Creations · South Africa
Accounting packages: agree the scope before the fee
Compare accounting proposals by the work included, the reporting you receive and the responsibilities that stay with your business.
What the work covers
Use this scope to identify what you need. Your proposal will confirm the services, records, reporting frequency and fees for your business.
- An agreed list of entities and reporting periods
- Defined bookkeeping and reconciliation responsibilities
- A list of reports, submissions and review meetings included
- Separate treatment of historical cleanup or migration
- Clarity on software, external costs and work outside the scope
What to prepare
Tell us which records are available and where there are gaps. We can then distinguish ongoing work from any initial catch-up.
- Approximate monthly transaction and bank-account volumes
- Number of entities and employees
- Current VAT, payroll and income-tax obligations
- Reporting deadlines, software and outstanding bookkeeping
Timing and responsibility
Timing depends on the records, approvals and work required. Tell us about any deadline at the start. The engagement should identify the person handling your work, the review responsibilities and any external specialist needed.
Compare like with like
One proposal may include transaction capture and bank reconciliations. Another may start with records prepared by your staff and cover reporting only. A lower monthly fee is not a useful comparison until those responsibilities are clear.
Ask for the reporting frequency, tax types, payroll headcount and number of entities to be stated. Check whether software subscriptions, annual financial statements and responses to SARS queries are included or charged separately.
A useful example of a scope change
Consider a business that adds a second bank account and begins employing staff. The accounting work now includes another reconciliation and payroll-related records. The old monthly scope may no longer cover the work, even if sales remain similar.
A proposal should explain how such changes are handled, who approves additional work and when the fee will be reviewed. Creations quotes after reviewing the requirement; the figures in your proposal are the applicable fees.
How the work progresses
- 01
Review the requirement
Discuss the records, systems, deadlines and decisions the work needs to support.
- 02
Agree the scope
Confirm the deliverables, fees, responsibilities and any initial catch-up work.
- 03
Prepare and resolve
Work through the records, raise queries and obtain the required approvals.
- 04
Review and hand over
Provide the agreed outputs and identify outstanding matters and next steps.
Questions before you start
Why is there no single price for every business?
Transaction volume is only one driver. Multiple entities, payroll, incomplete records and reporting complexity can create very different workloads. A scoped quote makes those differences visible.
Should historical cleanup be included?
It should be identified explicitly. Ask which periods are covered, what records are missing, and whether cleanup is a separate assignment from the ongoing monthly service.
What should the proposal say about extra work?
It should explain what falls outside the fee, how additional work is authorised and whether external charges or software costs are included.
Related services
Let’s define the next step.
Tell us what you need, what is outstanding and when it matters.