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Hi Stuart
With regards to rates . Stuart I agree we need to keep our rates as high as we can and yes you know I think we deserve it. I think we need to very careful that we do not knock morale when it comes to what members may or may not be able to get as rate at the moment. It is obvious you are very supportive in your posts to members, but I just wanted to discuss the issue in more depth and look forward to yours and others views.
You also have to be careful that a company does not feel it would be cheaper to employ someone part time or full time, there is a very wide range of what are members can charge in different regions and local areas. Some areas have more businesses than others, and in the present climate , judging by the forum it does seem to be tough out there at the moment for some members.
It may be different in the London area, but there are not many business in Glasgow which is a large city , paying accountants £45 for bookkeeping. If they are ,it is for a limited number of hours after all most well run businesses are not numpties. I have about 30 to 35 hours guaranteed each week and I also have the monthlies, Quarterlies and six months and once a year jobs.
These clients are your bread and butter , and the less travel and unbillable time you have the better. Having a high rate could cause you to have more unbilllable time then you should .
For example if a bookkeeper/Accountant were to do the bookkeeping lets say for 7 hours a week @ £45 a hour for a client that would be £315 for the day , say for 46 weeks of the year that would be a yearly figure of say £14,490 for 1 days work a week. If a company can afford those fees then there is probably quite a bit of bookkeeping and management accounts to be prepared, and I am not convinced you would be doing a thorough job in 7hrs if the company was doing that well. It would include them having other bookkeeping staff and they would need to look at all those costs.
Stuart there are Associates and members out there , not all by any means that have said openly said that they have only 3 to 5 years experience, and there are also Associates and members that have years of experience. As an employer with my own practice and the increasing employee costs, holiday pay and in the future pension costs . I am not sure I would pay anymore then £10 a hour either as sole trader or employee with only that level of experience at bookkeeping they may well be qualified in another role from their career but it did not involve bookkeeping which you are charging clients for and I would always check their work in detail before I could send it to my client.
My concern is that I am sure we have members and associates in the present climate that may well be on not much more then £10 and are qualified, MLR covered and insured if they are running their practice. It is very difficult to find out what is really happening as this is the one area I am not sure everyone is open about. I am afraid the recession has hurt different areas worse then others and hopefully we can support each other on this forum especially the younger members, as the figures for young unemployed today really frighten me for their future. It really does make you appreciate life.
Edited at 20 Jan 2011 09:51 PM GMT
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