Your contract will be or will have been priced on a time and value basis – what this means is that based on our understanding of your business at the time we prepare your contract, we will price the jobs you have asked us to do and we will estimate the average number of hours that we expect to spend supporting you throughout the year. We expect that some months we will talk to you more frequently than others, but over the year that time and cost balance out.
Very roughly, each €150 of our fees represents an hour of accountancy services or four hours of bookkeeping services, or a combination of the two depending on our contract with you, per month over the course of the year, our fixed overheads are very low but our training costs are relatively high – as practising accountants we are lifelong learners and we need to stay at the forefront of changes in technology, software, management thinking, tax and accounting regulation. Approximately 35% of your annual fees are allocated to your year-end accounts, tax computations, tax returns and annual filings and the very expensive Accountants Practice Management software we have to use to prepare and file these!
However, at Brady & Associates we recognise that sometimes things change. Your needs and priorities may vary month by month and indeed at different points in your VAT and accounting cycles and, for this reason, we try to be as flexible as possible to meet your requirements. We cannot, however, be all things to all people, all of the time – unless we price and resource your contract that way! If you hit a spot of bother and need more help; if you start to grow and your business requires more support; if your requirements for our support routinely exceed the plan we set out when we priced the contract, we may ask you to move up to the next level of support. Alternatively, we might agree a percentage commission based on your anticipated growth, so we share in the risk and the reward. We also reserve the right, in exceptional circumstances, not to charge you for the extra work but to help you because we like you! Sweat equity if you like.
If you undertake a one off project that requires our support and falls outside the scope of our original agreement, we will consider the implications on your resources and ours and price accordingly. Rest assured we will not charge you a cent outside your contract without agreeing it with you first.
Thank you for understanding
Brendan Brady
