Charge for Bookkeeping - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

akwaw001 · Member

Charge for Bookkeeping

remington · Veteran Member

Hi

Are you a qualified bookkeeper? if so I think £10 per hour is too low, I am an associate member of the ICB, at a seminar I attended earlier this year, a member asked the question regarding fees, and we were told that a qualified bookkeeper should be able to charge between £ 18 to £25 per hour, this obviously depends where you are based etc. I charge £18 per hour, we are professionals offering a professional service. Don't undersell yourself.

Hope this helps

Remington

akwaw001 · Member

Hello thanks for your reply.

I am not an associate member of the ICB but i am a Part Qualified ACCA.
Does that make a difference??

Regards

remington · Veteran Member

Hi

I think with your qualifications, you should be able to command more than £10 per hour.

Remington

morgwick · Senior Member

Maybe you could offer an introductory hourly rate for a set period, and then if the client is happy with the work that you do explain the rate will increase to your "normal" hourly rate.

akwaw001 · Member

Thanks for your input.....

Raamatupidamine · Newbie

It may also work, if You start with little bit lower prices as starting prices. If You already have some clients, You can always move prices up.

akwaw001 · Member

Thanks for your feeedback.. So please let me know in my case if you were in my shoes and this was a new client, how much would you charge to stat with..

remington · Veteran Member

Hi

I would charge £18 per hour

Remington

RobH · Expert

I would say I charged between £12 and 325 depending on the kind of work it was! That'll confuse them!

Rob

Stardoe · Guru

Hi there,

I am not qualified yet (although I have Level II ICB, just waiting until I pass Level III before upgrading from Student to Member.... save money) but I do have a few years of experience and I charge £10 an hour to one client and £9 an hour to another. Once I qualify I will put my charges up to at least £12. So I would say that with your part qualified ACCA you are undercharging

HTH
Pauline

ProBowlUK · Senior Member

It also depends on your postcode ... I think London charges are minimum £22 ph. ashamed

akwaw001 · Member

Hello Bob I live in the Croydon area. CR8 not sure whether that would make a difference.

Merlion ABS · Senior Member

Try a different approach, set a single fee per month, based on your expected time to complete job per month. Agree the fee with the client that you are both happy on so the client knows what he is paying each month and what he is getting for it.

I charge one of my clients £100 a month every month, regardless of how long or how little time it takes. some months it could take me 3 hours and other 5 hours. I pick the books up and then spend about 1 1/2 hours with him going over the figures each month so overall a min time of 5 hours and a max time of about 8 hours, but at the end of the day the client is still getting the same work done with the same end result and he is happy with it.

I think charging by the hour is slowly going to fade out as its so unpredictable. Imagine the hassle trying to explain why you spent 5 hours one month and then say 7 hours the next month. You will end up losing time and money.

it will cause so many problems. Ok its not a lot of money, but the client will feel better knowing that each month he only has to pay out a set amount with no nasty surprises, plus its easier to negotiate fee increases too.

just my 2p worth!!

Raamatupidamine · Newbie

I agree with Merlion ABS - good idea.

I use usually the same strategy with same reasons.

kjmcculloch · Guru

I would agree with using a Fixed Fee. Clients find it more attractive and it's easier to manage. It allows both you and the client to forecast cashflow much better too. I have one client I charge £50 per month, it takes me on average 1h 30min to do her books. That's just over £33 per hour. I couldn't get away with charging that as an hourly rate.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Kris