Our Fee Structure

All Accountants charge by time. The longer it takes to prepare your annual accounts or tax return, the dearer it’s going to be. The more presentable you submit your information, not only the quicker we get it done, or the more cost effective it is, it also enables us to give you timely and well informed business advice (often resulting in additional tax savings, revenue growth opportunities and so forth)

A common question Accountants get asked is “why is my invoice so much more than last time?” Basically the answer can be broken down into 3 areas.

There was a lot more work to be done, i.e. disposal of investment property, GST did not reconcile, wages did not reconcile, there was a change in business operations, or our biggest issue, poor/incorrect entry into accounting software packages. A common misconception is just because you have Xero/MYOB/Reckon etc., it should be quicker. Well, this comes down to how the data is entered. Garbage in, garbage out, and it takes much longer to sort out garbage. If you liken it to the building trade, I own a hammer, but my builder brother in law will not let me near a renovation unless he specifically wants hammer marks on the new deck he’s building!! Just because I own a hammer doesn’t mean I can build (far from it if the truth be known).
Missing information. We pick up a job, put it down, request information, pick it up, put it down, and request more information. Time, time and more time, equals more cost. Our accounting software programmes are designed to help ensure things run smoothly.
Labour costs go up each year. We do pride ourselves on the fact that the right level of staff will work on your job. We won’t have a partner doing data entry at the partners charge out rate. But labour costs, like petrol, like milk and apparently like housing costs do go up. We feel our charge our costs are more than fair certainly for the compliance work at $50 to $90 plus GST per hour. Yes the specialised tax advice is more expensive and that would be quoted separately.

We also understand clients do not like receiving large unexpected or unexplained bills from their accountant.

We address this in 3 ways:

Estimated Fee (Hourly Charge Rate)
Quoted Fee
Annual Fixed Price Agreement

Estimated Fee (Hourly Charge Rate):

Most of our time is charged on an hourly basis so we are able to estimate the time any work will take and therefore the approximate cost to you. If you would like an estimate before any work is started simply ask. Note an estimate is just that, it should not be taken as a fixed fee or quoted. We will inform you as soon as possible if any major variance is likely to result.

We invoice any work when it is completed or at the end of every month so that large invoices do not accumulate. Unless different terms are negotiated in advance payment is due 20th month following invoice being issued.

Our charge out rates range from $50/$60 (tax management, bookkeepers, junior accountants) to $250 plus GST (specialised tax advice) per hour depending on the level of expertise required. Generally speaking, for compliance work $90 + GST per hour is the highest charge out rate, with most work at the $50/$60 mark (plus GST).

If there is anything that concerns you regarding our fee, we encourage you to discuss with us immediately. We work on the basis that if we do a good job and we do expect to be paid when our bill is due. If we haven’t then let’s make in right and move on with life.

Quoted Fee:

By prior negotiation and criteria acceptable to both the client and Accounting & IT Consultants we may be willing to perform certain assignments for a fixed quoted fee. The assignment and the fee for the work must be agreed in writing prior to the work being started. A deposit for fifty percent of the quoted fee must be paid before the work is started, with the balance being paid on completion.

Any services required in addition to the services contemplated in the quotation will be charged on a time and cost basis or quoted separately.

Annual Fixed Price Agreement.

We are happy to enter into a fixed price agreement which will define the services we will perform as well as outlining our responsibilities to each other. An annual fee is agreed upon and payable by fixed monthly instalments by automatic payments commencing beginning of each month. We look at how much time we think the job will take, increase that by a rate of potential error and then review our time as we move forward against the flat fee that we have charged. Typically, an hourly billed client will pay less for accounting services, however we understand and appreciate the value of foresight. What could be more expensive than a flat charge for monthly services?

Fixed priced agreements start from $80 + GST per month and include GST return preparation, meetings, income tax returns, and more

Any other services outside the scope of our agreement will be quoted on before undertaking any work (i.e. business sale etc.).

If you have any queries about an invoice we encourage you to talk to us immediately.