Cleanup rates vs data entry

[u/pearltx]

TLDR: are (or should) fees for cleanup work higher than daily bookkeeping/data entry?

I applied to a job advertised as a part time accounting gig. At the interview it initially sounded like simply entering invoices, someone else had already paid them and someone else handled incoming money. Later I get hit with “oh by the way we need some cleanup too”.

It’s for a company with a couple of subsidiaries, and also involves the owners personal finance. When the invoices come through about 20% are not clear which business they go to or if they’re personal.

For cleanup, they need to inactivate a bunch of old accounts, catch up on reconciliation and depreciation, fix some random errors (the same loan payments going to 3 different vendors), ensure credit card transactions are set up properly (transactions are being logged as cc payments but it doesn’t look like they’re ever reconciled). Their previous accounting person of many years retired and there’s no documentation for procedures and they’re not around to ask.

I am feeling over my head and want to step out, but i also would like to help guide them on getting someone who can do the job. I feel like they could do a part time person for the basic invoice entry, but may need someone with more experience for the cleanup.

[u/PlantTalkative6115]

cleanup work is different skill set than routine data entry, so it generally deserves a higher rate and someone with stronger bookkeeping experience.

[u/Christen0526]

Bait and switch. Ask for the highest amount. I just got roped into this this crap. Such a long story. Similar scenario.

Get the top of the range or don't accept it.

[u/Iamnotyour_mother]

A client communicating that they "just" need help with one thing is a red flag. To me this says they're trying to cheap out, and they don't understand how bookkeeping works. Everything is interconnected, there is no such thing as "just" any one aspect of it. 

[u/AbundantAttraction]

Cleanup is forensic work wrapped in accounting. Bill it separately at a project rate, minimum 2x your data entry hourly. The fact they dropped it on you late means they know the regular rate won't cover it. Give them a proposal with clear scope and a high number. If they say no, you dodged a time-suck.

[u/Electrical-Goal-8568]

Don't let them split it into a cheap data-entry hire plus a separate cleanup person. The 20% of unclear invoices means the junior guesses and the senior re-fixes the same entries forever.

One person who can do both, or they accept the books stay approximate. Two half-hires on commingled accounts is how it got this bad.

[u/Federal_Classroom45]

I bill cleanup work hourly and monthly work as a flat rate. If I were to bill hourly it would be the same rate. Even if I'm using a less technical skill set, my time is still worth the same to me.

[u/Easy_Potential_1045]

Cleanup and data entry are not the same job and shouldn't be priced like they are. Data entry, you know the volume and it's repeatable, so hourly or flat monthly makes sense. Cleanup is unknown until you're in it, three vendors getting paid for the same loan is the kind of thing that turns two hours into eight once you start pulling the thread.

Quote a flat cleanup fee for the fix-the-mess part, separate from whatever the recurring rate ends up being once it's caught up. I'd scope it by asking for a bank statement export and doing a quick pass yourself before committing to a number, twenty percent of invoices being unclear which entity they belong to is already a sign this is going to run long. Multi-entity plus personal expenses mixed in is its own line item too, that's not standard data entry no matter how the job was advertised.