Good records vs bad records

Good records vs bad records

Didn't find your answer?

Simply put: Client A accounting records consist of 5 bits of paper in an envelope. Client B has well written up cashbook supported by an organised file of invoiced, a duplicate sales book and a sheaf of bank statements. Client A gets charged 150 quid because it takes 5 mins. Client B pays 500 because it tkes longer to assimilate all that info. do a Sales leder control etc.

Why not charge 'em both 500 - otherwise there is no incentive to improve. They are probably both doing the same job and earning the same money.
Anon

Replies (7)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

avatar
By rhangus.
16th Oct 2008 02:07

q waste of time
If u want a proper answer from someone like me then u need to word your pathetic q a lot better after considerable thought.
Im not about to go through the merits of comparing apples and pears

Thanks (0)
avatar
By User deleted
14th Oct 2008 12:12

The answer...
The answer depends on -

1. How you bill - time based or fixed fees
2. What sort of clients you want
3. How you operate your practice

Unless I could get client B to improve his/her records I wouldnt want to keep them long term.

What I want is lots of client A's who perceives they get good value at £500 for a job which on a time basis you could charge £150.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By listerramjet
14th Oct 2008 09:12

incentives
I guess if you do the work for A for £350 he has no incentive to employ a part time bookkeeper to do it properly - and he will probably blame you when the taxman or bank pull the plug on him. Ho hum

Thanks (0)
avatar
By User deleted
14th Oct 2008 09:07

Fee structure
this seems a bit pointless, you have to have some sort of fee structure in place.

regardless of the records kept, you have to set a fee based on the amount of work done.

it just doesnt seem good practice to start plucking figures out of the air on the of chance the client will improve.....they will only improve if you give them some proper bookkeeping training. otherwise they are off and your out of pocket

Thanks (0)
avatar
By AnonymousUser
14th Oct 2008 08:53

Not realistic
More usually client A will deposit a carrier bag with 500 pieces of unrelated paper. He will also not provide any bank statements for correlation of income and expenses. His will take time to put together and will be inherrantly more risky to you as you will have to rely more on his word.

If the 5 peices of paper include your client's estimate of the accounts figures e.g. sales, purchases etc etc surely you wouldn't just accept it as correct anyway?

Thanks (0)
By David2e
14th Oct 2008 06:43

The same?
Peter mentions the time v value invoicing which is a good point... but I'm trying to understand why these two are so different in what they provide if they are doing the same work, same turnover etc.

What are the "5 bits of paper"?

Are they doing the same number of transactions?

Why does Client B need so much more information, and work involved if it is much the same as Client A which provides next to nothing?

David Toohey
The Accountants Circle

Thanks (0)
By petersaxton
14th Oct 2008 05:54

Time v value
It depends on your view of invoicing.
Do you invoice according to the value to your clients or according to the time spent? You can at least warn the client with the bad records.

Thanks (0)