accountant productivity

[rodobasilio]

My name is Rodolfo and I have an accoutancy practice in London.

My question is : What is the best way to measure productivity in my company ? Also , How many clients ( an average ) of account can deal with ? Is it different dealing with soletraders and limited companies.

Do we have any research about the subject ?

Regards
Rodolfo

 

[DFL]

How long is a piece of string?

Get the right clients, using the right software, keeping good records and not timestealing then an average accountant could cope with in excess of 100 if the admin side is supported.

Get the opposite of the above and 20 could be a struggle.

What is your target market? Do you pro-actively support your clients and educate them to keep good records for mutual benefit?

Above based on owner managed limited companies. Sole Traders can be far in excess but again get the wrong clients and that is not always the case.

 

[dp0848]

What do you mean by timestealing Jason?

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

My question is : What is the best way to measure productivity in my company ? Also , How many clients ( an average ) of account can deal with ? Is it different dealing with soletraders and limited companies.
Regards
Rodolfo

One way to measure productivity is by recording time spent on clients affairs using timesheets. Although they are used less and less for billing they do enable you to review actual time spent on a job/client and therefore review how efficient you/your business is and if you are recovering the 'correct' fees.

I have to agree with Jason in that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to answer your second question it depends on so many factors including the size and type of client, the services provided etc. Certainly you can maximise client numbers/fee income by ensuring you have really good systems in place to deal with all aspects of your business - if you really look you will probably find many areas where unnecessary time is wasted, one of the biggest for a soletrader often being admin.

 

[DFL]

What do you mean by timestealing Jason?

Just a phrase for a minority who take up disproportional amounts of your time through excessive and long drawn out 'phone calls, emails, unscheduled meetings, unreasonable demands etc etc. Usually these clients are difficult to manage, need lots of reminders and then expect you to be at their mercy when they decide to dump everything on you at the last minute. And just to rub it in bad payers!

These clients should be either priced accordingly or rejected at consultation stage as they will 'steal' your time away from other, more profitable and respectful clients.

 

[dp0848]

Just a phrase for a minority who take up disproportional amounts of your time through excessive and long drawn out 'phone calls, emails, unscheduled meetings, unreasonable demands etc etc. Usually these clients are difficult to manage, need lots of reminders and then expect you to be at their mercy when they decide to dump everything on you at the last minute. And just to rub it in bad payers!

These clients should be either priced accordingly or rejected at consultation stage as they will 'steal' your time away from other, more profitable and respectful clients.

Thanks Jason. Yes, I've got one of those on the books.

 

[rodobasilio]

Our company has actually, 150 limited companies and 600 self employed.

We are growing.....Jason, in respect to the software we are almost ready to instal MYOB to control the account as well as the soletraders.

Actually, we are in two people preparing the tax retunr plus myself dealing with the accounts.

My point is : When do I need to contract a new person ? I am thinking to control an admin as I have spent a lot of time doig admin...

Please , give me your thoughts

Rodolfo Basilio

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

I think the best way to measure productivity is to monitor your written off time, ie comparing chargeable hours with what you're managing to bill.

How much do you earn an hour by working on clients? How much would an admin staff cost per hour? How easily do you pick up new clients?, ie if you had 50% more time, 50% more capacity, could you fill that with new clients quickly and easily?

 

[DFL]

Our company has actually, 150 limited companies and 600 self employed.

We are growing.....Jason, in respect to the software we are almost ready to instal MYOB to control the account as well as the soletraders.

Actually, we are in two people preparing the tax retunr plus myself dealing with the accounts.

My point is : When do I need to contract a new person ? I am thinking to control an admin as I have spent a lot of time doig admin...

Please , give me your thoughts

Rodolfo Basilio

I would say now is the time! If you have 150 limited companies and 600 sole traders then with a minimum of 150 directors personal affairs as well you must be buried under a pile of admin.

Unless you have already got great systems in place I cant see how two of you can manage such a workload between two people.

What's your secret?

An admin person - even just part time would not cost too much and would free you up to either enjoy more leisure time (which must be scarce for you at present) or time to invest working on more profitable areas of the business than admin.

 

[DFL]

Sorry just read your post again and see that there are three of you.

I'd still get an admin person in to free up time for additional fee earning work.

 

[Jaydee]

Our company has actually, 150 limited companies and 600 self employed.

We are growing.....Jason, in respect to the software we are almost ready to instal MYOB to control the account as well as the soletraders.

Actually, we are in two people preparing the tax retunr plus myself dealing with the accounts.

