Finding the best accountant for your business can feel a bit overwhelming when there’s so much choice. If you’re looking for an online accountant, then you have probably spotted Gorilla Accounting and The Accountancy Partnership during your research.

Both offer online accounting services, but whereas Gorilla focus on contractors and freelancers, The Accountancy Partnership help a broader range of businesses as well as offering specialist expertise for freelancers and contractors.

Accountants for everything your business needs

For us, general accounting doesn’t simply mean having a working overview of accountancy. The centuries of collective knowledge and experience our team of accountants have amassed allows us to specialise in a range of areas, working with all types of businesses, in every industry.

Gorilla Accounting, however, offer an accounting service designed mainly for contractors and freelancers.

Here at The Accountancy Partnership we also work with contractors and freelancers, but because we also work with other types of business too, we can help you deal with the complexities of running yours, regardless of what situation crops up.

How it works with Gorilla Accounting

If you sign up with Gorilla, you’ll be assigned to your own accountant. Having a dedicated accountant usually means a faster, more convenient service, and you won’t need to wait for messages to be relayed through an account manager.

It’s why we also provide each client with a dedicated accountant too!

With Gorilla you’ll receive access to FreeAgent, a third-party bookkeeping software. FreeAgent is excellent, if a little pricey, but Gorilla include it for free as part of the service they offer clients. You can also get free access to FreeAgent if you have a business account with some UK banks, such as NatWest.

FreeAgent is easy to use, with simple to follow guides and in-app support if you need a little extra help.

Which is just as well, because Gorilla do not offer a dedicated bookkeeping service.

Their accountants will provide software support if needed, and you can contact FreeAgent directly for help, but just keep in mind that they’re a third-party provider. If you decide it would be easier to have someone else complete your bookkeeping for you, then you’ll need to hire a bookkeeper separately, for an additional cost.

How we do things at The Accountancy Partnership

We know that every business has different needs, so at The Accountancy Partnership you can either:

• Complete your own bookkeeping yourself, either with our own software, Pandle, (which we provide to clients for free) or any other software you prefer, such as FreeAgent.
• Or we can complete your bookkeeping for you, from £20.00 per month – so you only pay for what you need.

If you prefer to do your own bookkeeping using Pandle, our trained bookkeepers will support you every step of the way. From initial set up calls, to our in-app live chat support and product tours, they’ll even review your records on a regular basis – for free, whether or not you use our bookkeeping service.

That way we can help you spot any potential issues before they snowball into more serious problems.

Should I use The Accountancy Partnership or Gorilla Accounting?

Like most business decisions, this depends on what’s best for you.

Only pay for what you use

Whilst we’re both online accountants, The Accountancy Partnership offer a more customisable service package, meaning you only pay for what you need.

Many other online accountants, Gorilla included, bundle their services together into a more expensive package. It can be convenient if your business will use all of these services, but usually it just means you’re paying for things that you don’t actually need, such as VAT returns when you’re not even VAT registered.

At The Accountancy Partnership we don’t think this approach makes any sense. Instead, our packages include the services which are most relevant and useful to all businesses, and then you can add additional services (like VAT returns or bookkeeping) if you need them – keeping your accounting costs as low as possible.

Comparing bookkeeping software

Pandle is our very own bookkeeping software, and this allows us to release updates and new features which have been requested by our clients.

It also means we know the software like the back of our hand! Our Live Chat support team of bookkeepers sit right next to your accountants at our UK offices in the Northwest and in London, ready to give you expert, tailored advice, if you ever need it. Gorilla provide their clients with access to FreeAgent.
 

Accounting support across a range of areas

• If you’re not a contractor: Gorilla aren’t really for you, so an accountant like The Accountancy Partnership could be just the ticket!
• If you are a contractor: Consider whether you actually need all of the services you will be paying for as standard with Gorilla. For example, if you’re not going to turnover more than £90,000 in a 12-month period, then you will not need to be VAT registered, so why pay for this service?

Learn more about our online accounting services for small businesses, and get an instant online quote.