Accounting & Bookkeeping & Small Business Forum

[Guest]

I had a few questions around billing clients and was curious to know what others experiences have been.

1) If you are charging your clients by the hour do you charge them for your travel time if you come out to their location?

2) If you work with your client on a fixed monthly fee, how do you address the travel expense issue?

3) Clients that are on a fixed fee contract let's say you charge them $150 a month for 100 transactions, what happens when their transactions change? How do you approach them for increased fees, etc?

Thanks,

Dave

[Guest]

Hi Dave,

If you already have the clients and their engagement agreement signed, you need to refer back to the content there. If you are starting, plan for the possibilities in the agreement. Include a travel fee if required to go to client site and no charge if they bring the work to you. Discuss this in your presentation, just briefly, and the customer will be approach it fairly as well.

It is customary to always calculate the actual mileage from your location to theirs and always bill that amount. E.g. if you actually travel there from another client site and it is farther, you need to bill them consistently for the mileage from your home/office to their location. The billable rate that I use and have for quite some time is $15/hour, 15 minute minimums. I've worked for CPA firms and they charge that or even more for ALL travel time.

The sample agreement and calculation forms included in your materials provides for the possibility that the transactions will go over the initial amount. Just be sure to include that in your agreement language. Also, new clients should be set up for a 90 day review.

Micki