Survey on Client Services and Financial Paperwork

1
How many CPAs does your firm have on staff?
Sole practitioner
2 to 3 CPAs
4 to 10 CPAs
11 to 100 CPAs
More than 100 CPAs
2
To the best of your knowledge, what percentage of your small business clients (under $2M in revenue) manage their bookkeeping function in-house (ie, do not use a 3rd party bookkeeper or your firm for bookkeeping services)?
0% to 19%
20% to 39%
40% to 59%
60% to 79%
80% to 100%
3
Please select the answers that best describe what your practice does in terms of bookkeeping (select all that apply).
We offer bookkeeping services to our clients and have bookkeepers on staff
We offer bookkeeping services to our clients but outsource the work to 3rd party bookkeepers
We refer our clients to one or more bookkeepers
None of the above
4
Please select the answers that best describe what your practice does in terms of consulting on accounting applications (QuickBooks or other)
We offer consulting on setting up a small business with an accounting application
We provide monthly or quarterly support to help the small business manage their accounting application.
We refer our clients to 3rd party consultants (e.g. QuickBooks consultants) for this type of support
None of the above
If you don't offer bookkeeping services today (either with your own staff or by outsourcing it to a 3rd party), please skip to Question 14.
In the following questions, we will focus on your Small Business Clients, defined as companies under $2M in revenue. We will also narrow the definition of "Bookkeeping" to the regular data entry and reconciliation tasks and exclude the higher level consulting services.
5
For what percentage of your small business clients do you offer bookkeeping services?
Less than 5%
5 to 10%
10% to 20%
20% to 40%
40 to 60%
Over 60%
6
For the clients for whom you provide bookkeeping services, which tasks do you perform for them (in this question, "GL" refers to the accounting software or online service that your client uses)?
1
Never		2
For a few Clients		3
For many Clients		4
For almost all clients
Enter bills and expenses into their GL
Print checks (clients then signs and mail)
Enter sales records into the GL
Enter invoices into the GL
Issue invoices on behalf of the client
Reconcile bank accounts and credit cards
Input/import payroll data
Input/import tax data
Produce monthly financial reports
Other (explain below)
7
If you selected "Other", please explain:
8
How do you typically charge for your bookkeeping services?
Hourly
Flat weekly rate
Flat monthly rate
Other:
9
What is you average effective hourly rate for basic bookkeeping services (excluding consulting services for QuickBooks and other accounting packages)?
Less than $30
$30 to $39
$40 to $49
$50 to $59
$60 to $69
$70 to $79
$80 to $89
Over $90
10
How many hours of bookkeeping services would a typical Small Business Client require from you?
Less than 1 hour per week
1 - 5 hours per week
5 - 10 hours per week
Over 10 hours per week
11
For the clients for whom you perform bookkeeping services, what is your typical process ("GL" refers to the accounting software or online service that your client uses)?
1
Never		2
For a few Clients		3
For many Clients		4
For almost all Clients
Our bookkeepers go to the client's office
The client sends us bills and receipts by mail
The client faxes us the bills and receipts
The client drops the bills and receipts by our office
The client mails us the their GL file on CD, DVD or USB media
The client emails us their GL file
We access the client's GL online
Other (explain below)
12
If you selected "Other", please explain:
13
How interested would you be in an online system that helps automate the accounts payable work as follows? The clients would fax their bills to an 800 number You would be able to view these bills on a web site The system would allow you to assign these bills to a GL account The client would be able to pay these bills online You would be able to import the data into the client's GL The service would cost about $50 per month
Very interested
Somewhat interested
Not interested
If you offer Bookkeeping services today (either with your own staff or by outsourcing it to a 3rd party), please skip to Question 16.
14
Please rate the key reasons for why you don't offer bookkeeping services today (1 means this item was not a factor in your decision for not offering bookkeeping, 4 means this is one of the primary reasons why you don't offer bookkeeping)
1
Not a factor		2
 		3
 		4
Primary reason
We'd like to but we haven't gotten around to it
Bookkeeping is too low margin
We can't compete against independent bookkeepers
Most of our clients do their bookkeeping in-house
We're too busy
Independence concerns
Other (explain below)
15
If you selected "Other", please explain:
16
Please select the best answer in regards to what your practice does with payroll services
We offer payroll services to our clients via our in-house payroll system
We offer payroll services but utilize a 3rd party solution on the back-end
We help our clients with their payroll solution
We refer our clients to one or more payroll providers
We don't get involved with payroll
17
If you would be wiling to let us contact you for a 10 minute phone conversation on this topic, please provide us with your name, email address and phone number. This would be greatly appreciated.