Most people stay with an accountant they've outgrown far too long, for one reason: they assume switching is a nightmare. It isn't. Nearly all of it happens in the background, and you do almost nothing.
You can switch any time
There's no rule that you have to wait for your year-end. You can move mid-year, mid-quarter, whenever. If you join us partway through your accounting year, we cover it — there's a one-off catch-up fee for the months already gone, confirmed with you before you pay anything, and then that year's accounts are fully included.
What actually happens
Once you subscribe and we've done the standard identity checks, we write to your old accountant for professional clearance and to request your records. This is routine — accountants do it constantly, and there's an established etiquette to it. We register as your agent with HMRC and collect what we need. From that point, HMRC's letters come to us, not you.
What you do
Approve us as your agent, forward anything that lands in the meantime, and complete a short onboarding form once. That's essentially it. The handover of records, the clearance letter, the HMRC registration — that's our side.
The only thing to check
Make sure you're not mid-way through something time-critical with your current accountant — a return due next week, say — and if you are, tell us so we can sequence the move around it. Otherwise, there's rarely a bad time to switch. The best time is usually the moment you realise you should have already.