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What does an accredited accountant mean? You’ve heard us use it a bunch if you’ve been surfing our website. Let’s clear up all your questions regarding the legitimacy of our accountants. Do they really have their certifications? The answer to that, with 100% certainty, is yes, yes they do🤩
All our accountants are qualified and professionally trained in accountancy but are also part of each of their professional, regulatory bodies as a requirement. They also have indemnity insurance cover if anything goes wrong for them or you.
Naturally, you’ll have more questions and we’re here to answer them.
An accountant is someone who helps businesses and individuals to stay on top of their financial affairs. There are lots of different types of accounting practices – too many to get into here.
At TaxScouts, our accredited accountants help you with UK personal accounting. It’s mainly for someone who needs to file a tax return. This includes people who are:
And more!
You can read more here on whether or not you need to file a tax return. And if you do, these are some important dates and deadlines to be aware of 📝
Long story short, if you receive an accreditation, you’re being recognised formally by an authoritative, regulatory body of that industry that your work is up to standard. This allows you to offer the services that you’re currently offering to your clients.
In the wild world of accountancy, an accredited accountant is recognised by one of the six accountancy bodies in the UK. They regulate the accountants to make sure their certifications are up to date and that they’re following all the rules when it comes to their job.
Scarily, not all accountants are a part of these bodies and therefore aren’t regulated. Apparently, you don’t need to be in order to offer tax advice. Terrifying, to say the least😨
Thankfully, you can rest assured knowing that all of TaxScouts’ accountants are accredited accountants and thoroughly vetted too!
Yep, that’s right! It’s different.
Certification bodies provide certification that a person, organisation, body, etc., are in line with the requirements of a particular standard – similar to an accreditation.
However, the big, and arguably the most vital, difference is that a certification is usually just a written assurance that the person can do the job.
When you’re accredited, there’s a rigorous process to undergo, depending on the industry. For example, you could have to pass written or practical exams – assessed by a third party who regulates the industry. Sometimes, you even need to renew your qualifications after a certain period of time.
These days, people can easily receive an online certificate and in some industries, it’s all you need! But it’s not for practising accountancy.
The regulatory accounting bodies in the UK don’t acknowledge accountants who are only certified. Shocking, we know😰
TaxScouts only works with accredited accountants. They’re real professionals, so you don’t need to worry.
Certifications need to be accredited.
A certified accountant is a person who calls themselves an accountant and is recognised as one only because they fit the criteria.
However, an accreditation formally recognises that a body or person is competent to carry out specific tasks by a professional body, usually after passing some sort of test/exam.
Note: Remember, anyone in the UK can call themselves an accountant and wouldn’t have had to pass any accountancy exams – it isn’t illegal (…somehow).
Folks, each one of our accountants is an accredited accountant and is governed by one of the six regulatory accountancy bodies in the UK. They all have to have passed their accountancy exams and have up-to-date details on all their qualifications.
On top of that, TaxScouts does internal checks before we partner with accountants. They’re personally vetted by our team before they join. After joining, there are regular checks to make sure everything is up to standard when it comes to things like communication, speed, efficiency, and more. We care about our community 🫶
Whoever you trust to be your accountant, make sure you’re doing all the checks you can to make sure the accountant is qualified and right for you.
We’ve got the best of the best and we’re always excited to share our professional tax return heroes with you🦸♂️
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