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You wouldn’t be happy being asked to pay more in a restaurant for a well-done steak because it takes the chef longer to cook than a rare one, would you?
It’s why we decided to call time on one of the oldest, and arguably strangest, traditions in the professions by removing the last traces of time-based billing. What we do is give a fixed price (based on your unique circumstances and what you want). That way you can budget and plan. You know with certainty what it is going to cost.
He added: “Our customers were telling us that they wanted us to replace time-based billing – which has the bizarre potential for rewarding accountants for being slow – with a system of fixed prices, agreed in advance, that gives us an incentive to be more efficient and timely in everything we do. So that is exactly what we have done”.
How We Price Your Year End Accounts: A Transparent Guide to Annual Financial Statements at Together We Count
The honest conversation most accountants avoid
Let’s be straight with you from the start. When you ask an accountant “how much will my year end accounts cost?” you usually get one of three answers. A vague “it depends.” A round number plucked from thin air. Or a quote that turns into a much bigger invoice once the work actually begins.
In my eyes, none of those are good enough. You run a plumbing and heating business, or you’re the director of a limited company in another trade or profession, and you need to know what you’re paying, why you’re paying it, and exactly what you’re getting in return. No surprises. No padded bills. No vague promises.
So this article is going to walk you through, in proper detail, how Together We Count prices your annual financial statements and year end accounts. We’ll cover the variables we look at, the three packages we offer, and why every single quote we produce is calculated specifically for your business and no one else’s.
Let’s dive in.
What are year end accounts and why do they matter?
Before we get into pricing, let’s quickly cover what we’re actually talking about. Year end accounts, also called annual financial statements or statutory accounts, are the formal record of your company’s financial year. For a limited company, they include the profit and loss statement, the balance sheet, the directors’ report (where required), notes to the accounts, and the corporation tax computation that goes alongside them.
They are filed with Companies House and HMRC. They show your turnover, your profit, your assets, your liabilities, and your tax position. They’re a legal requirement if you trade as a limited company, and they’re the foundation of every meaningful financial decision you make in the year ahead.
Get them right and they become a tool. A way to plan your tax, understand your business, secure finance, attract investment, and sleep at night knowing you’re compliant. Get them wrong and they become a liability. Late filing penalties, HMRC enquiries, missed tax planning opportunities, and figures that don’t actually tell you anything useful.
So the question isn’t really “how much should I pay for year end accounts?” The real question is “what am I actually getting for my money, and is it the right level of service for my business?”
Let me explain how we approach that.
Our pricing philosophy: fixed fees, individually calculated
Together We Count does not charge by the hour. We never have. Hourly billing rewards slow accountants and punishes efficient ones, and it leaves you, the business owner, with no idea what your final bill is going to be until it lands in your inbox.
Instead, we use value based, fixed fee pricing. Every client gets a bespoke quote calculated specifically for their business. You agree the price up front. You know exactly what’s included. And you pay in monthly or instalment payments rather than one big annual lump sum, so the cost is spread and predictable rather than a yearly shock.
Consider this for a moment. If two builders quoted you for the same extension, one giving you a fixed price for the whole job and the other saying “I’ll let you know what it costs when I’m finished,” which would you go with? It’s the same with accounting. Fixed fees protect you. They protect us too. And they force us to be efficient, accurate, and clear about the scope of what we’re doing.
To make sure those fixed fees are fair, we use a structured pricing system that walks through your specific circumstances and calculates a price tailored to your business. No two quotes are the same, because no two businesses are the same.
What goes into the price? The variables we consider
Here’s where most accountants get vague. We’re going to be specific. When we sit down to price your year end accounts, here are the things we look at, in plain English.
Your turnover
Annual sales is one of the biggest drivers of price. A business turning over £40,000 a year is a very different beast from one turning over £2 million. Higher turnover usually means more transactions, more complexity, and more compliance work. We band turnover into ranges, from under £50,000 right up to over £5 million, and the band you fall into directly affects the calculation.
Your trading entity
Are you a sole trader? A general partnership? A limited liability partnership? A limited company? A micro entity limited company? Each one has different filing obligations, different reporting standards, and different levels of complexity. A micro entity limited company, for example, qualifies for simplified accounts and is priced lower than a full limited company that has to prepare full statutory accounts.
Your business sector
We work with a lot of different sectors, and each one carries its own profile. Plumbing and heating businesses with low transaction volumes are priced differently from busy retail operations or hospitality businesses. Construction businesses with CIS obligations are different again. Lawyers, medical professionals, property businesses, manufacturers, tech companies, hair and beauty salons — they all have their own quirks. Sector matters because it tells us how much work is actually involved.
