MIP Fees Survey - How much should I charge?

burg

So what's the answer?

Many questions are asked in this and other forums around pricing. This can range from one off jobs to pricing in general. A good guide is looking at how long it will take and using your desired hourly rate to come up with a fee. Another guide is to get hold of last years' accounts and look for what the client paid last year. Surely a good idea would be to find out what would others charge for the same work? Well now you can (anonymously).

I plan to run a fees survey to all MIP's, experienced, new and potential.

It will involve a series of questions (sent via private message or email) surrounding different examples of accounts/tax work for which you answer how much you would charge. (here's an old example bases on Monsoon and Steveo5678 - forums.aat.org.uk/discussion/438929/mini-fees-survey-2014)

I will then compile the data keeping your identity anonymous to the other participants. All participants will receive a copy for which you can compare where you sit against others as well as against the averages.

The more interest we get the better the results will be so please add you name below or private message me. Don't be scared the questions will be straightforward and if you don't provide any data you don't get any results. Not all of us can be right or wrong and there are bound to be variations, so please sign up below and have a go.

Ian

Buhir_the_Bookkeeper

info@totalbooks.co.uk -

Buhir_the_Bookkeeper

brilliant idea

MarieNoelle

Please add me to the survey - thanks MN

Dinky

Please add me too - thanks

shughes

A good idea. Please add me to the list. Thanks

DTS

Add me to the list please

ian_c

Yes please count me in!

burg

Here is the link to the fees survey - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ynl8pb4xuub3hsz/AADpEkyP6XbxItDwwt_XGKwIa?dl=0

Please download it and then complete the yellow shaded cells and send back to me via email to ian@mbsaccountants.co.uk

Please remember to provide an anonymous ID in the first yellow cell so you can remain anonymous but find your own results.

burg

Just so it is clear for all.

The idea of the fees survey is to get an idea of what you do and what you would charge. So if you do not have any clients which fit into one of the fee points but can come up with a good estimate of what you would charge then please do. The more data we have the more useful to everyone. If you really are unsure then do leave it blank.

stevo5678

Good shout Ian, I think this is very helpful for many of us on many levels. I'm in

Patricia

Good idea, please add me in.

Cristobalina

Please add me too, thank you.

charlenebb

Yes great idea please add me in

SirLes

I'll participate!

Pete12

Please count me in!

LouiseRichardson

Please count me in.

burg

Hi all,

I plan on closing this survery at the end of April and putting the results together. If you want to be included and have not done so already then please can you complete and send the document to me at ian@mbsaccountants.co.uk.

Document is here - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ynl8pb4xuub3hsz/AADpEkyP6XbxItDwwt_XGKwIa?dl=0

Regards,

AndrewG

Good idea. I'll certainly participate.

burg

Here is a link to the results summary http://bit.ly/1FnnJj9

If you took part in the survey and have not received the full report please send me an email or private message and I can look into this for you.

Thanks to everyone who took part

stevo5678

Thanks Ian very useful! I'm probably where I expected above average on here by a little. I'm not as cheap as I thought! Particularly with minimum fees from a simple SA to a very small Ltd. Certainly not as expensive as some though. Would be interesting to see how MIP's fees change based on where they are in the life of their practice. As you said Ian, you are now a 'proper' business, does that mean you now charge proper fees?! Thanks again. Steve

burg

When we gain clients from other practices I sometimes use this as a benchmark to see where we are at. I find we are about right for most sole traders. As for Ltd Co's we are a little cheap still at the lower end and usually about right at the higher end. Overall we generally achieve the recovery rates we want so are happy but we will always continue to monitor them.

Pete12

This is very interesting - thank you!
I wonder if, in future surveys (or even better, this one as well - retrospectively), it would be possible to assign participants to geographic areas; intuitively, this is probably a significant factor to consider.

burg

It is something we are looking at Pete. Ideally though we would need to increase the number of participants somewhat.

Jawz

Brilliant survey report Ian,well done and thank you! Sorry I missed the survey. Been offline for a bit but hopefully back for good now

Kimozaki

Have just come across this. Planning to become an MIP and have no idea what I should charge (I work in industry). Your results summary is a little gem - thank you!

If you run it again next year then I'd be happy to contribute where I can

Londina

Definitely for VAT Cash accounting I would charge double the fee of a normal VAT return, since it takes longer to prepare!

star2305

Hi, I'm new to this forum. For some reason I can't open the link with the result. Can someone pls re-post it to me?