Another one really dismayed by this announcement, although with hindsight it's been obvious for a few months that their eye has been off the ball. We've found a few bugs recently which took them months and months of nagging to fix, whereas in the early days they'd have had it done within 24 hours.
I guess growing pains are inevitable, and I'm sure that selling out to the highest bidder was always part of the plan - that'll be partly why the costs were so low as it ensured they got lots of firms on their books to make them look more attractive. It's just a shame they chose IRIS as their suitor.
We find QF brilliant for the smallest clients; we've been using it for 3 years and no hint of attempts at client poaching yet.
It's weakness is in reporting, which doesn't compare with Xero, but in most other respects it's incredibly user-friendly and efficient to use. I particularly love the ability to bulk-move transactions the client has mis-posted!
@chatman, Oh, yes, you could be right; sorry, my mistake. Brightpay is one we are considering because of the AE functionality, but we've looked at so many I have probably got my little head somewhat confused!! I am leaving the final decision to my wonderful payroll lady in any case ;-)
Moneysoft for payroll, although we may be switching to a cloud-based system like Brightpay.
I also think that it is key to consider whether you are going to run a server. We don't, which means that any software we use has to be either cloud based or happy to run via dropbox. On the other hand we don't need to pay for any IT support and don't have any other server-related issues.
Another one changed from taxcalc after price rises, database issues and also because we wanted to be cloud based. It doesn't lead you by the hand quite as much as taxcalc but generally we're really pleased and the support / suggestions response is great too.
In the same position as the OP but all the clients want local...
Anyone looking for leads to small SE / subbies / personal tax return only work in South Oxon / West Berks? I have really struggled to find anyone round here who wants them and like the OP we currently have to turn them away.
Client, phone message: "I need you to phone me, urgently - I'm going to start a Directors Current Account with my company - I can pay myself tax free that way and I can have one as well as the Director's Loan account I already have - why haven't you told me this before??!"
Me: by email, so as to have a trail in writing with this particular client: "I'm afraid a Director's Current Account is just another name for a Director's Loan Account - accountants tend to use the two interchangeably".
Later, in the inevitable follow up phonecall
Client "But it can't be the same - a current account isn't a loan you see. So it can't have any of that Director's LOAN charge business........"
conversation goes on for a good few more minutes...
Client "So, if I only need £30k, that'll be OK on a Director's Current account, won't it? They won't think that's a loan?"
Another one with a happy client having used them - he got £30k the first time and about £25k the second time round I think. Interest rates worked out about 8 - 9%.
I agree; at face value it appears to be clear, but
I'm hoping that, as you say John, they don't mean what they say! There is no mention of "registered auditor", and no requirement anywhere to complete any audit registration numbers etc.
Sadly, however, ICAS are fairly useless on anything like that so I was hoping to find a firm which had already been through the process and had their report accepted.
If all else fails we'll just have to try it and see if it is rejected, but I'd rather help the client plan ahead first.
My answers
Another one really dismayed by this announcement, although with hindsight it's been obvious for a few months that their eye has been off the ball. We've found a few bugs recently which took them months and months of nagging to fix, whereas in the early days they'd have had it done within 24 hours.
I guess growing pains are inevitable, and I'm sure that selling out to the highest bidder was always part of the plan - that'll be partly why the costs were so low as it ensured they got lots of firms on their books to make them look more attractive. It's just a shame they chose IRIS as their suitor.
We find QF brilliant for the smallest clients; we've been using it for 3 years and no hint of attempts at client poaching yet.
It's weakness is in reporting, which doesn't compare with Xero, but in most other respects it's incredibly user-friendly and efficient to use. I particularly love the ability to bulk-move transactions the client has mis-posted!
Toggl is free for teams of up to 5 people, v v easy to use and has brilliant reporting.
@chatman, Oh, yes, you could be right; sorry, my mistake. Brightpay is one we are considering because of the AE functionality, but we've looked at so many I have probably got my little head somewhat confused!! I am leaving the final decision to my wonderful payroll lady in any case ;-)
VT for accounts
VT for accounts
Taxfiler for tax
Moneysoft for payroll, although we may be switching to a cloud-based system like Brightpay.
I also think that it is key to consider whether you are going to run a server. We don't, which means that any software we use has to be either cloud based or happy to run via dropbox. On the other hand we don't need to pay for any IT support and don't have any other server-related issues.
Taxfiler
Another one changed from taxcalc after price rises, database issues and also because we wanted to be cloud based. It doesn't lead you by the hand quite as much as taxcalc but generally we're really pleased and the support / suggestions response is great too.
In the same position as the OP but all the clients want local...
Anyone looking for leads to small SE / subbies / personal tax return only work in South Oxon / West Berks? I have really struggled to find anyone round here who wants them and like the OP we currently have to turn them away.
Director's Loan account is NOT the same as...
A Director's Current account:
Client, phone message: "I need you to phone me, urgently - I'm going to start a Directors Current Account with my company - I can pay myself tax free that way and I can have one as well as the Director's Loan account I already have - why haven't you told me this before??!"
Me: by email, so as to have a trail in writing with this particular client: "I'm afraid a Director's Current Account is just another name for a Director's Loan Account - accountants tend to use the two interchangeably".
Later, in the inevitable follow up phonecall
Client "But it can't be the same - a current account isn't a loan you see. So it can't have any of that Director's LOAN charge business........"
conversation goes on for a good few more minutes...
Client "So, if I only need £30k, that'll be OK on a Director's Current account, won't it? They won't think that's a loan?"
Funding circle
Another one with a happy client having used them - he got £30k the first time and about £25k the second time round I think. Interest rates worked out about 8 - 9%.
I agree; at face value it appears to be clear, but
I'm hoping that, as you say John, they don't mean what they say! There is no mention of "registered auditor", and no requirement anywhere to complete any audit registration numbers etc.
Sadly, however, ICAS are fairly useless on anything like that so I was hoping to find a firm which had already been through the process and had their report accepted.
If all else fails we'll just have to try it and see if it is rejected, but I'd rather help the client plan ahead first.