As a client, have you ever had a question you didn’t ask in case it cost money? When you’re buying a service, this can often be the case. What’s included in the price you’re paying, and what’s extra?
We thought it might be handy to shed more light on this. Because although we organise our prices around three different packages, every client is unique. That means that, in practice, no-one pays the same. We’re trying to calculate the right value for each specific client. This also means you might not know about things we’re happy to do as part of the service. Their only price is a ‘thank-you’!
Understandably, most of our clients are too busy to spend much time on our website. This is where we outline the three packages we offer – Growth, Potential or Essentials. Each of them includes a range of services for different needs. I’ve put a link to them at the bottom of this blog, but here’s a brief summary:
- Clients choose our Growth package if they describe themselves as ambitious business owners. It includes comprehensive support and advice to help grow profits quickly and minimise tax.
- We also have a package of services for those who don’t need everything – but do want more than just a set of accounts. We call it Potential, and it includes business and tax planning advice.
- Finally, you get all the basics from our Essentials package, so it’s perfect if you’re on a tight budget. It includes some free extra reports to help improve your numbers.
With all these packages, the price you pay depends on your company’s type and turnover. They all include unlimited free ad hoc advice and our fixed-fee policy. This means that you can call on us at any time knowing that you will never be charged for our time or advice.
So what kind of questions and extras might our free ad hoc advice cover? We had a chat in the office and came up with three real-life examples:
- Will you prepare and submit my VAT returns for me?
We can of course do both. Although we do make an important distinction. Submitting a return that’s already been prepared is straightforward. We’re happy to do this without charge and don’t think about it as a separate service. Preparing the return is different because it’s more complicated and time-consuming. It requires more admin, checking invoices and data entry. So this is a service in itself, and would be paid for separately.
- Can you check outstanding tax amounts on my behalf?
You’ll be relieved to hear that the answer is ‘yes’. This question is often asked when a client gets a statement from HMRC and disagrees with the total. The government’s IT systems can be a monster, especially the PAYE portal. To add to these woes, our country’s tax code runs to around 10 million words! It’s not easy. But we’re here to help, because this is a problem that’s not in your control. We’ll do our best to solve the issue, without any extra cost.
- What about any problems I might have with accounting software?
Most of our clients work with us collaboratively using Quickbooks online (QBO) and Xero. These are good, reliable tools and we’re happy to help you with tips and advice as part of our ad-hoc service. We can also step in as a middleman if you have any more technical issues. These aren’t common, but we can contact the software provider and ‘raise a ticket’ on your behalf. After all, getting the bookkeeping right first time (and without fuss) helps everyone.
Never get an unexpected bill
To sum things up, your fixed price agreement includes unlimited access to our entire team for advice on ad-hoc matters. So I hope you will feel free to speak to us whenever you need to, without ever having to worry about the cost.
Of course, if the issues raised at any of these free consultations need extra research or analysis, we may need to do some extra work. But we will always agree a clear, fixed price quotation for that extra work before this is started. This means that you will never get an unexpected bill.
Our packages – see the links below:
How Merlin can help
To find out more about how we can help your business, please contact us. Our clients say that it’s useful to have a numerate friend prodding their thinking, especially one who understands the issues. If you’re not already a client, please get in touch here. You’ll find us a good fit if you’re looking for an accountant as an investment – rather than just a cost.
