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My accountant won't support FreeAgent
I use SJD Accountancy and they require me to complete a spreadsheet with my income and expenditure in their proprietary format. I then submit the spreadsheet to them quarterly.
They will only accept their spreadsheet and do not want to support FreeAgent.
I'm just coming up to the end of my free trial and would like to subscribe, but need an accountant who will accept me using FreeAgent as the primary means of keeping my accounts. Are there any recommended firms who are FreeAgent friendly?
They will only accept their spreadsheet and do not want to support FreeAgent.
I'm just coming up to the end of my free trial and would like to subscribe, but need an accountant who will accept me using FreeAgent as the primary means of keeping my accounts. Are there any recommended firms who are FreeAgent friendly?
I’m frustrated
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Netta,
The XML and XLS export produces a file which contains all the data in FreeAgent for your company. It's not really a format to give directly to an accountant, more for your own backup or if you want to leave us ;-<
However what your accountant does need is what's called a Trial Balance - a complete list of transactions, by nominal account, for a given accounting year. It's this that they use to construct a Profit and Loss Account and a Balance Sheet for your annual accounts.
At the moment you can export the Trial Balance as a CSV file which is in exactly the format that Digita Accounts Pro uses. We have plans for Viztopia and Iris, and we could build an exporter specifically for Sage if that was required (sounds like it is) and Sage can't handle the same file (which I'm not sure whether or not it can).
If your accountant gets in touch, maybe supplies an example file for us, there's no reason why we can't have a Sage export facility too.
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Russell - we have two FreeAgent subscribers who are indeed SJD Clients, with their London and Scotland offices. They've agreed locally with their account managers to use FreeAgent - and in fact when we spoke to the man himself (Simon Dolan) he was pretty OK about his other existing clients doing that too.
In many ways, it makes their lives easier - they don't need your spreadsheet quarterly because FreeAgent works out the VAT for you. They just need the Trial Balance at the end of the year and that's dead easy to export too.
Could you put me in touch with your SJD contact and I'll follow up? I'm sure they wouldn't want to lose you over this, but as Dennis and Steve imply we are starting to build a list of accountants who are more than happy to have you on board instead.
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Inappropriate?We met with SJD. They didn't think it gave them any advantage over what they already have. But then they didn't speak to clients. Did they? I can recommend Stuart Jones who turns up here to help on creaky tax questions. Email me: dahowlett [at] gmil [dot] com and I'll pass on the details.
I’m happy to help on this one
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Inappropriate?FreeAgent can be imported easily into Digita's systems, used by 1,000's of accountants in the UK and Australia. We also use FreeAgent ourselves, and are Digita's approved resellers, so if you would like an introduction to an accountant near you that uses Digita to facilitate an easy import into the accountants Digita system, please contact me. steve@3-soft.co.uk
I’m happy
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Inappropriate?Russell - we have two FreeAgent subscribers who are indeed SJD Clients, with their London and Scotland offices. They've agreed locally with their account managers to use FreeAgent - and in fact when we spoke to the man himself (Simon Dolan) he was pretty OK about his other existing clients doing that too.
In many ways, it makes their lives easier - they don't need your spreadsheet quarterly because FreeAgent works out the VAT for you. They just need the Trial Balance at the end of the year and that's dead easy to export too.
Could you put me in touch with your SJD contact and I'll follow up? I'm sure they wouldn't want to lose you over this, but as Dennis and Steve imply we are starting to build a list of accountants who are more than happy to have you on board instead.
The company says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?Hi Chaps,
Can you list which accounting packages you can export to (or are working on)? I can see xml and excel on the exports page but no indication of any others. My accountant uses Sage if that's any help. -
Inappropriate?Netta,
The XML and XLS export produces a file which contains all the data in FreeAgent for your company. It's not really a format to give directly to an accountant, more for your own backup or if you want to leave us ;-<
However what your accountant does need is what's called a Trial Balance - a complete list of transactions, by nominal account, for a given accounting year. It's this that they use to construct a Profit and Loss Account and a Balance Sheet for your annual accounts.
At the moment you can export the Trial Balance as a CSV file which is in exactly the format that Digita Accounts Pro uses. We have plans for Viztopia and Iris, and we could build an exporter specifically for Sage if that was required (sounds like it is) and Sage can't handle the same file (which I'm not sure whether or not it can).
If your accountant gets in touch, maybe supplies an example file for us, there's no reason why we can't have a Sage export facility too.
The company says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?Thanks Ed for the sooper speedy response. I'll let my accountant take a look at the product as is and see if they can work with it. If not, I'll ask her to get in touch.
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Inappropriate?sorry, but I gotta pass comment on this. albeit not constructive by any means ..... it sounds like you are working for your accountants and not the other way around!! Who's the client?!? I would tell them that that is the format that they will receive the accounting info!
I’m frustrated!
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Inappropriate?@Gav32 - you raise an interesting point. For too long, the accountant/client relationship has been skewed in favour of the professional, sometimes to the detriment of the client. Hence the initial comment re: SJD.
Here at FreeAgent, while we absolutely embrace the professional community, we do believe that your data is yours and provided it is made available in a format that most professional solutions can read then we've done our job.
Although this may be too much detail, it is a matter of fact that defaulting ot a CSV file achieves that purpose.
To be 100% clear - no-one is saying that a particular firm is good or bad but that in some circumstances, the relationship needs review.
I’m confident
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Inappropriate?@Gav - I'm with you, and you've pretty much summed up the raison-d'etre of FreeAgent.
Let's see how things look this time next year ;=>
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Inappropriate?I have requested that my accountant support this service too. I am sick of speadsheets and I find it much easier to keep track of expenses and bank transactions using FreeAgent. If there is an accountant out there who will support this service, I would gladly switch! -
Inappropriate?Here's the good news - SJD DOES support FreeAgent output which is something I didn't know when I first weighed in on this one (yes - you're a dummy Howlett) so that one's cleared up and good news for SJD customers.
I’m happy for customers but still feeling like a dope
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Inappropriate?We are more than happy to work with FreeAgent. Unlike the vast majority of accountants (so it seems) we don't want to do bookkeeping. Our skills lie elsewhere - tax planning and tax compliance work and financial planning.
Please contact me if you would like to discuss this in more detail
stuart@3ca.co.uk
01539 721002 (office)
07866 800721 (mobile)
Everyone seems to be plugging SJD Accountancy here. Ed am I allowed to say why we are different?
I’m happy despite it being January
EMPLOYEE
