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[Guest Taxed]

I did and got burned! So now I hire high school senior or college freshmen to do data entry, filing, organizing etc. I offer them very flexible hours around their schedules and food!

I completely agree with you, we need some assistance during peak period otherwise we will lose our sanity! I am very fortunate that my family always supports me those days.

Next year I will be looking for an accounting major student and teach them how to do simple returns behind the scene. i will be signing the returns. That will free up some time for me and I could just cut my hours during rush season or get a few more business clients. A few of my business clients have introduced me to their business contacts and we are discussing a few opportunities.

Also for the right candidate it could be an opportunity to be a junior partner buy me out in a few years!

[rfassett]

Very interesting. BTW how many clients do you have?

I can see a point of diminishing return as you start getting more and more clients if you are the only preparer. That is when you need a junior partner or employee!

Do you have clients who balk at $55/hr for writeup work?

We have lots of unemployed or under employer bookkeepers in our area so I could not charge that rate!

At the time I took that bold move, I had another CPA. a non-CPA accountant, two data entry folks, a secretary and an office manager on my staff.

I do not discuss the hourly fee with clients unless they tie me down and threaten to cut off my fingers one by one. The client's only concern is getting the job done at a price they can afford. Yes, occasionally we will have an objection to the fee. As they say, if you are not getting complaints about high fees, you are charging too little. But I am not smug about those complaints. I believe in providing value in exchange for the money. If the client complains, either his expectations were contorted or he does not appreciate what we do. In either case, I did not do my sales job properly. And on occasion, we will find that there was additional time that should have NOT been charged to the client, i.e, researching an issue for a half hour which could have been answered by asking someone else in the office that has already researched the issue. I look at and analyze every fee objection. And sometimes, the client chooses to go elsewhere. And that is valid. I can not be all things to everybody and I refuse to work for free unless the decision to work for free is a conscious decision on my part.