Small ltd company..t/o less than £100k. Payroll done in house. Bookkeeping on Qbs. I quoted £600 for accounts and CT600. Fixed fee.
Told it was too high. I thought I was pricing aggressively but seems I'm not that keenly priced after all.
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Suspect depends how good the books are, but must say if have to say check bank rec, net pay rec, PAYE/NI rec, pension contributions/deductions rec, SLCA and PLCA plus stock, accruals, prepaid, depreciation, I think £600 would be as low as I could go.
If really simple business without a few of above might be able to shave £100 down to £500, but that would have to be pretty close to bottom and would need really tidy/correct books to run at that sort of level.
Bookkeeping would need to be pretty hot for that.
I am happy to justify my fee to any client but I don't participate in a race to the bottom.
There is always someone who will be willing to do it cheaper than you whatever price you give.
Minimum we would do is £80 + VAT per month and that is with excellent record keeping. ie fully reconciled TBL.
We dont compete on price but compete on value.
Never price low to get work... You end up working for nothing!!. Explain what you have to do for the client and stick to your quote, then if he asks for additional services, management accounts, advice etc... charge him additional fees.
t/o less than £100k
If it's anywhere near £100k, it's not that small and they can certainly afford a £600 fee. They will be VAT registered, so they won't have to absorb the £120 vat element of your fee and you'll need to review the VAT schedules, along with bank rec etc. and all before preparing stat accounts and CT return. Some years ago I did accounts for a company that wanted an audit (despite no requirement for one). The bigger firm that did the audit also wanted £900 just to turn my final accounts into XBRL format! So charging less than that to prepare and file full accounts and CT return seems insanely cheap to me and I wouldn't do the work for that fee.
OC wrote: t/o less than £100k
If it's anywhere near £100k, it's not that small and they can certainly afford a £600 fee.
Even if their costs are £120k?
Bottom feeding if you take it on.
Would not even consider doing it at your quoted price.
Have you seen what you pay for a plumber/electrician/roofer?
Depends how desperate you are ... I've worked on and off for about £5 an hour in the far distant past, but never again ... when clients start off by quibbling over fees, you can bet your bottom dollar that they ain't gonna change that fast ... and will almost certainly end up dragging their heels over paying up
£600 is too cheap in my opinion, especially if its a new customer with all the AML stuff to do. We wouldn't consider charging anything remotely close to that or there just wouldn't be enough profit in the job. If you are a sole practitioner working from home with low overheads in a cheaper region of the country then maybe less, but even still £600 is too cheap. If you go in with a cheap price you will be forever playing catch up and probably end up cutting corners.
The problem is not that the fee is too high but that people are prepared to do it for less! Client will find someone cheaper and never know if it is right or wrong and HMRC may never check but he will be happy knowing that he is paying the lowest possible amount, thinking all persons calling themselves accountants have the same skill and knowledge and ability. Do not lower your fee or your standards for the sake of £600.
I would tell this mean & [***] client that I would reduce the fee to the minimum to retain him and prepare the accounts from the final TB, and submit the accounts without dealing with queries, offering no advice and accept no responsibility if the accounts come enquiry by HMRC. He should not have his cake and eat it.
I don't think £600 is aggressive. My work in rural North Devon/Cornwall is high volume low value and that is what I charge. I would suggest that if they think they can get it cheaper they really need to be looking at what they are getting for the money!