How To Start A Bookkeeping Business, Questions To Ask Clients

There a number of questions you need to ask clients when they approach you to do their bookkeeping work in your business. To develop long term happy clients, you will need to communicate effectively and be sure to you both have fair expectations of the relationship.

It is important to check when the client requires the work completed. This will ensure you meet their due dates if applicable and meet their expectations. If there is not a due date imposed by government legislation, you and the client can agree on a due date. It is important to keep to the due date and if any issues arise where you might not meet their deadline, to contact them and discuss the matter sooner rather than later.

How are you going to undertake the work? This is important as you might be at their premises, or on your own premises. You might be using their computer, or you may have supplied your own. This is important as the data file they need you to enter the transactions into might have been placed onto your computer, or it might be on their own. It is vial to check you can access any data files for the client prior to starting the job. If you suddenly find you cant get into the clients data it might cause you many days delay and that may mean you cant meet their deadlines.

Your rate needs to be discussed prior to commencing work so both you and the client understand the cost to attend to the work. If it is possible to estimate the hours, it is a good idea to give an estimate. If for any reason you find yourself getting closer to the upper end of the estimated time, it is best to contact the client and discuss this sooner rather than later It is also wise to ensure you know what you will include in that rate. Does your hourly rate include photocopying, travel, telephone calls or meetings? You need to know what your rate includes so you can explain it to the client.

Another important question to ask the client is will they be available to answer your queries about their source documentation. It is important to factor question time into your work day so that if you become stuck on a transaction you can ask the client for clarification. If you do get held up with something, try and find other tasks you can continue with in the interim to assist you with your time management.

If you do find yourself in a situation where you should have asked the client these or other questions prior to commencing work for them, dont despair. You will learn from each client and gradually you will become more familiar with the questions to ask your clients prior to starting their work.