Claim against your Accountant

Professional Negligence: Making a claim against your accountant

If you have received poor service or advice from an accountant or financial advisor, resulting in financial loss, you may be entitled to claim for compensation.

As providers of specialist services, all accountants and financial advisors owe their clients a common law duty of care in the representation of their interests. Often, they will also have a contractual relationship with their clients as well.

Was the service provided substandard?

In order to establish a claim against your accountant or financial advisor, the standard of service provided by them must be classed as ‘substandard’ as judged by the standards of those claiming to have that same set of skills and abilities, i.e. their fellow professionals.

In the first instance it may be useful to investigate the ‘code of ethics’ by which such professionals are supposed to adhere. For example, in the case of accountants the Institute of Financial Accountants Code of Ethics For Professional Accountants.

Unfortunately, this can mean that poor service does not always amount to professional negligence in the eyes of the law. In order to pursue a case, you will have to establish that you suffered a financial loss as a direct result of substandard advice or service.

Possible reasons to claim against your accountant

Claims against your accountant or financial advisor can arise in many different circumstances, including:

• The provision of incorrect tax or accountancy advice resulting in the overpayment or underpayment of tax;
• Failure to adhere to strict inland revenue deadlines;
• Incorrect completion of self assessment forms;
• Failure to complete due diligence accurately.

Call us now

For expert advice on the application the law relating to professional negligence, please contact one of our team on 0203 838 0781 .

Alternatively, you can send us details of claim via our online enquiry form. We will review your details to assess the viability of your case and respond by phone, email or text within 48 hours of receipt of your information.