First year maximum fees guarantee

In order to give a level of certainty to new businesses - and continuity to existing businesses changing accountants - we operate a policy that guarantees a maximum level of charges for the first year's accountancy services.

What those charges cover and over what period will obviously vary between different types and sizes of clients, but will be explained fully in the email that follows up our initial free meeting or emails. Remember that there is no obligation to engage us either at the meeting or by receiving the email - which means you can make a non-pressure decision in your own time.

Note that this is a maximum charges policy, not a fixed-price policy. Consistent with our general charging policy, we charge for what we do based on the time taken to do it. If, in the first year, the time taken is less than for the maximum quoted, we will charge the lower amount. Accountants offering a fixed charge will not do this.

At the end of the first year, we will have a good idea of how much time the work will take us in future years and, crucially, we will be able to advise of any changes you can make to your own systems in order to minimise our time and hence our charges; we will provide estimates of our future costs as per our standard terms but you will still not be obliged to engage our services.

We believe in an open and fair market where it is up to us to give you the best service at the fairest price. We won't necessarily be the lowest-price accountants for your work, but we will try our hardest to offer best value by providing high-quality, clearly-explained services to match your requirements.

After all, it is in our interests to provide services at a price that means you will stay with us for many years.