About LAS Accounting
Specialist accountant for UK travel businesses
Working exclusively with UK travel agents, tour operators and travel agencies.
LAS Accounting works exclusively with UK travel agents, tour operators and travel agencies. Not as one niche among several. As the only niche.
The reason is simple. Accounting for travel businesses is structurally different from accounting for any other sector — the VAT treatment, the margin reporting, the regulatory frameworks and TOMS implications. A generalist accountant can read about TOMS. They cannot replicate years of working with it every day.
I provide ongoing accounting, VAT and compliance support for travel agents, tour operators and travel agencies operating under complex regulatory and VAT frameworks, including support with VAT rules for travel agents, principal vs agent treatment and TOMS where relevant. The aim is to get the structure right from the start and maintain it as the business grows.
Why I Work Exclusively with Travel Businesses
Travel accounting is not complicated once it is set up correctly. Getting it set up correctly requires knowing exactly where the problems hide.
Principal vs agent status affects how income and VAT should be treated. TOMS can apply where a travel business buys in and resupplies qualifying travel services as principal or undisclosed agent. Client money, supplier liabilities and ATOL-related reporting also create accounting consequences that most generalist accountants rarely encounter.
These errors rarely surface immediately. They build up quietly across VAT periods — and surface during HMRC reviews, ATOL renewals or professional handovers, when the cost of correction is significantly higher than the cost of getting it right would have been.
This is why I work exclusively in the travel sector. Not because it is a convenient niche. Because doing this correctly requires knowing it properly.
How I work
Ongoing engagements only. I do not offer one-off advice, standalone VAT returns or ad hoc consultations. The structure has to be maintained continuously — which means I work with clients on an ongoing monthly basis, not as a helpline.
Ongoing accounting and compliance support (not one-off fixes)
Clear scope and defined responsibilities
Correct VAT and accounting treatment based on how your business actually operates
Direct access to your accountant — no juniors, no outsourcing
Review-ready records prepared with regulatory scrutiny in mind
I work alongside your other advisors, including ATOL Reporting Accountants where required, ensuring underlying financial data is consistent, accurate and defensible.
Professional background
I am Laura Sterian, a qualified accountant and the person who will actually be handling your accounts — not a junior, not an outsourced team.
I built LAS Accounting around one sector because doing this correctly requires knowing it properly. The travel sector has specific VAT frameworks, specific compliance requirements and specific ways things go wrong. Years of working exclusively within it is not something that can be replicated by a generalist who adds travel to their client list.
You speak to me. You get a direct answer. That’s the whole model.
Whom I work with
Travel agents
Tour operators (principal and agent models)
Travel agencies managing multiple suppliers, revenue streams and client funds
Why clients work with me
LAS Accounting is structured for depth, not volume.
- Specialist travel-sector focus
- Clear, defensible accounting treatment
- Transparent pricing and scope
- Direct access and continuity
- Regulatory-aware accounting, not guesswork
This focus allows me to maintain depth, consistency and technical accuracy.
Whom I do not work with
- General small businesses
- Hospitality, retail or service businesses outside travel
- One-off compliance jobs without ongoing engagement
UK travel businesses only · Ongoing compliance engagements
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