Frequently Asked Questions
To assist with minimizing the costs of managing your books, we have compiled a list of most commonly asked questions and tips on what you can actually do to save money on your accounting and bookkeeping fees.
How much do you charge?
Accountants sell their time. The cost will depend on the time and complexity of the work to be completed. For example, the longer it takes to prepare and enter bookkeeping data, complete financial reports or prepare tax returns, the more it will cost. Just like it is impossible to give a value of jewelry over the phone, it is also almost impossible to tell how long your accounting and bookkeeping needs will take without you providing detailed information about your current accounting status so that a clear understanding of work to be performed may be provided.
The best way to save money is by delivering all requested information at once in organized fashion. Putting down the project due to incomplete data and picking it back up later takes longer to complete the work than it would have to if all records were received up front in the capacity to work straight through.
Do you offer free consultations?
Yes, we do for those who qualify. In order to receive a free consultation, we require a pre-consultation questionnaire to be filled out to make the most use of your and our time.
During the consultation, we analyze your current situation and focus on setting goals and streamlining process to get the desired results. Based upon the information received, we will provide you with an estimated cost.
In some cases, the provided information may not be enough, and we might ask for more information before we can provide you with a more accurate estimate.
Are the fees fixed or do they change?
Fees are fixed per month, based on amount and type of work to be completed. For example, rate increases generally happen if the amount of transactions has increased over time additional services are added, more time is spent on correspondence due to missing information and resolving discrepancies.
For any additional one-time or project-based services requested outside of your current monthly service plan additional amount will be charged to your account for these additional services performed. We never change the rates without sending notification beforehand.
How do your fees compare to others?
Being a small firm, you will find that our rates are much lower comparing to those of other medium or large sized accounting firms. On the other hand, you can also possibly find a lower rate service provided who is in need for extra income, like retired worker or an accounting student.
When comparing the fees, we recommend looking at skills and efficiency vs just price. For example, hiring someone not as efficient or as skilled at a lower rate can easily cost more due to longer time it takes to complete the work or having to pay later a professional to fix mistakes.
We spend number of hours each year keeping up with industry changes and always looking for better and more efficient tools to help your business. We believe that your success is our success.
Can you help me set up a system, so I can do it myself?
Yes, we can. This idea usually arises in order to save costs on accounting or bookkeeping fees. However, looking at productivity and time spent, this option is often more expensive than hiring a professional in the first place.
It is always better to focus on your core business activities in order to increase output vs. spending your previous time on learning new tasks that are not generating new revenue to the business. We will be happy to provide you more detailed cost comparison of managing in-house vs. outsourcing.
I am not ready yet; can I contact you at a later time? (Year-end / tax time)
Yes, we are happy to have you as a client any time of the year. However, when it comes to savings think of “in season” vs “off season”. Just like most businesses, we have peak times. Ours are between December and end of April. Prepare to pay more for faster service or if you need to catch up and finalize your previous months of bookkeeping work during busy tax season.
Money saving tip: Sign up for monthly plan and we will keep you updated throughout a year and get you ready for time.