How much does a startup accountant cost in the UK?

Fees follow complexity, not sentiment. Transaction volume, payroll headcount, VAT frequency, number of revenue streams, currencies, and whether you need management accounts are the six factors that move a quote most.

A dormant or pre-trading company costs very little. A trading company with monthly payroll, quarterly VAT and cloud bookkeeping sits in the low hundreds per month. Add management accounts, a maintained forecast and board reporting and you are into virtual CFO territory, which is priced against days of senior time.

At minimum: bookkeeping review, VAT returns if registered, payroll for the agreed headcount, year-end accounts, the CT600, the confirmation statement, director Self Assessment where included, and unlimited basic questions.

Ask specifically whether questions are billable. A fee that looks cheap but meters every phone call ends up more expensive and, worse, stops founders asking things they should ask.

R&D claims, SEIS and EIS work, EMI schemes and valuations, tax planning, HMRC enquiries, audits, restatements and diligence support. These are project-based and the effort varies enormously, so a firm quoting them blind is guessing.

Our position is simple: basic tax advice is free*, and anything technical is quoted in writing before it starts. You should never receive an invoice you did not see coming.

The cheapest option is a filing service that produces accounts you cannot use to run the business. The most expensive is a firm you never call because the meter is running. What most founders actually want sits between: a fixed fee, a named person and no penalty for asking.

Judge value on outcomes, reliefs claimed, deadlines met early, decisions modelled before they are made, rather than on the monthly number in isolation.