Initial consultations are at no charge as we discuss your business and the types of services that it needs. This is an important time for us to learn about your business and how we might be of service and for you to get to know us and consider whether we are the right fit to work with you and support you in your business. During this time we can also discuss any financial arrangements the goal of which is to make this a worthwhile investment for you.
Typically our engagements are performed using the hourly billing model. Early on I had a client that wanted to pay a flat fee and we agreed on an expected number of hours and a rate. Of course, I’m an accountant so I kept track of my time anyway. That’s just who I am and what I do - I keep track of things. But, when we got to the end of the month the client had used 3 hours less than the 10 hours we had estimated. Now, maybe that was going to fine with them to overpay me, but I couldn’t do it. Ever since then I have been using the hourly billing model.
I have an app on my iPhone called TimeMaster and at the end of every day I record how much time I spent for my sixteen clients with a brief note to document what I was doing. There is also usually a small block of time billed for the month that is intended to address the very brief emails and calls and for doing such ongoing activities such as monitoring bank accounts. For clients that don’t contact me this way regularly there is no such charge but for most it is 1-2 hours per month depending on the level of activity required throughout the month. The purpose of this one line item is to avoid there being several tiny entries that are probably not worth listing when they occur. On the first day of the following month I send out an invoice in pdf format.