I am starting out in the bookkeeping business and I am just after some advice about gaining clients who's books I inherit are in a mess and need adapting to my style and system.
How and what do people charge for taking over new clients books?
Or is it a case of doing them for free to gain the new client (I am worried about this as I could be creating more work than its worth)
It's probably best to start fresh at a new financial year, and change onto your way, using the accountants opening balances from the final accounts.
If that doesn't seem practical, draw a line at the end of the month, and start from there. You can go back and correct the previous months. The first thing to do is make sure the previous bookkeeper has the correct opening balances at the beginning of the year. If not, get the trial balance with the correct opening balances and plot the movements since.
If I know what systems you use, I can make more comment.
What you charge is up to you. Best to charge by the hour initially, bill for the clean up work, then and promise a fixed price, say, after doing the first quarter, when you have a better idea of how much work is involved.
Best of luck in your new adventure!!
:)
-- Edited by FoxAccountancyServices on Thursday 16th of May 2013 09:00:59 AM
