This title will probably cause a stink, but I hate taxi drivers (not them personally or their driving ability – so far I haven’t gotten in an accident with them) and the way they charge – the meter starts running when you get in the cab. This may be fine for the taxi business but I don’t think it fits in an accounting and tax practice. I frequently hear from other CPAs that “we are selling our time” and I respectfully disagree. We are providing services and we have a pretty good idea of what a fair fee for that service is. When you bill on an hourly basis the client doesn’t know how much he will have to pay, so he is not happy. Also an open ended bill has the stigma of a ‘padded’ bill, which also makes clients unhappy. An unhappy client will complain and not refer his friends, business associates or family to you. So I always try to break an engagement into a series of projects, then quote a flat fee for that project based on my experience in providing that service. The client knows in advance what they are paying and I know what I will receive for that job, which means I will try to get it done quickly to be profitable. If there are snags on the job it is on me to complete it. If the snags will be a persistent problem I can then discuss with the client and suggest a new fee in the future. All my job quotes include email and telephone consulting, which I don’t bill for. I want my clients to call and email me with questions and to let me know what has changed in their lives which may affect their tax situation. If they contact me when things change, we can be proactive and can put a plan in place that could save some taxes. If I hear about it in January when the year is over it may be too late to do anything. Quoting a flat fee instead of ‘taxi cab billing’ is another way that you can count on us to count for you!
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