Our Pricing Ethos
Accountancy Fees that are Clear, Fair and Transparent
At Composure Accounting & Taxation Limited, we believe pricing should never be a mystery. Which is why we take a transparent and data-driven approach to our fees. We want you to understand exactly what you’re paying for and how we calculate your fees. It’s important to us that you know why our approach benefits both your business and ours.
How We Structure Our Fees
When you receive a proposal from us, your fee is clearly broken down into the services that you’ll receive. You’ll see which elements are charged on a monthly, annual, or one-off basis, depending on the work involved…
For regular operational services, like bookkeeping, payroll services and VAT returns, we bill you for the corresponding month.
For services covering a longer period, such as preparing company accounts and tax returns, we spread the fee across the year. If your year-end is 31 December, we’ll bill you monthly from January to December.
Joining Us Mid-Year
If you join us mid-way through your financial year, we’ll simply spread your fee across the remaining months. To align you with our regular billing cycle, your first invoice will also include any work required for previous months. This alignment fee ensures that your billing reflects the work that we are doing for you from day one.
Year-End Already Passed?
So what if you join us just after your year-end. The fee for preparing your company accounts and tax return will usually be invoiced in two equal parts:
The first half will be invoiced when you accept our proposal.
The second half when the work is complete and before any submission to HMRC or Companies House.
Why We Bill This Way
This regular, staged billing reflects our ethos as a company. We don’t just swoop in at your year-end to prepare your company accounts and tax returns. We work alongside you throughout the year, keeping your records accurate and up to date.
For example, we reconcile your accounts every month (covering more than just the bank account). This allows us to spot any issues straight away and resolve them. And it prevents us from having to ask you to recall a transaction from months ago.
It’s all part of our approach and the way we like to work. We work with you on a regular basis to keep your numbers reliable and up to date.
Direct Debit – One Less Thing to Worry About
All our clients pay by direct debit, which reduces your admin and keeps your payments predictable. It also means we don’t waste time chasing overdue invoices (which helps keep costs down and avoids those awkward conversations). We’d rather focus on supporting your business, not chasing payments.
After all, you wouldn’t trust an accountant to advise on cashflow forecasting if they couldn’t manage their own cashflow!
Fixed Fees – So No Nasty Surprises
Almost all our work is carried out on a fixed fee basis. Our fee reflects the complexity and the value of the work we do, not how long it happens to take. We believe that time-based billing can be unfair to both sides. Here’s why:
Not every minute is equal: If a trainee takes longer to do something, you shouldn’t pay more. Equally, if we invest in efficient systems, you shouldn’t pay less just because we’ve worked smarter.
Good days and bad days: Everyone has off days. So your bill shouldn’t depend on whether someone was tired or distracted.
The ‘quick question’ trap: We don’t want you to hesitate to ask for advice because you’re worried about being charged every time the phone rings.
‘Quick Query’ Service
We actively encourage you to ask questions, even if they seem small or are outside the regular services we provide. That’s why we offer a Quick Query Service:
If we can answer your question in under 10 minutes, there’s no charge.
If your query needs any more time or research, we’ll let you know up front. We’ll also give you a fee estimate before starting any work.
We’d much rather you ask the question than risk making a costly mistake because you didn’t want to bother us. After all, good advice often starts with a simple conversation and sometimes, the smallest decisions can have the biggest consequences.
Take this real-life example: A client once sold shares on 4th April. However, they hadn’t realised that they’d already used their capital gains tax allowance for that tax year. If they’d waited just two more days, they would have saved £2,000 in tax. This is something that any qualified accountant would have spotted immediately.
Unfortunately, by the time they told us, it was too late to fix.
That’s exactly the sort of situation that our Quick Query Service is designed to prevent. A quick call before making the decision could have saved them a significant amount of money. (And a lot of frustration).
How We Calculate Fair Fees
We take a data-driven approach to setting our fees and regularly review what’s involved in delivering each service. We assess factors such as:
Complexity: This covers the technical difficulty of the work, the level of expertise required, and the level of compliance risk involved. For example, a company with multiple pension schemes or employees on variable pay will naturally require more time and expertise.
Volume: This includes the number of sales invoices, purchase bills, receipts, and bank transactions we process for you. For limited companies, we also consider things like the number of dividends declared during the year, as well as how often you require management accounts or cash flow forecasts.
This ensures that your fee is fair and that it reflects the real work that is required. Rather than simply being tied to the time taken on any given day.
HMRC Enquiry Fee Protection Service
We include an HMRC Enquiry Fee Protection Service as standard for all our clients. So, if HMRC opens an enquiry into your personal tax affairs, payroll, business tax or VAT returns, our insurance policy will cover the fees to represent you.
So, if you are selected for investigation, you will have nothing extra to pay.
In Summary
Our pricing ethos is built on:
We believe that clear, fair pricing is essential to a healthy working relationship and we find that our clients agree. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help your business.
