"Invisibles" prices mort. cert's etc

"Invisibles" prices mort. cert's etc

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I have had a few "comments" off clients recently for charging £50.00 for completing a mortgage reference, I value priced this on the basis that if the client is applying for a mortgage of a few hundred thousand or more then £50.00 is a reasonable figure.

So, for a midlands based firm what do others charge, your comments on other charges for say VAT registration forms, WFTC forms, acting as registered office for limited companies etc. would also help to resolve what has started an internal office "discussion" on pricing "extras" (read heated debate on are we under valueing our services by reducing the fee to say £35.00 or even nothing)

Thanks

Leslie Tonks
Leslie Tonks

Replies (11)

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By AnonymousUser
07th Mar 2007 07:33

Free
I do these for free. My "value price" is the total package - prep and advice - and I consider it a small additional service which the clients recognize as part of the annual advice componant. I remind my clients regularly that our fee includes an hour of advice annually, which they can take in any manner or fashion they like.

Charging for it is what we Americans call "nickel and diming", and results in lost clients. It's not worth charging the £50 if it loses you the client. Instead, raise your regular prices by £10 or £25 on all clients (to cover the cost of additional requests of this nature) and offer it "free" to anyone who asks.

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By shaunmcguinness
07th Mar 2007 09:09

what to charge
I agree with Liz - FREE.

Because almost all of my clients use "more" software (disclaimer - I am a (minority) shareholder) i get bookkeeping in a form of a reconciled TTB.

this means when i send this to MIS in India to be processed the whole job costs me around £50.

The balance of the fixed fee is then used on delivering extra added value services such as free mortgage references, completing forms, visits to the clients bank to meet the manager to review the overdraft and other work we would historically have charged for.

my advice is to try and be different from the traditional accountant and encourage potential clients to use your services because of this.

i hope this helps

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By User deleted
06th Mar 2007 15:00

Tempted to do it for free...
For all the other things you mention (VAT registration forms, WFTC forms, acting as registered office for limited companies etc) we charge £50.00 for each one.

Mortgage references and the like only take a few minutes and I understand that this is a value price rather than time based but I tend to do these for free. Although I suppose I possibly build additions such as these into a fixed annual fee.

I would be interested to hear others on this one.

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Stephen Quay
By squay
07th Mar 2007 17:24

We Charge
I agree with Alistair. Good value and no provisional charges added on unnecessarily. Extras charged on per client is fairer. I would charge up to £50, often less depending on what was required.

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By shaunmcguinness
08th Mar 2007 13:33

no charge
I've been discussing this with Bob Harper of "more" software and have changed my view (slightly).

I agree with a number of comments about NOT charging unless the client has negotiated hard on the fixed fee then you should remove these benefits.

What would be worth charging for is checking they have the best deal and are choosing the right type of mortgage! Why do accountants turn the other way when the value door starts to open? Maybe because they are too busy doing accounts?

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By amberlight
13th Mar 2007 10:26

Fees for "Invisibles"
I found this discussion really helpful. Now I am convinced that these fees should be built in as part of a package as anything else really gets the client's goat.
Please also see my item posted on 26 January 2007 "Fee for Trade Reference".
I would also welcome a general discussion on setting fees as I find it a real struggle, not knowing what current fixed fees and/or charges per hour should be. I work in Surrey & Hants, both expensive areas, but don't want to compete on price but the quality of service given.

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By dnicoll
07th Mar 2007 14:19

Package price
I half agree with the previous posters. I don't offer it for free, but I include these services as part of my package price (whether they use it or not). The client gets a fixed fee for their service (which they like), I don't get clients moaning that they have been charged unexpectedly (which they dont like), so everyone is happy.

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By AlastairWarwick
07th Mar 2007 15:30

We Charge
Our accountancy service is good value, so we charge extra fror Mortgage References and the like as we feel it would be unfair to increase our overall fee for everyone if they weould never use the service. We feel £50 is reasonable, as this can reflect an hours work, especially if projected figures are required.

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By Ken Howard
07th Mar 2007 16:00

Too much hassle
We don't charge for anything extra - it's all included in our fixed fees - but then again, we don't record time anyway - we simply can't be bothered to waste time with the timesheets, time analysis, raising bills, chasing debts, bankings etc. We fix a fee to cover virtually everything we think a client will need - yes, some will over-pay compared with the time taken, some will underpay - if it is apparent that we are spending too much time on a job, our fixed fee quote is increased for the next year. Now we don't waste time explaining small add-ons to the client, we don't lose clients for their perception of us over-charging for the small things. Everyone is far happier. The time and cost of time recording and the accounts receivable process is far more than the odd hour here and there that some clients may need. We've been doing this for around 3 years now, our GRF is a lot higher on the same staffing and we aren't losing clients to competitors, so it is certainly working for us.

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By geoffemtacs
09th Mar 2007 11:52

An hour?
I can't quite work out how you can be spending an hour on writing a letter Alastair? I mean - the figures are what the figures are and most of the time there isn't even a letter to be written - it's just an accountant's certificate.

Obviously within a time-charging system, the necessary 5 minutes will get accrued and on a fixed fee system, it's no different from general admin time - you just build it in. But separately charging people is just nasty and gives the impression to clients that you're only in it to get their money at a time when they've got a lot on their plate and have no alternative.

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By MarionMorrison
12th Mar 2007 12:38

.
In some ways, this is always harder work for us cowboys. From what I've seen, ACAs and ACCA's quite happily whack a stamp on any old rubbish (or even the figures that are sat in the file). If you don't have a collection of the right letters after your name it becomes more problematic and you have to get SA302s off the Revenue (admittedly quite easy), or sweet-talk a pet ACA.

But charging is just dreadul client relations.

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