We often take on clients who have been badly let down by their previous adviser. Often there are technical deficiencies in advice given which can be difficult to remedy. The problem mainly arises with accountants Cambridge who are not members of reputable Institutes (regulatory bodies). But it can be difficult to find out if an adviser knows their stuff.
First of all there’s all those pesky initials. It is probably safer to stick to one of the following designatory letters:
ACA, FCA, ACCA, FCCA, CA
Anything else, even if it sounds really quite similar, may be completely meaningless.
If you want tax advice, stick to someone who is a CTA.
For anything to do with Company Secretarial work you need an ACIS or FCIS.
For more straightforward accounting and tax work, an AAT and an ATT respectively should suffice.
The one to be really careful about is an “Accountant”. Amazingly, this term is totally unregulated so it could be someone who is perfectly competent or a psychotic fraudster. You may not know which until your account has been emptied and you are distributed in a selection of black plastic bags over a wide geographical area.
For a bit more detail on all the above have a look at:
http://www.moveaheadonline.com/Articles/pdf/What%20do%20all%20these%20accountancy%20bodies%20do.pdf
I’ve worked with a great many accountants and generally once you have made sure that they are part of a recognised body, the prime success comes from a) matching the size of your business to theirs b) How well they grasp your business concept and c) How well they can explain accounting talk into plain English that you can follow.
The best accountants actually are proactive in suggesting improvements also, rather than just once a year doing your accounts.