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>have you thought about trying local small accounting firms/law firms for your taxes as opposed to monolith "big 4?" Yes, and we did. On several instances, we

>have you thought about trying local small accounting firms/law firms for your taxes as opposed to monolith "big 4?" Yes, and we did. On several instances, we had silly problems like the accountant going to vacation right before tax deadline, other frustrations like communication problems. >big 4 people will have the best paid execs and partners but the leg work is made to be done by interns and stuff. On the other hand, in a small firm, its all hands on deck to finish/work on a case. That was one clause in the agreement as I said. Our account was to be handled by seasoned people and we had put in the contract that they had to answer our questions. Granted, they don't always know what to do, but you're not left hanging, but regulations here are another story. >* smaller boutique firms, i would suggest you look up your local firms first as they are more inclined to give more attention and care to your work* Done that. It's good advice. Maybe for another company but we needed our accounting to be tight given the direction we wanted to go, and the cost of doing so was almost the same as going with a smaller accounting practice.

2Gkashmiri 4y ago
>Yes, and we did. On several instances, we had silly problems like the accountant going to vacation right before tax deadline, other frustrations like communication problems. are you saying a small firm's staff took a vacation during tax season? thats very strange. i have had partners in our firm delay their medical procedures til the end of tax season specifically because small offices run a tight ship and loss of a single person means the rest of the team has to stay up late. our office regularly does 82 hour shifts during tax season but i am not even bragging. >Yes, and we did. On several instances, we had silly problems like the accountant going to vacation right before tax deadline, other frustrations like communication problems. are you talking about an indian small accounting firm charging as much as a big 4? nice. i would love to be them. the fees charged by small 1-2-5 partner firms are a magnitude lower than big 4 prices. Indirect tax audit fees is like 30-40K inr in a good small firm while big 4/big firms do not take on cases with fees less than 100-200K inr. But those are my anecdata between our fees and the fees i hear is being charged by friends on those places. i would love to hear the anonymized specifics of the case, if you are so inclined to share with a total stranger. anyways, good luck finding a good partner/firm
- Jugurtha 4y ago
  >are you saying a small firm's staff took a vacation during tax season? thats very strange. The company is an LLC equivalent in Algeria. There's no tax season. Tax forms must be submitted and paid before the 20th of every month. Social security before the 30th of every month, or quarterly if the company has fewer than nine employees. Employees don't do their own taxes; instead, the company withholds the taxes/social security and pays on their behalf (retenue à la source). And yes, the accountant was unreachable before doing our taxes. >are you talking about an indian small accounting firm charging as much as a big 4? nice. i would love to be them. I'm not sure how I miscommunicated that it was in India. It's not, to be clear. It's not the small firms charging as high as a big 4, rather the big 4 charging something that's a multiple of smaller firms, but not an order of magnitude. The fees are subject to negotiatons before signing the contract. The way big 4s are structured allows that. They're a rather independent firms in a network sharing a name.
  - 2Gkashmiri 4y ago
    you just explained indian indirect taxes. "tax season" in india is a yearly affair so that is what i wrote. the indirect taxes, well, there are 2 due dates in a month. 10th and 20th. salary taxes are called "tds" or "tax deduction at source". same, monthly and a quarterly return. we do have those "network firms" , actually the "big 4" in india is a network of firms who have taken up a name, there isnt any actual EY office, just a name of a network. >And yes, the accountant was unreachable before doing our taxes. irresponsible of them. we literally manage our outside-office life based on the 10th and 20th of the month so, 1-10 and 17-20 are no normal holiday days. employees are free to take a leave on 11th-15th or 21-28th of every month but the rest of the days, unless there is a serious emergency, leaves are not entertained much. a small office usually does not have a tonne of clients (otherwise they would be big) so every client is important. Now why would this particular accountant would go on a vacation on "important dates", i dont know. i can safely say i have never done that and neither have my peers

2Gkashmiri 4y ago

>Yes, and we did. On several instances, we had silly problems like the accountant going to vacation right before tax deadline, other frustrations like communication problems. are you saying a small firm's staff took a vacation during tax season? thats very strange. i have had partners in our firm delay their medical procedures til the end of tax season specifically because small offices run a tight ship and loss of a single person means the rest of the team has to stay up late. our office regularly does 82 hour shifts during tax season but i am not even bragging. >Yes, and we did. On several instances, we had silly problems like the accountant going to vacation right before tax deadline, other frustrations like communication problems. are you talking about an indian small accounting firm charging as much as a big 4? nice. i would love to be them. the fees charged by small 1-2-5 partner firms are a magnitude lower than big 4 prices. Indirect tax audit fees is like 30-40K inr in a good small firm while big 4/big firms do not take on cases with fees less than 100-200K inr. But those are my anecdata between our fees and the fees i hear is being charged by friends on those places. i would love to hear the anonymized specifics of the case, if you are so inclined to share with a total stranger. anyways, good luck finding a good partner/firm

Jugurtha 4y ago
>are you saying a small firm's staff took a vacation during tax season? thats very strange. The company is an LLC equivalent in Algeria. There's no tax season. Tax forms must be submitted and paid before the 20th of every month. Social security before the 30th of every month, or quarterly if the company has fewer than nine employees. Employees don't do their own taxes; instead, the company withholds the taxes/social security and pays on their behalf (retenue à la source). And yes, the accountant was unreachable before doing our taxes. >are you talking about an indian small accounting firm charging as much as a big 4? nice. i would love to be them. I'm not sure how I miscommunicated that it was in India. It's not, to be clear. It's not the small firms charging as high as a big 4, rather the big 4 charging something that's a multiple of smaller firms, but not an order of magnitude. The fees are subject to negotiatons before signing the contract. The way big 4s are structured allows that. They're a rather independent firms in a network sharing a name.
- 2Gkashmiri 4y ago
  you just explained indian indirect taxes. "tax season" in india is a yearly affair so that is what i wrote. the indirect taxes, well, there are 2 due dates in a month. 10th and 20th. salary taxes are called "tds" or "tax deduction at source". same, monthly and a quarterly return. we do have those "network firms" , actually the "big 4" in india is a network of firms who have taken up a name, there isnt any actual EY office, just a name of a network. >And yes, the accountant was unreachable before doing our taxes. irresponsible of them. we literally manage our outside-office life based on the 10th and 20th of the month so, 1-10 and 17-20 are no normal holiday days. employees are free to take a leave on 11th-15th or 21-28th of every month but the rest of the days, unless there is a serious emergency, leaves are not entertained much. a small office usually does not have a tonne of clients (otherwise they would be big) so every client is important. Now why would this particular accountant would go on a vacation on "important dates", i dont know. i can safely say i have never done that and neither have my peers