Clean Up After Your Mess

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#1
CP Hay  
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226
Joined:
3-Apr-2019 5:24pm
Location:
NEW YORK (NY)
It's not uncommon to come across small business owners who either want to do their own bookkeeping or don't have enough money to hire someone to do it. However, when it comes time to prepare the tax return it is inevitable that some clean up still has to be done. It's tricky because it's like stepping in quicksand. You go in and before you know it you're up to your neck in it.

Do you come across this often in your practice? Do you clean it up and bill separately or do you refer them to a bookkeeper to get the books in proper order first?
 

#2
CathysTaxes  
Moderator
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3557
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21-Apr-2014 9:41am
Location:
Suburb of Chicago
I came across it all the time and even though the client said they wanted me to clean it up, they didn't want to pay the fee, so I suggest get a retainer and when it runs out, don't do any more work without an additional retainer.
Cathy
CathysTaxes
 

#3
Posts:
2611
Joined:
24-Jan-2019 2:16pm
Location:
North Shore, Oahu
We either do the books (limited scope, very small clients only, and limited client intake) or the client does the books. Nothing in between.

If someone wants clean-up or if it a big job, we refer them out.

I like to take a little bit of the easy ones so staff has some work in the off season in between vacations (we are a "sprint" firm by culture, not a "marathon" firm).
 

#4
Posts:
365
Joined:
7-May-2014 1:13pm
Location:
DC Metro
When we get a customer like this we put the return on extension. We then clean up the books after the season. We try to take over the bookkeeping and tell then if we can, we can prevent from extending and also give them valuable info for decision making, etc.
 


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