MHood376-A
Level 1

Talk about your business

So, I'm in a very similar position as what you described for yourself education and research-wise.  I'm not a CPA, but I have had plenty of accounting classes (as well as business management, marketing, negotiations, etc...)  I've scoured forums just like this one looking at the ideas of others in our industry sometimes just out of curiousity, sometimes because I need to find that starting point to dive into an intense study of a particular area.  I just wanted to add to the other advice I've seen on here.  

1.) Price higher than you think you are worth.  I think that most people in our position under value themselves and their contribution to clients overall status.  I can't tell you how many clients have asked me "Is that all?" when looking at my invoice... or how many times I have thrown out a number a little bit larger than I would expect the client to accept, only to have the client not even bat an eyelash at the final total.  They tell me the same thing too - that they aren't willing or aren't capable of doing what I do, and the peace of mind I provide in just taking care of their books is worth more than they just paid.  You will define what you are worth by what you invoice and subsequently collect... and this will change as your knowledge, skill set, and confidence build.  Ask for more than you think you will get.   Worst case scenario, the client is outraged, and you can graciously discount their bill to something you think is more acceptable for both parties.  The next time you do a similar job you have a baseline for what the first one paid, and can adjust your pricing accordingly. 

2.) Don't be afraid of calling around.  Like another member posted - different areas are going to have different pricing structures.  If you are in a large metro area - call around to different people you find online that you think would be similar to you!  You are a business owner looking for bookkeeping services and you would like to know more about their pricing.  You can hear what the firms around you have as a "standard response" and you can learn what you want to say/don't want to say when you get the same type of cold calls.  I personally work in an office where we do a lot of tax prep for individuals.  Every few years we will call around to the bigger "franchise" offices and just ask what they charge for this type of form, or for a return that has this and that on it.  We don't have to identify ourselves and we never take up more than 5-10 minutes of time for the single phone call.  With the bookkeeping services, you should be able to at least find what ballpark you are looking at (in your area).  Charge on the higher end of that.

3.) Talk to the clients that you are onboarding to find  out what they were paying before you... they will likely tell you how they felt about it too... Use that information to adjust your pricing on the fly.

 

Lastly, from your original post I think that you are looking for some specific information (which is really really hard to find in these things!) so I figured I'd just post what we charge for the items you listed.

  - Simple individual tax prep ($200-$350 depending on complexity, form based pricing structure)

 - Teaching a client QBO (billed hourly at $100/hr)

 - Monthly bookkeeping for a small business (estimated hourly for the first few months and then billed out at a steady average fee after the "norm" has been established, usually around $150-$250 per month for a client with 1-2 financial accounts, doing no financial statements)

 - Quarterly tax prep for a small business (if we are doing books, additional $75 per quarter for just payroll reports - if we aren't doing books/tax then it is either the $75 or time billed at $100 per hour)

 - Past years bookkeeping clean-up (3 years?), set up bank rules for future, & autopay bills (*** Your efficiency is your profit... I would charge flat fee per month -$175/$200 depending on volume of data input - and make sure you bill out at that rate for the entire 36 months... Will each month take you the same amount of time?  Especially if you are setting up bank rules, etc.?  No.  You are increasing your profit... and also setting the expectation for the client of what it will cost in the future.  At the same time, you can bill out the months individually or grouped by quarter/year/whatever - so you can space out your billing/collections which should help both you and your client.)