Accounting built around your industry
Every sector gets the same fixed monthly packages, FreeAgent bookkeeping and a dedicated accountant. What changes is the VAT scheme, how income is recognised and the numbers worth watching.
Accountants for your industry
Talk to us if your industry is not listed
The same invoice, treated three ways
Illustrative figures, used to show the mechanics.
Construction subcontractor, CIS registered
20% deducted from labour only
Construction subcontractor, unregistered
30% deducted from labour
Agency or consultant
Standard 20% VAT, no CIS
In the first two the deduction goes to HMRC on account of your tax and is set against the bill later, but it has gone from this month’s bank, and under the reverse charge no VAT arrives with it either. In the third, £1,000 of that £6,000 belongs to HMRC. On this invoice, registering for CIS keeps £400 more working capital in the business.
What is the same everywhere
Included on every sector
- Bookkeeping
- Year-end accounts
- Corporation Tax or Self Assessment
- VAT under Making Tax Digital
- Payroll and pensions
- Companies House filings
- FreeAgent, worth up to £330 a year
- A named accountant
The deadlines are the same for every sector.
The four things that vary most
How and when you get paid
A restaurant is paid at the till. An agency invoices on 30 days and gets paid on 55. A construction firm is paid in stages with retentions held back for months.
VAT treatment
Zero-rated food, the domestic reverse charge in construction, exempt healthcare, marketplace VAT collected by the platform, or partial exemption where you have a mix.
Who does the work
Employees, subcontractors, associates on a room rental, or people supplying through their own company. That drives CIS, IR35, employment status and auto-enrolment.
What sits on the balance sheet
Stock and cost of goods sold for retail. Work in progress for agencies and consultants. Equipment and vehicles for trades.
How we set up your accounts for your sector
We look at how money moves through the business
How you win work, invoice it, get paid and pay other people.
We build the chart of accounts around it
So reports separate what you need to see: revenue by channel, labour and materials, retainer and project.
We check the schemes and statuses
VAT scheme, CIS position, IR35 exposure, employment status. Fixed at the start, reviewed when the business changes.
We agree what gets watched monthly
Two or three numbers that matter in your industry: gross margin per project, wages as a percentage of sales, stock turn, debtor days.
Nine sectors with a site of their own
Some industries carry enough of their own rules to need more than a page. Each of these sites is run by Buzz, on the same fixed pricing, with calculators and guides written for that sector.
Accountants for Dentists
Associates and principals, NHS and private mix, superannuation and the incorporation question.Visit the siteAccountants for GPs
Partnership drawings, the global sum, superannuation and the annual allowance.Visit the siteAccountants for Opticians
The VAT apportionment between goods and exempt dispensing, and GOS fees across four nations.Visit the siteAccountants for Pharmacies
The Single Activity Fee, the reimbursement gap and the working capital cycle.Visit the siteAccountants for Vets
Practice profitability against the CMA’s own sample, locum pay and practice valuation.Visit the siteAccountants for Solicitors
SRA Accounts Rules, client account, lockup and the LLP or limited company question.Visit the siteAccountants for Estate Agents
Client money and CMP, commission and VAT, and what a negotiator costs.Visit the siteThe Trades Accountant
CIS deductions, gross payment status and the VAT reverse charge on a specific job.Visit the siteAccountants for Landlords
Section 24, incorporation, capital gains on a rental and Making Tax Digital for landlords.Visit the siteCommon questions about sector accounting
Do I pay more for a sector-specific service?
Fees are based on size and complexity: transaction volume, VAT registration and scheme, payroll headcount and number of entities. The industry does not change the fee. The sector pages describe how the same package is applied to that sector.
What if my business spans two sectors?
That is common: a builder who also lets a property, a consultant who sells an online course, a café with a catering arm. Separate income streams are tracked in the accounts so you can see which one makes money, and occasionally there is a partial exemption question on VAT where one activity is exempt and the other is not. Both are dealt with at setup. Where the activities carry different risks, a second entity may be worth considering.
What is the domestic reverse charge in construction?
For most construction services between VAT-registered businesses within the CIS chain, the customer accounts for the VAT and the supplier does not charge it. The subcontractor invoices without VAT, notes that the reverse charge applies, and the contractor deals with it on their own return. It changed the cash position for a lot of subcontractors, because VAT no longer sits in their bank account between quarters. It does not apply to end users or to supplies of materials alone, and getting the boundary wrong causes real problems.
Can you handle marketplace and multi-channel sales?
Yes. Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, eBay and the card processors all report differently, and each reports net of something: platform fees, refunds, shipping subsidies, advertising, marketplace-collected VAT. Taking the payout figure as revenue understates both turnover and costs. Holding stock in another country through a fulfilment service can also create a VAT registration obligation there, sometimes from the first sale, with no threshold. See e-commerce and online retail.
Do you understand IR35 if I contract through my own company?
Yes. Status depends on the reality of the engagement: control over how and when you work, whether a substitute is permitted, mutuality of obligation, financial risk and how embedded you are in the client’s organisation. Medium and large private-sector clients and all public-sector bodies issue a Status Determination Statement, which you can and should challenge if it is wrong. We review the written contract and the actual working practices, which is where determinations are decided. Start with IT and software contractors.
My sector is not listed. Can you still help?
Yes. The ten pages are the sectors we are asked about most. The compliance work is the same everywhere, and the sector-specific part is a handful of things particular to your industry, which we work out at the discovery call.
How do you decide which numbers matter for my sector?
By working out which few figures decide profit in your business. A restaurant lives on gross margin split wet and dry, and staff cost as a percentage of sales. An agency lives on utilisation and revenue per head. A contractor lives on job-level margin and work in progress. An e-commerce business lives on contribution per channel after fees, refunds and shipping. We agree four or five numbers at setup, build the chart of accounts to produce them, and report against those.
Accreditations and partnerships
