Accountants in Dundee
Dundee has one of the most distinctive business bases in Scotland: games studios, life sciences and a waterfront that has changed what the city sells.
Call 07476 989568
Main sectors in Dundee
- Video games
- Digital and creative
- Life sciences
- Hospitality
- Professional services
The business base in Dundee
Dundee is a games city. Studios of every size work here, sustained by Abertay University's long-established games courses, and around them sits a broader digital and creative economy of freelancers, contractors and small agencies. Separately, the University of Dundee anchors a serious life sciences cluster, which produces spinouts and research-driven small companies with quite different needs.
The waterfront regeneration and the V&A have added a real visitor economy on top, which means hospitality and retail with sharp seasonal peaks. The accounting question that comes up more here than anywhere else in Scotland is research and development relief — who genuinely qualifies, and just as importantly who does not.
How we work with businesses in Dundee
Work runs by phone, video call and WhatsApp, with a named accountant, unlimited questions at no hourly charge and FreeAgent included.
What we do for Dundee businesses
See your monthly feeR&D relief assessed honestly
Including telling you when a claim would not stand up
Creative sector reliefs
The video games expenditure regime worked through against what the studio actually spends
Grant and equity funding
The accounting and tax consequences of taking grant money or investment, settled before the money arrives rather than after
Freelance and contractor structures
For the large number of people in this city working through their own company, including the Scottish rate position on how they draw income
Seasonal hospitality trading
Management accounts by month, so a strong summer on the waterfront and a thin February are shown separately
We are a small studio. Do we qualify for R&D or creative relief?
Possibly both, possibly neither, and they are different tests.
Creative sector relief looks at what the game is and where the spend goes.
R&D relief looks at whether you were resolving genuine technical uncertainty rather than building something difficult but well understood.
Plenty of studios qualify for one and not the other. We will tell you plainly where you sit, because HMRC's scrutiny of these claims has tightened a great deal.
Questions we get asked in Dundee
We are a university spinout with grant funding and no revenue. What do we need?
The priorities are keeping the grant conditions satisfiable, getting the share structure right before an investor looks at it, and making sure R&D claims are documented as you go rather than reconstructed a year later. Monthly management accounts matter more than the annual accounts at this stage, because the question that decides everything is how many months of cash you have left.
Our restaurant does most of its trade in four months. How should we plan?
By looking at the year in months rather than as one figure. Seasonal businesses get into trouble in the quiet quarter, and the fix is knowing in October what February's cash looks like.
Looking for an accountant in Dundee?
Tell us what you need and we will come back to you, usually the same working day.
Call 07476 989568 or email hello@buzzaccounting.co.uk
Included
- A named accountant who knows your business
- Books kept up to date all year
- Fixed monthly fee, agreed up front
- Your deadlines tracked and filed
- Portal and app included
- Switching handled for you
Accreditations and partnerships
