Crunch, TaxAssist or BDO: which accounting model fits you

What to take away

Crunch sells a packaged online subscription with software, TaxAssist Accountants sells a local office inside a UK network, and BDO UK sells scoped outsourced and specialist capacity.
Choose the model first, then compare firms inside it, because the three are not like for like.
Ask all three to quote on one identical case before you judge price.
Every model still has to produce the same statutory output, including accounts and tax filings.

How the three models compare

This is a model-level guide for readers searching accounting services agency reviews, based on public information checked on 5 September 2026. It is not a service review: no client accounts were opened, no proposals were requested and no service was tested. None of the three publishes a single price that would compare like for like, so the guide explains how each sets its fee instead.

The three names sit at different points on a line that runs from a fixed online package to fully scoped outsourcing.

Model

Crunch: Packaged online accounting with software
TaxAssist Accountants: Local office inside a UK network
BDO UK: Outsourced and specialist accounting

Publicly stated audience

Crunch: UK small businesses
TaxAssist Accountants: Independent business owners
BDO UK: Owner-managed, large and international organisations

Delivery route

Crunch: Remote team and an online workspace
TaxAssist Accountants: Local office, with online meetings offered
BDO UK: Engagement team scoped to the client

Pricing route

Crunch: Subscription quoted after business type, turnover, transaction volume, directors and employees
TaxAssist Accountants: Office-level fee proposal for the work agreed
BDO UK: Proposal built from scope, entities and systems

Comparing a monthly subscription with an office fee proposal and a scoped outsourcing quote is where buyers lose their footing. The guide to packaged, hourly and outsourced business models shows how each model shifts risk between client and firm, and that shift drives the number.

Crunch: packaged online accounting

Crunch's public site describes software and accountancy services for UK small businesses. Its quotation journey asks about business type, turnover, transaction volume, directors, employees and optional extras.

Ask which work is software only and which is handled by a person. Confirm who is assigned to you, what any unlimited wording on the plan covers, how unusual cases are referred, and what you can export when you leave.

Crunch packaged model checks

Verify which work is performed
Separate software-only from accounting help
Confirm who is assigned
Define what unlimited language covers
Check complex case referrals and exit

TaxAssist Accountants: a local office inside a network

TaxAssist Accountants presents a UK network serving independent business owners, with local offices and online meeting routes. Its site names accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll among the work offered.

The brand says little about the office you would appoint. Ask which company would contract with you, who would do the work, who supervises them and how that office handles a complaint.

Payroll carries its own deadlines and registrations, so confirm who acts as your agent for running payroll and what the office charges for payslips and year-end returns.

Not every practice bundles payroll, bookkeeping and compliance in the same package, so a comparison of bookkeeping, compliance packages and online accountants helps you decide which tasks to hand over.

BDO UK: outsourced and specialist capacity

BDO UK's service page describes outsourced accounting, interim support, month-end assistance and technical resource for owner-managed, large and international organisations.

That breadth suits a group with several entities, multiple systems or reporting outside the UK. Scoping matters more than any headline figure. Ask which entities and locations are in scope, which decisions stay with your own team, how the engagement team is structured and what happens if you need extra capacity mid-year.

Directors keep responsibility for filing accounts and reports under Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006, whoever prepares them.

Which model fits which buyer

A sole trader or single-director company with simple affairsa packaged online subscription gives a predictable monthly cost and a defined workflow.
An owner-managed business that wants a named person nearbya local network office, as long as the proposal and the credentials hold up.
A group, multi-entity or internationally active companyscoped outsourcing, with a team built around your reporting calendar.

Whichever you pick, read the clauses an accounting services contract should settle before work starts, covering scope, fee triggers, data ownership and notice.

What to check before you appoint

Test every candidate with the same matched case, then compare the answers line by line.

Confirm the legal entity that will contract with you and its professional body.
Name the people doing the work, their qualifications and their supervisor.
Get a written scope listing what is included and what costs extra.
Agree the fee basis, the billing cycle and what counts as an overrun.
Check data export, software access and exit terms.
Test the support route and the complaints escalation.

Buyer checks across all models

Test legal entity and regulatory position
Confirm assigned people and engagement
Check price, data handling, quality control
Test support, complaints and exit
Use one matched case for comparison

HMRC's standard for agents sets out what it expects from tax agents and rules out any suggestion of HMRC endorsement.

Accountants and tax advisers must also be registered with an anti-money laundering supervisor for the industry. GOV.UK lists the supervising bodies, among them the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) and the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT). Ask each firm which of them supervises it, then check that body's public register.

Common questions

How are the three providers' fees set?

Crunch quotes a subscription from your profile answers, TaxAssist offices quote for the work agreed, and BDO builds a proposal from scope. None of that gives a comparable number until you send the same case to all three.

Are all three regulated in the same way?

No. Supervision sits with the firm and the named individuals rather than the brand, so ask which professional body, such as ICAEW, ACCA or AAT, covers each and check its public register.

Which model is cheapest?

Headline price rarely settles it. A low subscription with chargeable extras can cost more than a fixed local fee, so compare the total for one matched case.

What should I send to each provider?

The same case: business type, turnover band, transaction volume, number of directors and employees, payroll size and any overseas activity.