How do other practitioners manage their clients around Companies House filing deadlines? A client wants to submit their records just 3 weeks prior to the filing deadline and wants us to guarantee that we will make the deadline - we have previously pointed out that we will work on records using a first-come-first-served basis; our client understands this but wants to contact other firms if we can't make the deadline. I'm not giving a guarantee only that - as always - we will do our best.
Do the rest of you have a cut off point (ie must have records by a set date) for guaranteeing to make a deadline, eg 1 month prior, 2 months prior etc?
Thanks in anticipation!
Replies (21)
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Much the best way is to start as soon after the year end as the clients are ready. Then the nine month deadline is rarely a factor to worry about.
I am a bit baffled about the client who "wants" to give you only three weeks to work in. How do they make a virtue out of being so late?
If you need to have a cut off point I would make it three months before the deadline. Clients who take more than six months after the year end to get their records ready are probably not worth having.
lagopav
yes . i insist all returns are in six weeks before or they are terminated.
( as clients not physically ....... yet !!)
3 weeks is too short to guarantee anything
If a client "wants" to send the records in just 3 weeks before a deadline then they must understand that they are likely to get a penalty.
They are hardly in a position to demand any guarantees from you, when they couldn't be bothered to do anything for the other 36 weeks before.
Such delays (and demands) speak volumes about the person running the business and the state of organisation that the person is in.
In such situations, I would "demand" that the business budget for £150 penalty, if it wants to remain a client. That is the penalty for being disorganised.
Three weeks isn't long
We'd generally expect at least a month (and the records would have to be good quality).
I always think its disappointing that a client values the relationship such that he's happy to shop around for some other mug to run around after them rather than stay and take a penalty on the chin for their own shortcomings.
Are there any unusual circumstances?
Blind guarantee
You haven't seen the records. The client is not offering a guarantee that the records are in perfect condition, or that they will respond to queries instantly. With both of these outside your control, how can you guarantee anything?
As for his "contacting other firms" if you can't provide a guarantee, that is just bluster. It would be a very foolish or dodgy firm that took on a client that close to the deadline and guaranteed delivery. If he is able to find one, wish him luck.
Foolish indeed
Particularly if I am going to be dilatory in providing handover information.As for his "contacting other firms" if you can't provide a guarantee, that is just bluster. It would be a very foolish or dodgy firm that took on a client that close to the deadline and guaranteed delivery. If he is able to find one, wish him luck.
But if ...
... there is a genuine reason why they need time to get the accounts to you so late, why not "book" them in now so they are working up the list - if they get there before other jobs then they can tread water until the books come in.
On that basis there is no reason why you cannot guarantee the filing as long as they likewise guarantee the books will be in the day they say. If not you could impose a higher fee as part of you guarantee - in any case I would want the agreed fee with the books as once you file you lose your leverage.
All depends on the client, your relationship with them, their payment record, size and complexity of their work, etc. etc.
After all if you want your car serviced you don't take it in 3 months before and leave it there, you book a slot and take it in on the day. They are effectively booking a slot and subject to your knowledge as described above there could well be there is no reason why you don't give the guarantee
Charge more!
I send a letter 3 months out saying that if the client leaves it another month the price increases by 25%, payable in full up front. I find this results in about 60% getting the source info, 30% doing nothing and 10% leaving.
With 2 months to go, the remaining ones get the invoice for the extra 25% and another letter, saying there is a further 25% to pay up front in full if it goes another month. Usually about 75% get the info. in at this stage having paid the extra 25%.
The vast majority of my clients file miles before the deadlines, many of my limited company clients are filing within 1 month of the year-end. I am fine with people who have a "reasonable excuse" for late filing, but in reality it is the same bunch more or less every year.
If they want a "just in time service" that's fine providing they pay a "just in time" price.
By the way I do exactly the same with self-assessment and can focus on the important stuff in January like watching the Aussie Open tennis!
Are we not in a "service" industry?
It seems that the majority of the responses say "stuff the client, he's late, who cares". We will do our best to get the accounts done and filed (without giving a guarantee) even if the records are provided a couple of days before the deadline. Clients, bad and good, do pay the bills after all.
