Out-of-Scope Work: 10 Tips for Getting Paid

Source: Accounting Today

CPA firms lose as much as 20 percent of their billings by failing to collect for work outside the scope of their engagements. There are many reasons for this, including ill-conceived engagements, poor estimating practices, and undisciplined budgeting. This article offers 10 ideas for capturing fees for out-of-scope work, including:

• Ensure that engagement letters detail responsibilities of the firm and the client, work that's excluded from the engagement, and the cost of out-of-scope work;
• Develop – and follow – a project plan with a detailed budget;
• Use separate client or project codes for in-scope and out-of-scope work, and bill out-of-scope work separately; and
• Institute a formal change-order process.

For the complete article, read “Capturing Out-of-Scope Work – Is your firm doing extra client work for nothing?”

From Accounting Today, July 1, 2012, SourceMedia Inc., One State Street Plaza, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10004, 800-221-1809.