How Much Will it Cost?

We are very happy when people find us on Yelp!  We are grateful for the positive comments people have written about us there, and we receive a good number of calls and emails from Yelpers who are looking for accountant.

But recently, without telling us, Yelp added a “Request a Quote” button on the page with our reviews.  Ugh!

We always want clients to know what the cost of our work is going to be before we start doing it.  That’s not the problem.

The problem is “Request a Quote” results in people following directions and writing in asking, “How much do you charge to prepare taxes?” or, “What’s your price for doing an audit?”

We — like most accounting firms — don’t have a price list for services like this because there is no such thing as a generic tax return or one-size audit.  Billionaire Warren Buffet submits a tax return just as you do… only his is a bit more complicated and costs more to prepare than yours does!

What we do when you are considering our services is to invite you in for a  free introductory meeting in our office.  You’ll talk with one of our partners, see if you like us, and tell us about your situation.

We ask that you  bring in information that will let the partner know the scope of the work you need.  For tax clients, that would a copy of last year’s tax return and the current year’s financial information.  For a bookkeeping client, it might be a copy of the financial reports you are getting now or a list of the reports that you want to see.  The information we ask you to bring varies according to help you’re looking for.

The partner will explain what services our firm offers and how we can help you.  Usually that’s straight-forward: you come looking for tax preparation help, and the partner will tell you we prepare taxes!  Sometimes, with complex financial situations, the partner’s explanation will be more expansive, unexpected, and show a path that you hadn’t anticipated.

Whatever your situation, at the end of the meeting the partner will have a good idea of how much of what type of work we need to do to meet your needs. This will let the partner give you an estimated cost for the engagement.

I wish it could be quicker to get quote.  Unfortunately, for professional services there are three choices:

1. Have a price list with services set so high that even convoluted examples of the generic service are profitable. This method gives you a fixed, assured price, but it’s a price higher than almost everyone would pay if they were charged for assistance by the hour.
2. Have a price list with fine print that basically makes the list useless for our target clients, people with complex financial situations.   For a tax return, the fine print would be something like “* good for tax returns using the standard deduction with only a single state W-2 income“.
3. Learn exactly what the client wants, customize a response, and provide an estimate for the exact work needed by the client.

We use method #3.  It doesn’t let us give quick answers by phone or email. But, we think it’s more straight-forward, transparent, and cost-effective for the client.

If we can provide you with a no-obligation, customized estimate for your accounting engagement, give us a call!  We are at 415-433-4500.