What does an accountant cost? It’s a question many business owners search for an answer to. We would love to give you an exact amount, but unfortunately it is not that simple. It depends on a lot of parameters. We will take a closer look at three important points:
1️⃣ The amount of documents an accountant has to process
The most obvious parameter is probably the amount of documents that yearly end up in your accounts. In concrete terms: think of the amount of purchase invoices and sales invoices that have to be processed yearly by your accountant.
2️⃣ Your company form
A sole proprietor has a single set of accounts. To keep it simple: in single-entry bookkeeping, no bank statements from the company need to be processed.
A company has double-entry bookkeeping, you feel it coming, which means that the company’s bank statements must also be processed.
So in a nutshell, a partnership is at least twice as intensive as a sole proprietor in terms of work impact, given that every purchase and sale in a partnership’s accounts must also have a corresponding bank transaction.
3️⃣ Your vAT type of statute
Purchases and sales must always be processed, no matter what your vAT type of statute is. But in terms of tax declarations, there are big differences between different vAT types, which in turn results in more or less work impact.
Not subject to VAT
If you are not subject to VAT in a sole proprietor (think of doctors, dentists, physiotherapists, etc.) , only a personal income tax needs to be filed.
Exempted from VAT
If you are exempted from VAT in a sole proprietor business (small enterprise VAT-exempt), a personal income tax must be filed as well as (usually) a customer list.
Subject to VAT
If you are subject to VAT in a sole proprietorship, you have to file a personal income tax, always a customer list and at least 4 VAT declarations per year.
As you can see, some extra impact for your accountant every time. Which of course has an extra impact on the price of your bookkeeping.
Average annual price from a bookkeeper
Sole proprietor in secondary occupation (VAT exempted/non VAT subject): €631 excl. VAT
Sole proprietor in secondary occupation (subject to VAT): €881 excl. VAT
Sole proprietor in main occupation (VAT-exempt/not subject to VAT): €889 excl. VAT
Sole proprietor in main occupation (subject to VAT): €1,147 excl. VAT
- https://www.betereboekhouder.be/hoeveel-kost-een-boekhouder-2021-survey-resultaten/
- https://www.de10beste.be/boekhouders/
As you can see, taking charge of your bookkeeping yourself can result in considerable savings. Of course, an accountant offers added value when it comes to concrete advice, and that’s where Dexxter comes in.
You can go for our low-cost bookkeeping programme, which costs €180 excluding vAT on an annual basis. This includes all the functionalities you need as an entrepreneur to take charge of your own bookkeeping.
Would you like to seek advice from an accountant once or several times a year? Great, because then you can call on our independent advisers against payment. These are bookkeepers who are happy for you to take care of your own bookkeeping via Dexxter and who also provide specific tax advice.
That tax advice is an additional cost, but the combination of Dexxter and that independent tax advice comes out much cheaper than completely outsourcing your accounts.
Tip:
You can also use Dexxter’ s accounting platform in combination with supervision from an accountant.
Moreover, taking charge of your own bookkeeping has many other advantages. You learn an awful lot about your bookkeeping and your company, you have all reports immediately available via Dexxter, you know when what has happened in terms of deadlines and declarations …
Paying a fixed formula
Many accountancy firms now use a fixed formula in their pricing, a subscription formula so to speak.
Just as you pay a fixed monthly price for your Netflix subscription, you can do the same for (some) accountants. The accountant then calculates behind what the average price will be on an annual basis and spreads that proportionally over a monthly or quarterly billing.
The advantage is that you, the entrepreneur, know what the cost price of your bookkeeping will be and spread it neatly over monthly or quarterly payments. Beware, if your accountant has extra work due to unique circumstances, it is of course possible that these extra services will be charged surplus.
On an hourly rate basis
As a counterpart to the fixed formula, you have directorial billing. Hourly invoices so to speak. When your accountant performs services, he will charge them on the basis of his hourly rate.
This gives you the advantage of having more insight into how many services your accountant performs and when. The disadvantage of this approach is that your accountant’s invoices may suddenly be much higher than you are used to on average, for example in the periods when he is preparing your personal income tax.
Most accountants increasingly choose a fixed formula. This has the advantage from clarity. As an accountant, you know exactly what turnover you will achieve, so you can plan better on it. This also has the advantage of clarity in relations with the entrepreneur, which means that the invoiced fees are often less questioned.
