Amherst & Shapland (Taunton and Wiveliscombe)

I own 2 small businesses in Minehead and regrettably approached Amherst & Shapland to take over my accounts as locally based. I aim to give a fair review of their company, but I want to inform others about using their services. I expect my accountant to provide a professional level of service, good communication and take the stress and hassle out of accounts. However, their poor communication, unprofessional services and unapproachable attitude has caused me a lot of stress and exacerbated my patience and cost me a lot of time and money. Throughout my time with them I have had little communication and ZERO questions regarding both sets of my end of year accounts, which is unheard of in the past especially as my limited company accounts are more complicated than some. I felt their service was rushed with no attempt to understand my business or improve and tax savings. I arranged a meeting to discuss my accountants as we had no discussion to date. I was concerned they weren’t thorough enough due to asking NO questions. During meeting I found Kevin Preston was unapproachable and confrontational and I felt him to be dismissive with priorities focused with larger clients. I felt Amherst & Shapland are unprofessional and inexperienced with Sage accounting software as they struggled to explain simple questions and notes on my accounts, which suggests they outsourced my accounts. I finally decided to leave after requesting some bank details by email and receiving a begrudging reply. I suggesting googling accountants in Taunton as more choice and reviews.

Amherst & Shapland have dealt with my tax affairs since 2002 and have consistently provided a friendly, helpful and thoroughly professional service. I would strongly recommend them to any sole trader or small business looking for a similar service.