I am qualified and have MICB status. Recently I made contact with another book keeper who has asked me to help him with some of his work load - this includes working on excel, matching receipts, and bank reconciliation. The book keeper also mentioned that he wants to sign a confidentiality contract.
Could someone please advice what I need to do on my side in terms of signing any contracts? Also, how much should I charge him for doing the work?
Its quite usual to include in one's contract a confidentiality clause and also clauses to prevent the poaching of clients either during or for a set period (normally twelve months) following the enagement.
Check the small print. There may (is likely to be) be an exclsuion clause in there preventing you from working within a set radius of their practice for a certtain length of time. The legitimacy of many exclusion clauses is at best dubious but you don't really want to be stuck figting a legal battle rather than working so check to small print.
The amount that you get is very much down to your own negotiating skills. I would set an absolute minimum as minimum wage and negotiate up from there (I would assume for the level of work described at best they would be looking to go to around £10 per hour) bearing in mind that the person hiring you will be looking to make a profit as well (otherwise whats the point in hiring someone).
You could always try asking for £15 and watching the persons expression before back peddling to a more mutually acceptable rate. You never know, they might say yes.
Most important thing though is to ensure that you are not signing away your ability to have clients within the other practices catchment area.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I think Shaun is pretty much on the money with that. I use 3 self employed bookkeepers and I pay them between £9 per hour (unqualified and doing pretty basic work) to £15 per hour. I recently had an enquiry for a job but I didn't want the bookkeeping side of it (lots of Amazon sales that I dislike) and I referred my £15/hour guy to him but negotiated £18/hour on his behalf and really that is where the difference lies, if you get your own clients you can charge that bit more.
