Accountants Charge

Wow great answer.

I am simply questioning what I am paying and what I’m receiving. I am paying top dollar for what I believe to be not much. It’s not about being cheap but rather comparing what I am getting to others to be sure I am receiving a decent level of service vs price.

In any case this will be my last post on this useless form, it’s a shame because it used to be a great place to obtain info. It has now turned into a place where people can try to take there frustrations out on others.

 

I am not an accountant, but think you might get better answers is you tell people what exactly you want with the accountant
a) tax returns?
b) financials?
c) tax advice?
d) email questions?
e) phone questions?
f) bas statements?
g) trustee advice on who to distribute to and in what amounts?
h) trustee resolutions?

etc

 

My accountant charges $330/hour, in Sydney

 

You comments are unhelpful and unnecessary, just because you are happy pay to exhorbitant fees doesn't mean others should. Paying more doesn't necessarily mean value ! My first accountant owned by a multinational in a fancy office was much more expensive and cost a literal fortune in tax I had to pay. The accountant I have now just a small office in a back street does much more than miscg's accountant for much less including advice, emails and answering any question promptly. The fees do seem very excessive. Trainee If you want to pay for a flash expensive office and line shareholders pockets good for you.

 

Hi All,
I don't want to hijack this forum from ops. But I noticed my accountant fees have crept up over the year.
we have 4 investment properties all under shared names between my wife and I and some nab trade shares with your 2 PAYG.
Our accountant has exponentially increased their fees over the year. 2017 - $660, 2018 - $750 and now 2019 - $1025.

Do you think these increases are excessive? given they're doing the same job (the situation has not changed). CPI hasn't jumped that much over the years. Wonder how much others are paying with similar circumstance.

 

I charge around $330 but we also do "fixed" price work and guide clients of how they can reduce the time - I would rather do 1 hour x 20 clients then have an absolute bag of crap to sort out for one client . I just did some work for a client and saved him $440K in tax with some good planning. $4K fee for the advice.

Comparing price and value are different.

Mikel - Nab trade reporting is appalling. Its about on par with Commsec. You will find extra costs for the tax work !! eg This years reports dont show what the sales cost. If bought 1, 2 or moire years ago who track costs, tax deferred amounts and other issues ?? If any are ETF or managed funds the tax reports can be a mess. (There wont be any) Accrual adjustments etc....I would suggest a big contributor to costs is using NAB trade. Ask the tax adviser for their opinion. I bet they agree.

 

Why don't you check to see if the hourly rate has changed, or whether the amount of hours have increased? Ask them how they calculated these fees.

I am just making this up as an example, but just say it takes 3 hours for your accountant to do your returns, in 2017, that would equal to $220/hour, in 2018 = $250/hour, and 2019 = $341/hour.
The jump from 2018 to 2019 seems high, but the alternative is that maybe in 2019, more hours were required.

 

We did not sell any shares this yr.
All transactions were purchased and some dividends recieved. The cash account report had all the details if it wasnt pre populated from ato. (Since tfn provided to nab)