The 2008 Fee Survey results are in - do you charge enough?

The 2008 Fee Survey results are now in, and they may cause some raised eyebrows.

Did you know that for just about everything apart from audit, value-billing appears to net practitioners over 10% more than hourly billing? Or that firms with one to three partners generally tend to charge less than either sole practitioners or bigger firms? Can you explain why practitioners in the South West charge less than those in any other part of the UK? When accountants quote up front, how reliable are they?

The answers to all these, and more, can be found in our downloadable Fee Survey, which has been kindly sponsored by Sage. We will be running a series of feature articles analysing all the interesting elements of this survey, but for those who want to see the big picture, the 2008 Fee Survey is downloadable here [1].

National averages from the 2008 Fee Survey

A simple tax return for an employed individual who has some interest income and dividends? £149

Annual accounts for a sole trader working with income of between £40,000 and £50,000?£527

Partnership tax for a partnership of two indiduduals, each earning between £35,000 and £40,000? £557

Quarterly management accounts for a limited company with 12 staff and a turnover of £750,000?£1,310

Audit for a limited company with 25 staff and a turnover of £1.5million?£3,687