Reasonable accountancy fees for a SAS business?
I have established a Soci茅t茅 par actions simplifi茅e (SAS) business in France and am in the process of selecting an accountant. I met with an accounting firm that I was referred to and they are quoting 1,000 euro per month, plus 2,400 euro per year. The services include monthly maintenance of accounting records and expense reconciliation, tax compliance, including monthly VAT filings, annual reporting and general business advice. In your experience, is this a reasonable quote?
As an overview, my business is a catering-type business. I expect an annual turnover of more than one million euros. The number of invoices will be 50 to 90 per month. For now I will be the only employee and I don’t expect to add any staff for at least 6 to 9 months. I will use accounting software to manage transactions, financials, etc. And there shouldn’t be an excessive amount of monthly expenses. I chose SAS rather than soci茅t茅 脿 responsabilit茅 limit茅e (SARL) so that I take an annual dividend rather than a salary to try to minimize some of my corporate and personal tax liability. Likewise, even though I’m an SAS I don’t meet the threshold requiring audited financials.
So in general, I think my business is fairly straightforward and I don’t see the accounting requirements being too complex. Based on what I’ve read in your forum, I expected annual accounting costs to be less than 3,000 euro. I appreciate any advice you can provide on this.