Proposal software for accountants

Proposal software for accountants usually means a template with your logo on it. The hard part of a proposal is not the layout, it is the number: what this client should pay you, built from what the work actually takes. This worksheet prices an engagement the way a practice does it in its head, but on the page and in the open: bookkeeping hours a month at your charge-out rate, the year end job spread over the twelve months you bill for it, payroll runs at a fee each, the subscriptions you rebill at cost, and an introductory discount if you are offering one. It gives you the monthly fee and the annual value of the engagement, so you know what you are signing up to before the client does. Every figure is yours; the defaults are a worked example to replace.

The monthly work, at your charge-out rate

Six bookkeeping hours a month at $95 is $570, and two payroll runs at $25 is $50. These are the lines a practice tends to price by feel, which is how a client ends up cheap for three years. The worksheet works them from the hours you actually expect and the rate you actually bill at, not the wage the work costs you.

The year end, spread over the months you bill

Fourteen year end hours at $95 is $1,330 of work, which is $110.83 a month once it is spread over the twelve months you invoice. Showing it monthly is the point: it is usually the largest single piece of the engagement, and a fee that hides it looks fine until the ninth month.

The discount you are actually giving, and what the year is worth

With $30 of rebilled subscriptions the engagement is $760.83 a month before discount. A 10% introductory discount is $76.08, making it $684.75 a month and $8,217 over the year. Both figures are on the page, so the discount is a decision you priced rather than a round number you offered.