Discussion:What are "Reasonable Fees"?

I'd really like some suggestions on monthly bookkeeping, quarterly payroll filing and tax prep fees. Also, is there normally a "set-up fee" charged for new clients. Thanks.

I'll be doing the same for a new client, but will also provide federal & state withholding figures per month (so client can hold back funds) and also quarterly tax filing. Would you increase the monthly rate if calculating withholdings?

CPI 1st half 2002 178.9 http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpid02sv.pdf

$75 X 205.7/178.9 = $86

Assuming you have gotten no smarter and/or have added not technological improvements in the intervening years for which you might be able to grant yourself an increase, just based on the CPI you should be bumping it to at least $86. But what are you doing for $75/mo? Not much, I hope.

My advice which has been very successful for me is to not charge by the hour. Look at the clients work how organized are they , how complicated it is and then set a price fixed per month, once per year you review the account and make any adjustments needed up or down.. This will make the client happy because they now know what to expect and it also helps you with your own budgeting because you know how much is coming in. Any example would be - A client who has a bar has 10 employees, writes approximately 45 checks a month, appears to be well organized. I will prepare the paychecks, all quarterlies and deposits, w-2s & w-3, monthly P&L, and WA state monthly sales tax return. And for this I will charge about $300 per month. Then once a year around the anniversary date I review the account if payroll increased or he is not as organized as he once was, I increase the fee. Likewise if payroll decreases I would lower the fee.

I hope this helps, it is how I do it , and that is not to say it is the only way it is just the way that works for me. Good Luck

Also do not be afraid to charge more. Early on, CPAs almost always make this mistake and then the client faxes them a W-2 with $1m in wages and you feel silly that you were pondering charging $150 or $250 for the return.. its your time.. charge accordingly.. if they say no thats ok too......good luck

also I would avoid direct mailing advertising as that did nothing for me. Blew thousands the first year with very little return.

At a large firm I worked for, we had a flat fee for bkkping clients....but charged per transaction, and other hard and soft costs. The PIC then calculated write up/write down for reasonableness. Bottom line, first couple of months was based on a set up fee and the other months then were average of a few months transactions. Worked for him!!!

$3.00 ?

My rule of thumb is recovery. Generally, I expect 90%+ recovery of my bill rate. For write up work I am willing to reduce that recovery rate to about 70%. If my typical rate is $100/hr and I spend 10 hours a month doing write up work then I expect to bill my client $700.00 a month. If the recovery rate is 50% or less than there is a problem. I need to drop the client because of opportunity costs or increase my fee structure with them.

On the bill, I separately delineate out of pocket expenses for postage, software charges, etc.

Capmark - figure out how much you want/need to make per hour. (Remember, you won't make any money charging $20/hour because you have expenses.) Then estimate how long it will take you to do the work. When giving a quote, I give a range instead of an exact amount. Be sure to take variables into account: Will the work be done at your office or the client's? Is this a rush project? What kind of conditions are the records in? How many questions do you have to ask the client? How much "help" do you get from the client? (I charge extra for "help" because it slows me down and annoys me.)

Flat fee plus per trx, plus payroll tax calcs, plus sales tax returns, plus plus plus

The fee is only for inputting...the setup fee includes some things such as a binder for them to keep, printed g/l, b/s, p&l, bank rec, etc.

I can then write up/write down based on # of trx....to go up on a monthly client, they don't understand they used their debit card 200 x in a month so it has to increase by the number of trx....

DON'T FORGET THE B**CH TAX!!!! hehe

Dont you love the ones that HATE the government? What am I paying for? GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY THEN !!!

Reminds me of a client who HATED the FL unemployment rate...he REFUSED to pay it, even though he had the revolving door....no employee reached over 7K per year in wages....

Notices, intents to levy, etc. he then would pay...it was his stance again "BIG GOVERNMENT"...not that it did not cost him hundreds in penalties...hehe