It is a question many small business owners quietly wonder about but rarely ask outright: how often should they actually be hearing from their accountant? Too little contact and you feel neglected, unsure whether anyone is keeping an eye on your figures between deadlines. Too much contact and it can feel intrusive, as though every small query is being turned into a billable event. The right answer sits somewhere in between, and it depends heavily on the nature and rhythm of your business, but there are some useful general principles worth understanding.
At an absolute minimum, most small businesses should expect to hear from their accountant around each major statutory deadline. This includes VAT returns if registered, payroll related communication if you employ staff, the annual accounts and corporation tax return, and self assessment deadlines for directors. These touchpoints should never come as a surprise. A well run practice will contact you well ahead of each deadline, not the week before, giving you enough time to gather information, ask questions, and plan for any tax liabilities that are coming due.
Beyond these statutory touchpoints, the frequency of contact should reflect how actively your business is being supported rather than simply processed. A firm that only ever contacts you when something is legally required is providing compliance services, not advisory support. If you are paying for more than the bare minimum, you should expect more than the bare minimum in return. This might look like a quarterly check in call, a monthly summary after your bookkeeping has been reviewed, or a brief note flagging anything unusual that has come up in your figures.
Many growing businesses benefit from monthly contact, particularly in the early years when cash flow can be tight and decisions need to be made quickly. A short monthly conversation, even fifteen minutes, about how the month has gone, what is coming up, and whether anything needs attention can catch small issues before they become large ones. For more established or stable businesses, quarterly contact may be perfectly sufficient, with the understanding that either party can reach out in between whenever something specific arises.
What matters more than a fixed schedule is the principle that contact should never be entirely one directional and reactive. If the only communication you ever initiate is chasing your accountant for something, and the only communication they initiate is asking you for missing paperwork, the relationship is not functioning as a genuine advisory partnership. Firms such as Fred Michael & Co try to build a rhythm of contact that goes beyond simple compliance chasing, so that clients feel there is a real ongoing dialogue about their business rather than a series of disconnected transactions each year.
It is also worth thinking about responsiveness alongside frequency, because the two are related but distinct. A firm might contact you proactively only a handful of times a year, but respond to your own questions within a day whenever you reach out. This can work well for businesses that are stable and do not need constant hand holding, provided the responsiveness when needed is genuinely reliable. On the other hand, a firm that promises frequent proactive updates but is slow to respond when you actually need help is arguably worse off than one with a lighter touch but dependable response times.
There are certain moments in a business's life when contact frequency should naturally increase, regardless of the usual rhythm. Taking on your first employee, approaching the VAT registration threshold, considering a change in company structure, negotiating a large contract, or dealing with an HMRC enquiry are all situations that warrant more frequent and detailed communication than usual. A good accountant recognises these moments and adjusts their level of contact accordingly, rather than sticking rigidly to a standard quarterly schedule regardless of what is actually happening in your business.
It is reasonable, and encouraged, to discuss expectations around contact frequency directly with your accountant at the outset of the relationship. Ask how often you should expect to hear from them, through what channels, and what the typical turnaround time is for questions you raise yourself. A firm confident in its service levels will answer this clearly and specifically, rather than giving a vague answer about being available whenever you need them. Written expectations, even informal ones set out in an engagement letter or welcome email, help avoid the gradual drift into silence that can happen when nothing is explicitly agreed.
Seasonal businesses deserve a special mention here, since their contact needs often do not map neatly onto a standard calendar. A business with a heavy peak season, such as a seasonal retailer or an events company, may need more intensive contact in the run up to and during its busiest months, and comparatively little at other times of year. A good accountant recognises this pattern and adjusts accordingly, rather than applying a rigid quarterly schedule that happens to fall at the least useful moments for that particular business. Discussing your own seasonal rhythm openly helps ensure contact is timed around when you actually need it most.
It is also worth considering how contact frequency should evolve as a relationship matures. In the first year or two of working with a new accountant, more frequent contact is often genuinely useful, since both sides are still building an understanding of the business and its typical patterns. As the relationship settles and a firm like Fred Michael & Co becomes deeply familiar with your figures, it may be entirely appropriate for routine contact to become slightly less frequent, provided responsiveness to specific questions remains just as strong. A gradual shift like this reflects growing trust and familiarity rather than declining service, and it is worth distinguishing between the two.
It can also help to think about contact frequency in terms of the different types of update you might receive, rather than treating all communication as equivalent. A brief automated reminder about an upcoming deadline is very different from a considered phone call discussing a strategic decision, and a healthy relationship usually includes a mix of both. Relying too heavily on automated or templated communication can leave a relationship feeling impersonal even if the technical frequency of contact looks perfectly adequate on paper, while relying too heavily on lengthy scheduled calls without lighter touch reminders in between can leave important deadlines feeling under communicated despite genuinely good intentions on both sides.
Another useful way to think about frequency is in terms of trigger events rather than a fixed calendar alone. Rather than relying purely on quarterly or monthly slots, a strong relationship also responds to specific triggers as they arise, such as a large invoice being issued, a new contract being signed, or a noticeable change in monthly turnover. A firm genuinely engaged with your figures on an ongoing basis, rather than only looking at them at scheduled intervals, is more likely to spot these triggers and reach out proactively, adding a layer of responsiveness on top of whatever baseline schedule has been agreed.
Ultimately, the right frequency of contact is the one that leaves you feeling informed and supported without feeling burdened. If you find yourself wondering what is happening with your accounts between deadlines, or feeling like you have to constantly chase for basic updates, that is a sign the current level of contact is not meeting your needs. Equally, if every interaction feels transactional and billed by the minute, it may be worth discussing a different arrangement that builds regular contact into the overall fee rather than treating each conversation as a separate cost. The goal, in either direction, is a relationship where communication feels proportionate, predictable, and genuinely useful.
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