When we meet with a new client or potential client this question usually comes up quite early on in the conversation, and we certainly don’t blame you for asking as controlling the costs of your business is high priority, especially in the early days. We understand that there’s nothing worse than looking through a website and thinking ‘that all looks great but is it within my budget?’.
I would love to be able to answer this question in one line, perhaps include a fixed price list so that you know what our fees are before we meet but this would be very difficult, almost impossible and here are a few reasons why:
What can you tell us about your fees:
While we can’t give you a set price without talking to you and getting some background on your business or needs first, we can share some examples which might help you see where you sit and roughly what our fees might look like.
So here goes:
I use Xero for my bookkeeping – please help me with my accounts and tax returns.
Sandra owns a shop selling Harry Potter merchandise, turning over £375,000. Her sales are recorded using her till at point of sale (EPOS) and her EPOS system is integrated with Xero so that all of her sales transactions are recorded automatically.
Purchases are recorded using Dext which again integrates with Xero. Her bank data is pulled straight into Xero using the bank feed and the bank is reconciled daily.
Sandra is at a point where she is happy to take care of the bookkeeping but needs our help with her year-end accounts, payroll for 2 members of staff and her tax returns.
She’s starting to think that she might need to start looking at her figures, her profit margins and cashflow for example, on a more regular basis but for now Xero does the job.
Sandra’s fee is £240 + VAT per month.
I’m too busy for bookkeeping, I’d rather focus on what I’m good at and leave the rest to you
Adrian owns a double-glazing company, is VAT registered, has 3 subcontractors and 2 employees and has a turnover of £500,000.
While Adrian is happy to use Xero to invoice his customers and takes photos of his purchases using Dext as he goes, this is where his involvement stops. On average, Adrian raises 8 invoices a week and records 10 purchase invoices. He makes sure he only uses the company bank account for business transactions which could be around 80 to 100 a month.
Adrian invests £384 + VAT a month with us and we take care of his bookkeeping, accounts, VAT returns, tax returns, payroll and CIS returns.
We can do the bookkeeping – what else can you help us with?
Natalie runs a design agency which has a turnover of £1.3m and employs 10 members of staff.
Natalie and her team record all day to day transactions and are confident bookkeepers. Natalie appointed us to oversee her accounts department and to prepare her year-end accounts, process the payroll and complete her tax returns.
In addition to this, we report to Natalie on a quarterly basis with management accounts giving her access to information on how her company is performing during the year. We track her profit, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and look at individual projects to make sure she is seeing the returns she is expecting. We use the management accounts to advise as and when tax saving opportunities present themselves.
Natalie invests £613 + VAT a month with us.
I’m a landlord and need help with my self-assessment.
Terry is employed on a full-time basis but owns a rental property and needs to do a self-assessment each year. He keeps a record of his rental income and expenses in spreadsheet and gives this to us along with his P60 each year so we can complete his self-assessment for him.
Terry pays a fee of £350 + VAT each year, after we have drafted the self-assessment but before we make the submission to HMRC.
I’m self-employed and need help with my self-assessment.
Henry is a self-employed plumber, who works for 2 regular contractors. He uses Dext to record his expenses, on average he records 5 a week.
Henry pays a fee of £425 + VAT each year, after we have drafted the self-assessment but again before we make the submission to HMRC.
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How much do you want to do yourself?
Business owners tend to fall into 3 camps:
- First there’s those who want to have absolutely nothing to do with their bookkeeping, accounts, payroll or tax returns;
- Then, there are those who are happy to take care of some parts, perhaps they might record their sales invoices and purchases using tools such as Xero and ReceiptBank but the thought of tackling a bank reconciliation leaves them terrified;
- Finally, there are the business owners who have support in-house, they have employed a bookkeeper to look after the day to day transactions or maybe they come from a numbers background and have the skills to get the bookkeeping to an ‘almost there’ stage.
The time involved in working with each of these business owners would be very different and so it isn’t possible to give a one size fits all price.
Will you need training or support to be able to complete these tasks?
Let’s assume that you want some involvement with the day-to-day running of your business finances whether it be certain elements or all of the bookkeeping. We need to consider what level of training or support you will need during the year. For example:
- What accounting software do you use and will you need our help setting this up? You might be moving from spreadsheets to Xero or Quickbooks and have questions around how to complete certain actions;
- Will we need to review your bookkeeping before your VAT return goes off to HMRC? You may be confident when processing the transactions but want that extra level of comfort in knowing that all is present and correct before it is submitted;
- Who will you ask if you have a VAT or tax query, do you have an employee who can help you with this or will you need us to support you?
While nothing is too much trouble and if you need us, we will be here for you, we need to make sure that we consider these areas when building your proposal so that we can provide you with the level of service you are expecting and deserve.
What else can we do for you that could help get your business to where you want it to be?
While making sure you comply with all that Companies House and HMRC ask of you is very important, there are others ways in which we can help your business flourish.
- Management accounts – how is my business doing and what numbers should I be concentrating on, what are they telling me?
- Review of your systems and processes – what could you do better or more efficiently?
- Tax planning – how can you pay less tax?
- Exit strategies – what happens to your business when you retire?
You may want us to help with all of the above or just be able to say that you have filed your accounts and paid your tax on time, either is perfectly acceptable, you have that choice and this is why we offer different combinations of services and different levels of support. We recognise that no two businesses are the same and what works for one will not be the ideal solution for another.
What do I do if I’d like to work with you?
This one is simple, get in touch!
We will book you in for an initial meeting where we will learn about your business and present you with a proposal for “the services that we would want, if we were you, knowing what we know”.
You will leave the first meeting with a proposal detailing the combination of services you have opted for, the fees for each service and most importantly, we aim to convey the value we can bring to your business while providing these services.