Your accounting system
If you’re on Xero or QuickBooks Online, your books are likely to be cleaner, more reconciled, and quicker for us to work with. If you’re keeping records in Excel or, heaven forbid, in a shoebox, we’re going to need to do significantly more work before we can even start preparing your accounts. The software you use directly affects the price.
Your VAT registration
VAT registered businesses have additional compliance work woven through their year end accounts. The VAT figures need reconciling, the year end VAT position needs checking, and any anomalies need investigating. If you’re VAT registered, the price reflects that.
The quality of your records
This is a big one, and it’s worth being honest about. Our system has a scale that runs from “no real system, missing documents, significant work needed” all the way through to “everything in order, categorised correctly, reconciled and ready to go, a genuine pleasure to work with.” Where you sit on that scale has a real impact on the price.
If your books are immaculate, the quote will be lower. If they’re a mess, the quote will be more. That’s not a punishment, it’s just maths. We have to do more work to fix poor records before we can prepare accurate accounts, and that work has a cost.
The good news? If we did your bookkeeping during the year, your records are by definition in order, and we apply a discount to your year end accounts to reflect that. It’s one of the reasons clients who use our Virtual Financial Management bookkeeping service get better value overall.
Bookkeeping complexity
Beyond the general quality of records, there are specific complexity factors that we look at:
Every one of these adds either time or technical complexity to the work. The more of them that apply to you, the more thorough our preparation needs to be.
Why this matters: the bigger picture
Note that the way we price isn’t just about being fair on the day you receive your quote. It’s about what it tells you about the firm you’re working with.
A firm that prices using a structured, variable-driven, fixed-fee methodology is a firm that has thought hard about its own business. It’s a firm that understands what drives cost, what drives value, and what drives the relationship between the two. And, in my eyes, that’s exactly the kind of firm you want preparing your year end accounts.
Compare that to the alternative. A firm that gives you a vague hourly rate, sends you an invoice that’s bigger than expected, and then can’t tell you what you actually paid for. Would you trust that firm with your year end tax planning? With your corporation tax position? With the strategic decisions you’re going to make next year based on the numbers they prepare?
I wouldn’t.
Frequently asked questions
How much will my year end accounts actually cost?
It depends on your specific circumstances, which is the honest answer. For a small limited company with low turnover, clean cloud-based bookkeeping, and straightforward affairs, Essential Accounting starts from around £650 plus VAT per year and Full Accounting from around £900 plus VAT. For larger or more complex businesses, prices increase based on the variables covered above. Get in touch and we’ll produce a bespoke quote for you, properly calculated, with no obligation.
Are your fees tax deductible?
Yes. Accountancy fees for the preparation of your business accounts and tax returns are an allowable business expense, which means in effect HMRC is paying a proportion of the cost through reduced corporation tax. It’s one of the reasons we frame the fee as a small monthly investment rather than an annual cost.
Will my price change if my business changes?
No. We quote after your year end has passed, which means we are pricing for a historic period that is already complete. The figures, the complexity, and the scope of work are all fixed by the time we put a price together. So once you’ve agreed the quote, that’s the price. No mid-year recalculations, no surprise increases, no shifting goalposts. What we quote is what you pay.
Do I have to commit for a long period?
No. Our fixed fee agreements run alongside your accounting year. You can move between packages, scale up, scale down, or end the engagement when your year is finished. We earn your business every year, not just on the day you sign up.
What’s the difference between you and a cheaper online accountant?
Quite a lot, frankly. Cheaper online accountants typically run on volume, automation, and minimal human contact. That works for some businesses. We work differently. We specialise in plumbing and heating businesses (and a handful of other sectors), our team is fully remote and international but properly qualified, and the relationship between you and your accountant is the heart of what we do. You’re not a ticket in a queue.
How do I get a quote?
Get in touch. We’ll book a short, no-pressure conversation, walk through your specific circumstances, and produce a properly calculated fixed price quote within a few working days. If it’s right for you, brilliant. If it’s not, that’s fine too. No hard sell.
Ready to talk?
If you’ve read this far, you’re clearly serious about getting your year end accounts handled properly. That’s a good start.
The next step is a conversation. Tell us about your business, your current setup, and what you actually need from your accountant. We’ll listen, ask the right questions, and produce a transparent fixed price quote for you to consider.
You can call us on 0114 4000 119, email info@togetherwecount.co.uk, or use the contact form on our website. We’ll take it from there.
Together We Count. Specialist accountants for plumbing and heating businesses. Honest pricing. Fixed fees. Real relationships.
Aaron McLeish is the Managing Director of Together We Count Limited, a Sheffield-based accountancy firm specialising in plumbing and heating businesses across the UK. He is the author of The Systems Handbook and The Quote Handbook, both available on Amazon.
