How do we price for our services?
A common query we are asked is how do we price for our services? At Dawes Accountants, we have moved away from charging by the hour and only offer fair fixed monthly fees for services delivered. No surprise billing, you will know what you will pay us each month in advance and not be penalised if we are inefficient at completing work for you!
If you think of fixed fees compared to hourly rates using the simple analogy of paying for a taxi, would you rather pay for a metered taxi, in which you will pay additional fees in a driver gets stuck in traffic or takes a longer route, or would you prefer a fixed rate taxi in which you pay a set fee for the journey you wish to complete?!
We believe by offering a fair fee we can provide you the required level of service your business needs and deserves, to not only meet compliance needs, but also plan for the future and save as much tax as legally possible along the way!
If you undercharge for services in business, it will likely end up that you are so busy you cannot provide the service level clients deserve, or you will end up cutting corners to get the work done. No doubt you have previously come across businesses that over promise and under deliver, or do a cheap but bad job. We don’t want to be either of those businesses!
To be able to offer fixed fees we believe the fairest way to establish the fee you will need to pay is by basing it on these two main factors:-
The level of transactions of your business
As your business grows so will the level of transactions, and as these transactions grow our fees will increase in line with the level of additional transactions to process and review.
The level of turnover of your business
In our experience as the level of turnover increases for a business, so will the level of work you will require from us increase. This can be for various reasons, a few of which we have explained below.
VAT
As your turnover increases, you will approach and then exceed the VAT registration limit. (Currently £85,000). As you are approaching the limit, you will have queries on how becoming VAT registered will affect your business and how to plan for the changes.
Then when you become VAT registered, you will have increased complexity in transactions, which will require reviewing to ensure your VAT returns and Accounts are compliant.
Complexity of Accounts and Tax planning
Like VAT, as your turnover increases so will the complexity of your accounting and tax planning. You may start having.
- Loans
- Family Remuneration planning
- Benefits in kind
- Capital allowances to claim
- Tax planning
- Profit extraction planning
We will meet with you and discuss these factors as they start to affect you, as your business grows, and plan with you advance.
Increased level of queries
We welcome queries, and want you to contact us to discuss your plans for your business. We also encourage you to ask any questions you have, even if you think they are silly! It’s the silly questions we like as they are easy to answer! 😊
In this way we can advise you in real time, and not find out about actions taken after the event when it’s possibly too late to help you. In that respect we offer the answering of small queries (Anything up to 15 minutes of time) free of charge and included in your monthly fee. However as your turnover increases, it’s very likely that so will the level of queries, and as such we factor this into your monthly fee.
If a query is something that requires an additional large piece of work to be undertaken, we would always agree a fee in advance of starting this work with you.
More complex accounting standards and Tax legislation (The boring bit!)
There’s nothing accountants like more than staying up to date with changes in Accounting and Tax legislation, but we understand to most this is like a foreign language and very boring stuff!
However unfortunately as turnover increases, so does the complexity of the rules you have to follow. You may go from Micro Accounts (Known as FRS105) to Small Business Accounts (FRS 102 section 1A) and as you increase in size the rules that you are required to follow also increase.
The same applies to taxation, at the start of your business journey very few areas of tax may apply to you, but as you grow you may end up affected by; Personal tax, Corporation Tax, Employment taxes, benefit in kind rules, Capital Allowance claim rules, and lots of other areas of tax that the government love to adjust and change each year!
Do not fear! This is what you pay us to advise you on, and as we have said, this is the type of stuff we enjoy, and as part of being Chartered Accountants are required to stay up to date with.
Hopefully that explains the main reasons we base our pricing on transactions and turnover, but please do not hesitate to contact us. with any queries you may have.
Minimum Prices
Also please do checkout our pricing page (coming soon) to see examples of our minimum prices, to give you idea of our fee levels.
Free Discovery Call
If you would like to book an initial free discovery call to see if we will be a good fit to work together please do not hesitate to contact us.