Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs

Here at Mabe Allen, our expert accountants are often asked a series of questions about accountancy and finance by clients and prospective clients alike. In a bid to help, we’ve presented some of our most commonly asked questions below, together with our specialist answers for your reference. Take a look at the following information as we might be able to help.

Q: How easy is it to change accountants and why should I change?

A: If your existing accountant is offering you an excellent pro-active service at a reasonable fee, then it makes sense to stick with them. However, different accountants will save you varying amounts of tax and provide differing levels of business advice. If your present accountant doesn’t offer the type of service you want and that we do offer, then changing over to us is very easy. It involves just one letter from you and we’ll take care of everything else for you. It’s important to note that your existing accountant is not usually allowed to charge you for providing the normal handover information.

Q: I’ve just had my accounts done and don’t need an accountant until next year, so is there any need to contact you now?

A: We can’t over emphasise the importance of tax planning at an early stage, and not as a last-minute solution which could also be crisis-driven. Ideally, you do tax planning before the year even starts but after that, the earlier you get your tax planning done, the better. The same is applicable to all areas of advice and we’re always pleased to be able to help you change the future instead of simply reporting what has already happened.

Q: Will you come to visit us for an initial consultation?

A: Yes, we’re always happy to visit you for an initial consultation. This is because it often helps us to see and understand your business and your accounts systems, to name a few, and it’s beneficial to witness this first-hand. We’re pleased to continually invest our time without charge to show you what we can do. Alternatively, you’re more than welcome to visit one of our offices, based in Derby, Ilkeston and Ripley, although we’re proud to serve the surrounding areas.

Q: When and how soon can you come to see us?

A:We’re pleased to work around your requirements, so let us know times and dates that are convenient for you and we’ll be happy to make an arrangement. Let us know as soon as possible, together with the service or services you would like us to undertake and we’ll do our utmost to help. If you need to see somebody urgently, we’re always out and about and can arrange to see you in an efficient and timely manner, either in person or online by video conference.

Q: How do you arrive at your fees?

A: We’re not in the business of providing low quotes just to get your business for the first year and then raising the fees. We want you as a long term client who trusts us to do what we say we will do. We quote what we anticipate to be a fair and reasonable fee for the quality of work we endeavour to provide each and every time. We will only anticipate normal inflationary increases if the work stays the same. Very occasionally, there may be reasons as to why the amount of work involved exceeded what was expected, but we will sit down and discuss these with you. In some cases, where it is clear exactly what work is involved, we can guarantee the fee for more than one year.