How to choose an accountant

Accountants vary a great deal in what they do day to day, so a clear list of your needs makes every later step easier. Before you contact anyone, note down:

• how you earn your money, for example as a sole trader, a landlord, a company director or a mix
• the returns you file now, such as self assessment, VAT returns, payroll or company accounts
• anything coming up, such as selling a property, taking on staff or joining Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• how you keep records at the moment, and whether you want help with bookkeeping
• how much contact you want during the year, from a single annual meeting to regular check-ins

If you are unsure what an accountant would do with that list, our guide to what an accountant does is a useful starting point.

This is the one check that applies to every firm. Under the Money Laundering Regulations, accountancy service providers, including auditors, accountants, tax advisers and payroll agents, must register with HMRC unless a professional body supervises them, and GOV.UK says trading while not registered is a criminal offence.

There are two ways to check. HMRC publishes a searchable register of the businesses it supervises, showing details such as the registration number, business name, trading name and the date supervision began. Only businesses registered with HMRC appear on it, so a firm supervised by a professional body will not be listed there. HMRC names the professional bodies that supervise accountants, which include the Association of Accounting Technicians, ACCA, the Chartered Institute of Taxation, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland and the Institute of Financial Accountants, among others. If a firm tells you a body supervises it, you can ask which one and check with that body.

The title accountant is not protected by UK law, so it tells you nothing on its own about training or oversight. Chartered accountant is a reserved title: it is held under the Royal Charters and rules of the chartered institutes for their members, with ICAEW members using ACA or FCA and ICAS members using CA.

Other bodies have their own membership grades and directories. AAT, for example, says its licensed members offer accounting and bookkeeping services, and publishes a directory so the public can confirm someone's status. Membership of a body also matters if something goes wrong, because the body may be able to look into a complaint about a member's conduct.

For everyday tax work, membership is a sign of oversight rather than a legal requirement, so weigh it alongside the other points here.

Fees vary widely, and quotes are only comparable when they cover the same work. Ask each firm to set out in writing exactly what the fee includes, such as accounts, the tax return, VAT returns, payroll or Making Tax Digital quarterly updates, and what would cost extra. Check whether the figure includes VAT, which is charged at 20% on most services. If you are within Making Tax Digital, or will be from April 2027 or April 2028, ask which compatible software the firm uses and whether its cost is included. Our guide to how much an accountant costs explains what pushes fees up or down, and the fee estimator gives a rough starting point.

Two firms offering the same scope at a similar price can still feel very different to deal with. It helps to find out who will actually prepare your work, how you will send records, and how quickly you can expect a reply in the busy weeks before 31 January. Some people prefer a local office they can visit, while others are happy to work entirely online. Our list of questions to ask an accountant covers this in more depth.

If you would rather not search on your own, we read every enquiry and, where we can, we will put you in touch with a local accountant, although we cannot promise one will be available. You can get in touch with a short description of what you need.