My point is : When do I need to contract a new person ? I am thinking to control an admin as I have spent a lot of time doig admin...

Please , give me your thoughts

Rodolfo Basilio

Rodolfo - our respective practices appear to be of similar size - there are three of us too, we have far more limited company clients than you but far fewer sole traders.

What I find odd though is that you have 750 clients relying upon your business acumen and support, and yet you are not sure in a business that presumably you know inside-out (your own) whether you are understaffed or not!

I would worry if one of my clients saw that I was asking in a forum how to gauge my productivity and whether I needed to employ a new member of support staff.

 

[DIY Accounting]

At the end of the day there is one final answer.
How big is the bottom line and are you happy with it.

For a more detailed analysis operate a job costing function within the practise that shows the marginal gross profit contribution to overheads.
For an even more in depth analysis separate limited company and self employed and maybe individual functions such as vet work, year end work, tax returns etc., so you not only judge employee performance but where the best margins are being earned

Job costing = putting a price on productivity

 

[DFL]

What about opportunity cost? Both in terms of added value to existing clients and also freeing up time to work on new.

Accountants spending time on admin work is not good business sense.

 

[rodobasilio]

Jason,

I reckon that there is no Secret. Therefore, I would say that almost all of them are new incorporated companies which means means their accounts will be due mainly in 2010.
Have you used the software MYOB ? What do you think about using to control all the accounts + soletraders ?

By the way, I saw your website. Really good, specially the Calculator. Congratulations.

regards
Rodolfo Basilio

 

[DFL]

Jason,

I reckon that there is no Secret. Therefore, I would say that almost all of them are new incorporated companies which means means their accounts will be due mainly in 2010.
Have you used the software MYOB ? What do you think about using to control all the accounts + soletraders ?

By the way, I saw your website. Really good, specially the Calculator. Congratulations.

regards
Rodolfo Basilio

Rodolfo

Yes I have seen MYOB and quite like it. The layout is user friendly, most importantly for internal management it is quick and non-technical meaning that non accountants would find it easy for data entry provided supervision and sufficient training / controls.

The reporting function is also quick and easy with virtually all required reports already set up for you. Good stock trail and integrated payroll so no reason why you cant build your practice around it.

What would concern me in your shoes though is that if virtually all the ltd clients are first year with accounts to be done in 2010 then it sems to me that heavy investment in marketing and atrracting new clients has taken place without any regard on how to service them whislt retaing quality.

For 3 of you then three a week ltd co clients and 11-12 sole traders is doable providing criteria is met in my first post on this thread - equally if the criteria is not met then you could find clients leaving in droves and taking with them negative word of mouth whilst you find yourself with too much work, too much admin, too few hours etc.

I would advise taking action now, investing in admin support, systemising and planning your buisness whilst time is on your side.

Thanks re website We done it in house and have now set up a seperate entity providing accountants with websites (and other services) so if you are interested then feel free to PM me.

Jason

 

[rodobasilio]

Well Jade,

I would kindly appreciate your help and support. My client would never be suspicious of myself asking about my company productivity. Indeed, the best way to build our business sustainable is benchmarking with other similar organizations. I did a lot of research about accountants productivity and I did not find any. I am not sure about your clients but I just deal with with simple accounts. Indeed, I am not a fully qualified accountant but being up to date with information is more important than a piece of certificate. Also, in less than one year I have this customer base and I have 50 news clients per month. This is the reason I added this question. I am worried about my growth .Before being an accountant, we need to be a good salesperson and this is who I am.......
Regards and thanks again
Rodolfo Basilio

 

[accountancyextra]

Well Jade,

I would kindly appreciate your help and support. My client would never be suspicious of myself asking about my company productivity. Indeed, the best way to build our business sustainable is benchmarking with other similar organizations. I did a lot of research about accountants productivity and I did not find any. I am not sure about your clients but I just deal with with simple accounts. Indeed, I am not a fully qualified accountant but being up to date with information is more important than a piece of certificate. Also, in less than one year I have this customer base and I have 50 news clients per month. This is the reason I added this question. I am worried about my growth .Before being an accountant, we need to be a good salesperson and this is who I am.......
Regards and thanks again
Rodolfo Basilio

I think with 50 new clients a month, a few accountants will be coming to you for marketing tips

How do you manage to "settle" them all in at that rate?

 

[rodobasilio]

Hello Stuart,

This is the reason I was concerned before but now with all those advice, I am looking to contract new administrators....

regards
Rodolfo