February 17th, 2013
Horse meat and Accountancy
So, will the horse meat food scandal change customers shopping habits? I’m not sure it will. I think everyone who’s been buying food that costs next to nothing has had a suspicion that they may not want to know the finer details of what they’re actually eating. It’s been a bit of an unwritten contract – we’ll sell you a cheap tasty meal if you ask no questions as to why it’s so cheap.
The same can be said about cheap accountancy services. I often come across accountants websites offering to sort out all your accountancy needs for less than a subscription to Sky Sports. Usually the web sites look great, money-back guarantees are given and the fees are next to nothing. But how can they be so cheap?
The answer usually is that you’re not really paying for an accountant. You’re actually buying a system to help you pull your information together – so you do the work via logging in to a website. Telephone support is provided by unqualified staff looking up the answers on the company intranet. Not that there’s anything wrong with this – but it’s rather like eating horse when you’ve been sold a cheap steak.
So, if you want a high quality accountancy service from a qualified chartered accountant you won’t get it by buying cheap. But you knew that already.
