The short answer is yes. You can switch accountants halfway through the tax year, halfway through your company's accounting period, or at another point that suits your business. There is no general rule that ties you to a single accountant until 5 April or until your financial year closes.

What determines how well the change goes is the quality of the handover. Your VAT, payroll and bookkeeping obligations continue regardless of who is acting for you, and the HMRC agent authorisations need to be updated before your new accountant can deal with HMRC on your behalf. A well-managed handover should feel controlled. The aim is to establish exactly where your accounts stand, who is responsible for the next deadlines, and what work remains outstanding before anyone stops acting.

ICAEW's guidance on a change of professional appointment confirms that clients have the right to choose their accountants and change them whenever they wish. Where both firms are members of a professional body, professional rules set responsibilities around accepting the appointment, handling professional enquiries and transferring relevant information — but those rules exist to manage the handover, not to prevent it.

For individuals and sole traders, the UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. For a limited company, the relevant period is the company's own financial year and accounting reference period. In neither case do you need to wait for that period to end before making a change.

The practical question is not whether you can switch, but whether the work covering the current period is complete, partly complete or still outstanding. A natural cut-off — immediately after a completed VAT quarter, a monthly bookkeeping close or a payroll run — can make administration easier. That said, staying in an unsuitable arrangement solely because year-end is months away is rarely the right call. If records are falling behind or deadlines are becoming uncertain, an earlier move is often more sensible than a later one.

The professional clearance process is not a system under which your old accountant decides whether you are allowed to leave. Your new accountant will ask your permission to contact your previous firm, and the outgoing accountant responds to appropriate professional enquiries. You remain free to choose your advisers throughout.

Before ending the existing engagement, review the following:

• Any notice period in the engagement letter
• Fees that remain outstanding
• Work already completed or currently underway
• Upcoming VAT, payroll and tax deadlines
• Who controls your accounting software subscription
• Which records you can currently access
• Whether your bookkeeping is fully reconciled
• Who will complete the next return or submission

The clearer this picture is before the handover begins, the less room there is for work to fall between two firms. You should also establish who will complete the next statutory accounts and Corporation Tax return. If your existing accountant has already started that work, the engagement terms will determine what has already been charged and what will need to be transferred.

If you want one firm to take responsibility for the full annual compliance cycle going forward, OD Accountants' limited company accounts service covers statutory accounts, Corporation Tax and the associated Companies House work.

One thing worth separating out at this stage: changing accountant and changing accounting software are two different decisions. Combining them can make sense when your existing system is no longer suitable, but it can also create unnecessary complexity. If you do intend to migrate, reconcile your existing data first. Moving poor-quality records into a new system does not improve them.

Changing accountant does not pause your reporting obligations. VAT returns still need to be filed when due, employees still need to be paid, and your books still need to be maintained. The handover should include a clear cut-off date for each service, not one vague date for the entire accounting relationship.

VAT

If a VAT return falls close to its submission date during the switch, it may be practical for the outgoing accountant to complete it. In other cases, the incoming accountant takes responsibility once your records and VAT history have been reviewed. The important thing is that one party is clearly responsible before the due date arrives. Your digital record-keeping and submission obligations under Making Tax Digital continue throughout; changing accountant does not affect them.

Payroll

Payroll deserves particular care because year-to-date information must continue accurately. The records that need to transfer include employee details, tax codes, payroll IDs, year-to-date gross pay, PAYE and National Insurance figures, pension information, statutory payment details and previous payroll submission information. Those figures should be reconciled before the first payroll run is processed under the new arrangement. OD Accountants' payroll services can be incorporated into your ongoing accounting arrangement where payroll responsibility also needs to move during the handover.

Bookkeeping

Agree exactly when the outgoing accountant stops processing transactions. If responsibility changes on a specific date, you want bookkeeping completed and bank accounts reconciled to that date. Your incoming accountant can then start from an agreed balance rather than having to determine which transactions have already been processed.

Your new accountant needs the appropriate HMRC agent authorisation before dealing with HMRC on your behalf. HMRC's guidance on changing or removing your tax agent's authorisation explains the process. Deal with this early in the handover; an accountant without the correct authority cannot access information or communicate with HMRC for you. You should never share your own Government Gateway credentials with an agent.

What records should transfer

Depending on your circumstances, the handover may include previous statutory accounts, Corporation Tax computations and returns, Self Assessment information, trial balances and ledgers, VAT returns and supporting workings, payroll records, fixed asset registers, bank reconciliations, debtor and creditor balances, opening balance information, relevant HMRC correspondence and details of outstanding adjustments. Your incoming accountant should also identify anything that appears incomplete, rather than assuming the records received are automatically correct.

Can your old accountant refuse to hand over records?

You need to distinguish between records belonging to you and the accountant's own working papers. For professionally regulated accountants, the outgoing firm should respond promptly to professional enquiries and reasonable requests for the transfer of records, subject to confidentiality, ownership and any valid lien. A valid lien may apply to certain documents in specific circumstances, but it is not a blanket right to retain every record because fees remain unpaid.

Software access

Modern handovers involve access rather than boxes of paperwork. Review access to cloud accounting software, payroll platforms, receipt and expense systems, bank feeds, document storage, VAT connections and any relevant third-party integrations. Use proper user permissions wherever possible rather than sharing personal passwords.

The date of the switch is rarely the main cost driver. The condition of your records matters more. If your books are reconciled, payroll information is complete and software access is straightforward, the transition may require relatively little corrective work. If your records are months behind, your new accountant will first need to establish a reliable opening position.

You may also find yourself paying both firms for a period. Your previous accountant may have carried out work covered by an annual or monthly fee; your new accountant may charge separately for onboarding, catch-up work or completing an assignment started elsewhere. Review your existing engagement letter and ask your new accountant to explain clearly what falls within the ongoing fee.

Common causes of a more expensive handover include several months of incomplete bookkeeping, unreconciled bank accounts, missing purchase invoices, incorrect opening balances, payroll discrepancies, outstanding VAT work, duplicate transactions and poorly maintained software. Finding these issues early lets you separate essential compliance work from improvements that can be addressed later.

The relevant comparison is not simply your old accountant's monthly fee against your new accountant's fee. Consider whether staying in the existing arrangement will leave you with unreliable records, late information or recurring uncertainty over tax and cash flow. A period of catch-up work can be worthwhile if it leaves you with a finance process you can rely on going forward.

Signs the existing relationship is no longer working include consistently chasing for answers, books that are regularly behind, an inability to establish your current tax position, VAT or payroll deadlines that repeatedly become stressful, financial information that only arrives at year-end, errors that remain unresolved, and difficulty accessing your own records. One isolated problem may not justify a move, but a repeated pattern does.