THE FRIENDLY ACCOUNTANTS Reviews 118

I sent a email asking a couple of questions. Quick response & so friendly. Really thankful.

Friendly to begin with but discovered TFA were not trustworthy accountants with poor tax advice and lots of "additional fees". I would not recommend TFA due to the following facts;

1. Since moving to a new accountant, they have reviewed previous tax returns and seen that we have been over paying tax and poorly advised on our tax set up by TFA. Current accountant is now making the changes for last years return in order for us to get back £5,342 that we have over payed in tax last year (2019-2020) whilst with TFA.

2. Before entering an engagement with TFA I repeated myself multiple times and made it abundantly clear that I needed plenty of support as I was new to accounting. TFA were very responsive and answered all and any questions I had, reassuring me that no question was silly or a problem. I started an engagement with TFA and paid for the All inclusive services which includes "Free unlimited support - free telephone, email, meeting support from TFA". However later TFA increased my fees by £200 from those originally agreed due to "significant amount of advice, correspondence and support" - this was well known prior to the engagement starting and they had profusely reassured me this wouldn't be an issue.

3. I told TFA that I had a student loan. I later received a late payment fine from HMRC for not including student loan in self assessment tax return. TFA said they appealed the fine. Despite my numerous emails to TFA to check that the fine had been fully resolved, after calling HMRC myself I found the fine had not been resolved and was accruing interest. I paid the fine and interest. No apology received from TFA.

4. I decided to close down my company via MVL in 2021 and was invoiced by TFA and paid £312 for accounting strike off/company closure fees. Thankfully I was advised by an independent party that these fees were not applicable to my case and my accountant should not have charged me for this. When i raised this with TFA I received a refund but no apology for advising me incorrectly to pay additional fees.

5. I was told I need to pay £120 +VAT to keep freeagent open for 4 months post year end even though I have been paying for a free agent subscription as part of my monthly fees and the TFA company closure terms stated very clearly that freeagent fees were only applicable if bookeeping was not completed within a month of year end. Mine were completed before year end, so not sure why i was being advised to pay this.

6. TFA asked if I wanted freeagent to be kept open to file my last VAT return, otherwise it could be closed. I was invoiced and paid £72 to keep freeagent open (for 1 month post my company year end) to submit my last VAT return. TFA later advised that I wouldn't be able to submit my VAT return via freeagent, again no apology for incorrectly charging me and instead I was told that I needed to pay these fees for year end accounting purposes. Once again reminded them of their own terms in their company closure/strike off document and was refunded the money. Again no apology for incorrectly charging me additional fees.

7. I asked TFA for some advice on capital gains. I was told it would be an additional £850 + VAT for capital gains tax advice. To check if this fee from TFA was reasonable I called 4 different accounting firms, all of which I have no connection with. 3 gave me the advice for free during a 5-10 minute telephone call, 1 wrote me a detailed email and charged me £79.

8. After receiving this advice I wrote TFA an email and made it very clear what was required. This was noted and no issues, however 2 months later, after freeagent had been closed and capital distribution (less than 13k) had been made TFA sent me an email stating the capital disclosure element of the personal tax return is outside of their usual terms of engagement and I would need to pay additional fees

Cannot recommend enough. TFA were extremely helpful when I was applying for my mortgage and needed my company's (reasonably complex) accounts done in a hurry. Richard has also been very patient in explaining various aspects of taxation to me which I'd previously struggled to get to grips with.

Great personal service and very quick to help out at short notice.
A reliable, professional and friendly service!!

Fantastic team that have helped me with my Cryptocurrency trades over the years. Incredibly helpful and I wouldn't choose anyone else!

Richard, Lesley and the team at TFA are all excellent at what they do. I would highy recommend them. They are quick to reply to any questions you may have, resolve any issues and make it all easy for you to understand. They give you peace of mind knowing that your accounts are being handled by experts in their field. You don't need to look any further than TFA!!

Mr. Richard Baldwyn has been incredibly helpful and immeasurably patient with my eternal and, embarrassing to say, badgering series of questions on the finer points of the UK self employment taxation. He has answered each of my questions without pause, and with great understanding. Sorry for what I've put you through, and thank you all at once.
Without a doubt, the best accountant I've ever had.

I've worked with TFA for 3 years now; they're prompt, detail-oriented and able to deal with all of my last-minute questions around deadline dates with professionalism and friendliness. Would recommend

I was disappointed by my experience with the 'Friendly' Accountants. I signed up with a very specific need to understand international tax laws for the sale of online trainings - which I explained to Richard clearly - both verbally and in writing - before agreeing to sign up. Richard said he could help me. I paid the £150.00 sign up fee and was then rather disappointed with the level of pretty basic advice I was offered (which was no better than my current accountant could have offered and he claims no expertise in international tax law). I asked for a refund of my sign up fee and was knocked back. In short, I signed up because Richard told me he could help me, he wasn't able to deliver, and then he refused to refund my joining fee. Not happy!

As their name suggests, they are friendly and professional accountants, who are always ready to help. Having been one of their clients for the past 2 years I can highly recommend them.

Great accountants, extremely knowledgeable, always helpful and very responsive. I cannot recommend them enough and I find their fees to be very fair and reasonable. I particularly love that you can do everything online, it saves so much time and hassle.

Have used The Friendly Accountants for a couple of years now. Always very pleasant to deal with, understanding, and happy to help. Particularly good if, like me, your annual tax return is a struggle.

I have been a client of TFA for nearly 3 years now. I first discovered them when I was looking for an accountant who would be able (and willing) to handle cryptocurrency taxes. There is a lot of uncertainty when it comes to filing crypto taxes, but the team has taken it in their stride. They have given me clear and confident advice as it relates to crypto for both my personal and limited company taxes.

During the past 3 years, I have had the good fortune to work with the full team. Richard, Lesley, Julia and Claire are all professional, well-informed and, yes, friendly. I get the sense that they know me and my business, which is not something you can take for granted at other companies.

I look forward to working with them for many years to come.

TFA are not only friendly accountants - they are also efficient, helpful, speedy and great at cutting through all the jargon, which for me is really important. I’d recommend them highly.

Truly Friendly Accountants
These guys know what they are talking about, are very approachable and you can always get a 1-2-1 to discuss your case. Richard will always go out of his way to help and answer any questions you may have.
I was very happy with how they handled both my business and personal accounts.

Super professional and super friendly. What more do you want from an Accountant!

Having worked with TFA across several varied accountancy requirements for a number of years now, I thoroughly recommend Richard and the team

The whole TFA team is very skilled, helpful, polite and quick to respond. They understand online businesses and helped me a lot with my Amazon focused eCommerce business. Can't recommend them enough!

Contrary to others experiences. Tfa have been very helpful and are prompt responders. Reviews of accounts are very thorough and good forward planning advice provided

Richard has been super helpful with his blogs and personal emails to ensure I am aware of any issues throughout the year

I have been reading the very useful blogs on their web site for some time. I find them well written, to the point and presented in plain English. So when we had a particular situation and needed some reliable advice, I contacted "The Friendly Accountants". Even though we are not (yet) customers, Richard kindly called back and was very helpful in talking me through the issues. As a direct result we have now been able to come up with a plan of how we will move forward. Thoroughly recommended!

Just excellent service from Richard and his team, always prompt in replying and full of helpful advice, his training blogs are particularly useful. I have also just applied for a new mortgage and his response in preparing the necessary docs for the bank was near enough instantaneous! Believe me using the HMRC website is a total nightmare for these documents and can delay your house purchase badly, just top class service from an excellent accounting team