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| Our
Fees
We would like to take this opportunity to provide you
with information that will assist you in minimising
accounting costs. Especially now that the GST has created
the need to maintain better records and the requirement
for more regular reporting.
Firstly it may help if you understood the process which
is undertaken by the team here at Black & Krantz
to complete your job. Some common questions that you
have asked are as follows:
12 Steps to minimising
your accounting costs:
1. How do accountants
charge?
All Accountants charge by time. The longer it
takes to prepare your Return the dearer it's going to
be. Some businesses sell hamburgers. Real Estate Agents
get paid commissions, and ACCOUNTANTS SELL TIME. The more
presentably you submit your accounts, the quicker we get
it done, and the more cost effective it is. We only have
8.0 hours per day to sell and we would not be in business
if we gave our product away.
2. Can you
give me a quote for the job?
Just like its impossible to quote a building job
over the phone without looking at the plans, or value
jewellery over the phone, it's not possible to know how
long any accounting work might take.
Two sets of books for the same business can take twice
as long for one set as for the other depending on how
the books are presented. Please work with your accountant
to try to minimise the time, hence the cost. Ask your
accountant for a more efficient way of presenting your
books to us. The more you do the less it will cost. Make
sure everything is there. Should the accountant pick up
and put down your work waiting for missing information
the more it will cost and the longer it will take.
We do enter into Fixed Price Agreements which we stick
to and honour for one year or one assignment - and then
we re-negotiate annually.Where we are able to provide
a quote, we would need complete access to your financial
records, computer system and your tax and ASIC records
to provide a realistic quote.
3. Why is my
bill so much more this year than last year?
Basically three reasons
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There is a lot more work this year. Example: could
be an extra lease or turnover / activity has gone
up, extra things you required us to do. Capital
gains tax calculation, sale/purchase of business.
Purchase a new investment property, GST or BAS advice. |
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Increase in our charge out rates as our labour
costs are going up every year. |
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Due to missing information. If information is
missing your accountant will leave the job, pick
up a new job and will not come back until the current
job is complete. The more often a job is put down
& picked up the more time is added to the job. |
It is in our interest to complete the job quickly so we
can get onto completing the next job. We earn the same
amount of money and have a lot more happy clients.
4. The MYOB/QuickBooks
salesman said that the software should reduce my accounting
costs but it's actually doubled (in some cases tripled)?
Basically garbage in, garbage out. It takes much
longer to sort out garbage.
The most frustrating thing (and every Accountant says
the same thing) is when a client gives you a years computer
printouts (after spending hours getting it to this stage)
and we have to spend hours and hours sorting out the mess.
Efficient computerisation of your accounts depends solely
on the operator. If the operator is good then it would
definitely reduce time.
However if the operator is not good then it takes a lot
more time and we need to use a more qualified (higher
cost) accountant to try and sort out the mess. If the
operator is not good then it's much more cost effective
to simply supply cheque butts & bank statements. We
can use a more junior staff member to process it at a
lower charge out rate saving you money.
5. You're my
accountant, why is someone else preparing my tax return
It's more economical to you. It's silly to use
a specialist to stitch a minor cut when a G.P can do it
at a much lower cost for you.
THE PARTNERS
OF BLACK & KRANTZ HAVE THEIR OWN PERSONAL TAX RETURNS
PREPARED BY OUR TEAM.
Don't forget the accountants are doing this daily and
when you do something daily one becomes very quick and
efficient.
All of our team have University Degrees or are in the
process of attaining one, and some are CPA's and Chartered
Accountants. They undergo over 60 hours per annum of CPE
(Continuous Professional Education). Our partners and
associates have over 15 years experience each.
There has been some confusion recently about the role
of your accountant. He/she handles your day-to-day needs
including preparation of Income Tax Returns. They may
or may not have the experience to answer investment, strategic,
structural or tax planning questions. The partners, Julian
and Andrew, and Senior accountants look after answers
to those questions. You may like to direct your questions
in the first instance to your accountant. If they are
unsure of the answer they will either find out or Julian
or Andrew will call you back with the answer.
Many of our accountants also act as your Client Managers.
Our concept is that they will be your central points of
contact with other specialists in our firm. They will
generally review and keep up to date with what our company
secretarial; software, financial planning and superannuation
divisions are doing for you.
