What do you get for your money? (2)

This is a follow up to my earlier posting on this topic.

Many accountants find it difficult to 'sell' good advice to their clients - especially the entrepreneurs. At the end of the day there may be a big fee but there is rarely a big production. The result of their research and advice is just that there isn't any tax to pay.

In an effort to justify their big fees what do accountants do? Sadly they all too often produce big reports containing their advice. The logic behind the production of a big report is often - A big report evidences lots of time which justifies a big fee.

The same goes for long letters. Personally I made it a rule never to send a client a letter that was more than 2 or 3 pages in length. I also followed bast practice and used plenty of headings and sub-headings. These can be useful road signs on the way through a lengthy document.

Now here's today's tip.
Tell your accountant that you don't want a big report or a long letter when you ask for detailed advice. If he/she is to write to you you don't want anything more than two pages.

This will inevitably reduce the fees you would otherwise be charged. Why? Well there's less evidence of the work that's been done. And, generally it takes less time to produce a two page letter than a lengthy report. All written documents sent out by accountants need to be dictated/written/typed, checked, amended, reviewed and finalised. The shorter the document the less time it takes and that invariably leads to reductions in the fees charged for the work.

Another benefit of this approach is that you don't have to pretend to read a long report/letter or feel guilty that you haven't looked at it. This should mean you can have a better idea of what's really going on.