How much should I charge?

andybirch

I'm thinking of supplimenting my income by offering part-time bookkeeping services (I'm a part-qualified accountant with lots of experience)

I'm unsure how much to charge. I don't want to be overpriced and get no work, but I don't want to do it for nothing either. Has anyone got any experiences of using such services and how much do you pay? Examples from the midlands would be particually useful as I live in Tamworth.

Thanks for your help.

Sarahsaver

between £7 and £10 an hour, i THINK ... or you could charge a monthly subscription fee, then you would be sure of a regular income.

Noozan

I used to do this as I'm a qualified accounting technician. I found it was better to charge an hourly rate and then invoice pro rata. I tried a monthly fee type service but found that I was often asked if I could "look at some stuff for my friend/brother/wife/tortoise etc whilst you're doing that" which I wasn't getting paid any extra for and sometimes felt I found it difficult say no as I had got to know my clients well.

Hourly rate is also better as some people will keep better records than others so some accounts are more work than others. Ie. Some clients kept good records, statements in order etc, whilst other's idea of good records was two carrier bags full of receipts, invoices etc which took ages to sort through.

I was based in Cornwall at the time (3 years ago) and charged £20 an hour. I had a niche in the market though as I speak cantonese and most of my clients were non english speaking chinese and found by word of mouth.

Try phoning around locally to see what other book keepers charge to give you an idea of the going rate in your area. Good luck!

andybirch

I was thinking of charging around £15 per hour, or set a fixed fee for a fixed job. I can see the situation described by Noozan turning me away from that idea though, unless clear boundaries are laid down.

At the moment, I've just contacted a number of accounting firms in my area, who may find my services useful. I'm sure they will be able to charge more that £15 p/h for any work I do, so it should be beneficial for both sides.

Apart from the usual newspapers, Yellow Pages, etc., has anyone any ideas of how to target businesses themselves. I have thought about doing a leaflet drop around the local businesses. Has anyone any experience of how effective these are?

Perhaps I just need to do some more networking :beer: .

Thanks for your thoughts.

Sarahsaver

most business is got through networking, bu using contacts rather than advertising. So you need to get out to local chamber of commerce courses, even the free courses at the inland revenue offices are a hotbed for meeting potential new clients. If people like you the battle is half won. And if someone recommends you all the better, maybe you could offer some kind of incentive to clients who refer someone to you, such as meal vouchers, a free gift and so on. Good luck.

Savvy_Sue

Finding a niche can be a good idea and if you don't have anything useful like Cantonese then building up expertise in a particular field could be another way to go. If you want to target voluntary groups / charities then it could be worth contacting your local Voluntary Services Council, or there are bound to be new childcare schemes coming on line with all the money the government is throwing at wraparound childcare from 0 - 14, so finding your local Childrens Information Service might be useful. Especially if are prepared to help prepare initial cashflows, that can be a nightmare! - and then help people see if they are staying on track.

BUT there may already be people targetting those areas, would just encourage you to think of any of your other interests and skills you could exploit.

Sorry no idea what you should charge!

bridiej

I would think £15 an hour is more likely, I currently charge £12.50 an hour for straightforward typing, although some of my long standing clients are on as little as £8.50 an hour (recently increased my prices from £10 for new customers).

My clients have come from word of mouth, my website and, more recently, I've had quite a few threw my ad in Yellow Pages.

I think the key is to be diverse in your advertising - dont just count on one method. I advertise in the following: Yellow Pages, Thomson, local business directory, village newsletter, website, as many free web directories as possible and at one time even had a postcard in local newsagent windows - although this last option didnt result in anything.

Good luck

andybirch

Thanks for the good suggestions.

I'm concious that I don't over do the advertising so that it gets too much to cope with - I want around 10hrs per week. Ideally I'd like to build it up one client at a time. That way I won't be overstretched which may affect the level of service.

Letters have now gone out to some of the local accountants. I'll let you know how I get on.


Cheers,


Andy.

bridiej

hi Andy

Dont worry about that, it takes a while for people to respond to advertising.

I'm only now at a point where I have to start declining new work due to having too much to cope with, and it's two years ago since I first started sending out mailshots.

Good luck with it all

Trow

£15 is reasonable - thats what I charged up to about six months ago for similar services. I am now charging £17 per hour (AAT qualified). Everyone that knows the standard of my work is happy with that, but you do get chancers that try and haggle you down. Where I am there is a shortage of more affordable bookkeepers - the main firms charge more and provide a poorer service (in general).

Good luck.