be involved in Service charge Accounts, you really need to be a specialist in this area as it is very different from a mainstream sole trader or limited company. I deal with 50+ service charges, mainly through managing agents. Location is not usually an issue as we tend to do most of our communication electronically. If they are able to communicate electronically, I would be more than happy to help...(from the south east)
£300 +vat
well unless the lease says it needs an audit
its easy do some service charge accounts and bang some ''empty'' accounts into co hse
We do lots and lots and lots and some have over 500 flats and some have 3 ...when the templates set up...no problems