10 Ways to Reduce Your Accountancy Fees

Hello %%First Name%%

I would imagine it's doubtful you've ever had an Accountant advising you how to reduce your accountancy fees, but I thought why not...

Of course, what you really want is value for money. Far better to have an accountant who saves you £5,000 more in tax than another accountant but whose fee is £1000 more.

That said, lets look at our top 10 tips on how you can keep accountants fees under control...

1. Ask what you can do. Ask your accountant what you can do to lower their fees. Often, by changing how you keep your books, you can decrease the fees. Preparing your accounts is often the most time consuming part of your affairs for an accountant, so if you improve your books, this will come down. Perhaps, your time is not best spent making your books better, but you could have a book-keeper you pay £15 an hour to rather than an accountant charging considerably more per hour.
2. First year discount. A bit cheeky but consider asking for a discount in the first year if you were a recommendation, as no marketing cost was incurred.
3. Give to your accountant. Most accountants aren't strictly allowed to pay you for introductions by their ethical rules but if you give them a testimonial, refer clients to them, etc it will probably be remembered when they come to raise the invoice.
4. Small businesses don't need large accountants. If you use them as your accountants, their charge out rates are higher and yet may not use a lot of the benefits their fee levels are for. Try the smaller and medium size firms of accountants first.
5. Pay by standing order or in advance. Offer to pay this way in exchange for a fee reduction. Less time spent debt collecting is good for the accountant.
6. Barter your services. Perhaps you're a printer so say you'll do the accountants printing in exchange for the accountant doing your accounts. You now make a profit selling your services to offset the cost of the accountant.
7. Bring your books in at quiet times. Ask for a lower fee if you bring your books in for the accountant to do your accounts at their quietest times. Accountants have peak times with many businesses having December & March year-ends, plus the Tax Return deadline in January.
8. Don't wait till the last minute. Where possible, avoid asking your accountant to do things at the last minute. Many will charge a premium for putting you to the front of the pile.
9. Be nice & polite to your accountant. Everyone likes nice clients and will want to keep them. Rude clients they are often happy to lose and will encourage this by putting your fees up.
10. Breakdown the quote. Get the accountant to break their quote down between the different services they are offering you, so you can decline any you feel are too expensive.

You'll find you can also use some of the above ideas in reducing your fees for other business services as well.

Of course, you'll find our fees very reasonable and competitive anyway!

To discuss this or for any of your accountancy and tax needs, please give me a call. I'm very happy to visit you without charge for a consultation to discuss how we could help you further.