How to choose an accountant: check the register before the price

An accountant prepares and files your accounts and tax returns, keeps your records in order, and advises on how to structure and pay for tax. For a sole trader that may mean one Self Assessment return a year. For a limited company it also means statutory accounts and Corporation Tax. What the job covers is set by the engagement letter, not the job title.

This guide is written for people who have never hired one. It follows the order in which things go wrong: the title, the register, the insurance, the paperwork, the fee, then the exit. Rules and figures were checked against the publishers' own pages on 13 October 2026.

What does an accountant actually do?

Most households and small firms hire an accountant for a short list of jobs. The list below is a menu, and a good accountant will say which items you do not need.

• Bookkeeping and records: recording income and spending, or reviewing the records you keep yourself.
• Tax returns: personal Self Assessment, partnership returns, and company tax returns.
• Annual accounts: the year-end accounts a company must produce, and those a sole trader's tax return relies on.
• Payroll and VAT: running the monthly or quarterly returns these require.
• Advice: structure, extracting profit, pensions, and what to do before a sale or a big purchase.

If you only need a tax return, look at the page on Self Assessment help. If you run a company, limited company accounts covers what the annual work involves.

Do I need an accountant at all?

No law says you must hire one. You are responsible for your return whoever prepares it, so the real question is whether the cost is smaller than the risk of getting it wrong. The deadline for the 2025 to 2026 online return and payment is 11:59pm on 31 January 2027 (GOV.UK, deadlines). HMRC received 11,489,825 returns for 2024 to 2025 by the equivalent date in 2026 and estimated that around 1 million customers missed it (GOV.UK).

Missing it costs money fast. GOV.UK sets an initial £100 penalty, daily penalties of £10 up to £900 after three months, and a further 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater, at six months (GOV.UK, penalties). You are most likely to benefit from help if you run a company, have several income sources, are starting a business, or have already had a penalty notice.

What does the word accountant mean in law?

In law, very little. ICAEW states that legally anyone can call themselves an accountant, with no qualification, training or experience (ICAEW). The same is true of tax adviser: ATT says anyone may use that description whether or not they are professionally qualified (ATT).

What is controlled is the designation. A professional body decides who may use its titles and letters, such as chartered accountant with ACA or FCA, or chartered certified accountant with ACCA or FCCA. ICAEW says it asks people who use its title without entitlement to sign an undertaking (ICAEW). The practical point is that a title is only as good as the register behind it.

Chartered, certified, AAT licensed or tax adviser: which is which?

These are different routes with different scopes. None is automatically better; match the label to the job. The table summarises what each body publishes about its members, and you should confirm the detail on the body's own site.

How do I check an accountant is on a professional register?

Do this before the first meeting, because it takes about two minutes. Get the person's full name and firm name, then search the relevant body's own directory rather than relying on a logo on a website or a certificate they send.

1. ICAEW: search ICAEW's find a chartered accountant directory by name or location; its site also has a verification-of-membership route.
2. ACCA: use ACCA's find an accountant to look up members and firms.
3. CIMA: use the CIMA and AICPA directories; at the time of checking, CIMA said some lookups were handled by a request form, so allow for that.
4. AAT: search the AAT licensed accountant and bookkeeper directory, which filters by town and service.
5. CIOT and ATT: use their find-a-member tools for the CIOT directory and the ATT directory.

A directory entry confirms membership. It does not vouch for the quality of advice, and CIOT says it does not endorse the individuals it lists. If the person claims a designation but you cannot find them, ask for their membership number and try again before you decide anything.

What is anti-money-laundering supervision, and why does it matter?

Accountants, tax advisers and bookkeepers carrying out accountancy work are covered by the money laundering regulations, and must be supervised by either HMRC or a professional body. GOV.UK says a firm registers with HMRC unless a professional body already supervises it (GOV.UK). Trading without registration is a criminal offence (GOV.UK).

You can use this as a test. A supervised firm should ask to see ID and proof of address before it starts, and ATT says a firm that asks for neither may not be meeting its obligations (ATT). Ask who the firm's supervisor is. For firms supervised by HMRC, GOV.UK publishes a Supervised Business Register as a spreadsheet; it lists only HMRC-supervised businesses, and being listed is not an endorsement.

Why does professional indemnity insurance matter?

Professional indemnity insurance pays if a client suffers a loss because of the accountant's error or negligence. Without it, a successful claim against a small practice can end with nothing to recover. ICAEW expects chartered accountants offering services to the public to hold a practising certificate and PII, and ACCA says PII is compulsory for its members who hold a practising certificate, with six years of run-off cover after they stop (ACCA).

Ask the question plainly: do you hold professional indemnity insurance, and can I see the certificate? A serious practice answers without fuss. An unregulated bookkeeper may not hold any, which is one reason that label deserves extra caution.

What should an engagement letter and fee quote say?

An engagement letter is the contract. It should list the services, what you must provide and by when, who does the work, the fee, and how either side ends the arrangement. Do not start without one. Fee figures vary widely by firm and complexity, so this guide quotes none; ask for a fixed fee in writing and check what it excludes.

• Which returns and filings are included, and which carry an extra charge (for example a late-registered VAT return or an HMRC enquiry).
• Whether the fee is fixed for the year or billed by the hour, and how you will be warned before it rises.
• Who in the firm prepares the work and who reviews it.
• Which date you must send records by so the filing deadline is safe.
• What happens to your records and files if you leave.

Fixed fees make comparison simple. Two quotes only compare if they cover the same list, so put them side by side against the points above before you choose the cheaper one.

What are the red flags when choosing an accountant?

• They will not tell you which body they belong to, or their name does not appear in that body's directory.
• They promise a refund or a tax figure before seeing any records.
• They do not ask for ID or proof of address, which a supervised firm should do.
• They are vague about insurance, or about who supervises them for money laundering.
• There is no engagement letter, or the fee is open-ended.
• They ask you to pay into a personal account, or to sign a blank return.
• They suggest tax arrangements that sound too good to be true and cannot explain the law behind them.

How do I switch accountants?

Switching is routine and you do not need your old accountant's permission. ICAEW's guidance calls professional clearance a misnomer: the outgoing accountant cannot give or withhold permission to act, and the decision to accept you rests with the incoming accountant (ICAEW).

What happens in practice is that you consent in writing, the new accountant writes to the old one, and the old one replies if you have consented. ICAEW's guidance says outstanding fees can be raised in that reply but are not a valid reason to refuse a response. Ask for your records back, and give the new firm the date of your next deadline so it can plan.

What questions should I ask before hiring an accountant?

1. Which professional body are you a member of, and what is your membership number?
2. Do you hold a practising certificate, if your body issues them?
3. Do you hold professional indemnity insurance, and can I see the certificate?
4. Who is your anti-money-laundering supervisor?
5. Have you worked with businesses or tax affairs like mine, and which parts will you handle?
6. Who will actually do my work, and who checks it?
7. What is the fixed fee, and what is not included?
8. When do you need my records so that deadlines are safe?
9. How do I contact you in the year, and how quickly will you reply?
10. What happens if I leave: how and when do I get my records back?

How do I find an accountant near me?

Start with the register-checked list for your town rather than a general search. You can browse accountants by city, read our other guides, and send an enquiry to one firm you choose. Shortlist two or three, run the register check on each, and compare their written quotes on the same scope.