You are free to contact any of your specialists at any
time, but your Client Manager will know how your affairs
fit together, and will best understand your overall situation,
wants and needs.
However if you are unhappy with your new or old Client
Manager please, by all means, notify Julian / Andrew and
we will move you to another person. It's difficult to
match people perfectly and we can get it wrong sometimes.
So speak out if you are unhappy with anything at all and
we will try to correct it.
If you are unsure of an answer given to you by an accountant
please do not hesitate to confirm the answer with the
Partners.
6. Current
Charge out rates (exclusive of GST)
|
Level |
Rate |
| Partner |
$290.00 to $320.00 |
| Accountant
1 |
$200.00 to $260.00 |
| Accountant
2 |
$140.00 to $190.00 |
| Accountant
3 |
$100.00 to $130.00 |
| Financial
Planning |
$195.00 |
| Support
Staff |
$80.00 - $140.00 |
| Administration |
No charge |
7. Does my
income tax return get reviewed before I receive it?
The Accountant processes all the accounts
and produces a draft set of accounts. He/she then goes
to the Associate who completes a 37-point checklist to
confirm the integrity of the return. The Partner and the
Client Manager discusses the Tax Planning. It's this tax
planning session that could save you thousands in tax.
The partner spends quality time and the accountant spends
quantity time. The accountant then finalises the accounts
according to the Partners instructions. Sometimes the
client is called in to discuss various problems or look
at options. These processes are designed to minimise the
costs to the client and maximise the benefit.
8. I asked
you to run your eye over this document and you send me
a bill
Don't forget our business is to sell time.
If the task takes less than 5 minutes (like a phone call)
then it's done for free. More than 5 minutes it’s
charged (including phone calls). We only have 8 hours
per day to sell. If we give it away for free we would
not be in business and be able to offer our services.
Whenever we request an answer to a question from our tax
solicitors they send us a bill. Once again based on the
time spent (at $450 / hour). It's not unusual to get a
bill for $112.50 for a 15-minute phone conversation. This
is standard practice. We understand that if we want their
time we have to pay for it.
9. How are
your fees compared to other accountant's?
We are about 25% better value than the
Big 5 firms are and about 10% cheaper or similar to other
Suburban Firms of similar size.
10. Are there
cheaper accountants than Black & Krantz?
The only ones that are cheaper are the
one-person operators working from home. However what you
get is simply a bookkeeping service and he/she will be
unable to provide strategic solutions to particular problems.
He/she will not have the resources to keep at the cutting
edge of tax changes. What you save is a few dollars in
Accountant fees could cost you thousands in lost tax benefits
and the benefits of an integrated service.
Like most other businesses, to be in business you must
make profit, the average net profit of Accountancy firms
is around 20%. Therefore if the client receives an account
for $1,000, the net profit on the job after wage costs,
rent, insurance etc is $200.00.
11. Why has
the job taken so long?
| a. |
In the peak period it will take longer. |
| b. |
Missing information will delay the
job. |
In the PEAK PERIOD between August and March the turn around
time may stretch out to 2-3 months or more, as every one
wants their work done in this period. Every Accountant
in Australia is in the same boat. So please be patient
in this period.
In the OFF-PEAK PERIOD between April and July turn around
time drops back to a few weeks.
Just like there are peak and off peak periods for holiday
accommodation every Accountant is in the same boat. So
be prepared for delay in the peak period between August
and March. Remember how hard it is to get accommodation
during school holidays.
12. Paying
accounts on time
Please help us provide you good service by paying
your accounts on time. Without payment we cannot provide
the resources to give you prompt service. Some clients
take a long time to pay but expect us to drop everything
and attend to their needs immediately. It must be a two
way street.
Payment is due upon completion of work, unless alternative
arrangements have been structured.
Firm Policy is that no further work is to be carried out
for a client, if there are accounts for which the date
for the payment has been passed and no payment has been
received by us.
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Cash |
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Cheque |
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BankCard |
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MasterCard |
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VISA |
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Monthly Periodical Payment |
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EFT - Electronic Funds Transfer |
You have to get the best service possible and we have
to be given the opportunity to provide it within the constraints
available to us. |
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