Not always
Bad clients quite often don't pay the bills. That's part of the problem. Clients, bad and good, do pay the bills after all.
We all have choices
It seems that the majority of the responses say "stuff the client, he's late, who cares". We will do our best to get the accounts done and filed (without giving a guarantee) even if the records are provided a couple of days before the deadline. Clients, bad and good, do pay the bills after all.
Mitigating circumstances aside, this person chooses to bring records in very close to a deadline, so I wouldn't see why I should break my back (and inconvenience my other prompt clients) to accommodate them.
Perhaps I could and would do the work in 3 weeks (if there were no complications, such as handover information and poor records) but damned if I would ever give a guarantee at such short notice - and I would probably be asking for payment up front.
I value the clients that treat me in a similar way to how I treat them. The rest I let go.
Quite simple
If a client waits till close to the deadline they pay a higher fee even if they are not too bothered about the deadline.
For that, they can jump the queue but it doesn't guarantee meeting the deadline - how can it when you have yet to know what you are dealing with and how responsive the client is to queries.
All I do is sympathise, assure them that their work will be made a priority and encourage them to respond quickly. That will give us a 'better chance' of meeting the deadline.
I also give discounts for early delivery by clients. On the latecomers invoice I have a stamp that says, 'Did you know you could have saved up to £X if we had received your paperwork sooner.'
They should know, it's in our LofE.
if someone came to me with the above....
... I would be asking them to find another accountant, unless there were mitigating circumstances.
The same goes with personal tax returns being prepared in January.
We are I a service industry, but I feel it is difficult to provide a full service if things are produced at the last minute.
If someone approached our practice three weeks prior to the deadline and wanted a guarantee they'd be filed in time they'd be told were to go. Or double the bill with payment up front.
Big difference?
I'm intrigued. If the deadline is 3 months away, then we are after their year end. What legitimate reason would the client have for sitting on their records for an additional 2 months? There is no advantage to them of doing so. If they want their accountant to file close to the deadline (to keep accounts information out of the public arena for whatever reason) then they can just ask. "Booking ahead" is akin to putting your towel out on a lounger the night before then getting up late. Everyone else who gets up earlier (read brings their records in promptly) is still inconvenienced. They brought their records in early but are pushed aside in favour of the client who couldn't bother.If someone approached our practice three weeks prior to the deadline and wanted a guarantee they'd be filed in time they'd be told were to go. Or double the bill with payment up front.... they said they want to bring it in 3 weeks before the deadline, not that it is three weeks until the deadline - big difference. We don't know the reason for this, or when, it may be 3 months away, in which case surely the client is being prudent in booking the work now rather than leaving until the last minute!
In all honesty, if the client is planning 3 months ahead to bring their records in late, that tells me he is likely not to have written them up yet (in contravention of company law). I'd be even less likely to give a guarantee on that basis.
May be ....
... they have complex WIP to calculate, contingent on an event not yet occured but which may affect their tax, maybe they are waiting for third party documentation (all unlikely but possible), may be the book-keeper has been found out and they have a backlog of [***] to sort out and want to book the accounts in to give them as long as possible to resolve. There are many possible reasons why they may want to delay, Andy's being the most plausible, but if so and they have booked a date three months hence and stick to it what is the problem, as long as paid for before you file and assuming that allows sufficient time to complete the work? - but I don't think many of us here have clients where two weeks to draft and a week to finalise the accounts would be an issue if we had been given advance warning to put it in our work-flow.
give them incentive
We work with fixed fees
If client get records in within 3 months off year end will get 10% off fee
If within 3-6 months off year end fee will be as fixed
If month 7 after 10% added onto fee
If month 8 after 25% added onto fee
If in final month before due 33% added on fee.
Then up to client what they want to pay.
Could always shorten their year end by a day (on the day before filing due) and get an extra 3 months to file though depends how much you want to assist client if you will do this or not.
This stinks...
From the OP they have the records but they don't want to let an accountant see them until three weeks before the statutory filing date. They set the timetable. To what end?
Perhaps a SAR is over the top but maybe a call to HMRC is appropriate.