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chargeable hours

It gets so frustrating in the summers when we do the small clients and everyone's all over you to not exceed their budgets. First off, financials for small private companies rarely ever get issued quickly. They always linger on, and there's always small things we have to do every week. So this takes up some of our time on a weekly basis. What about the research? To get ready for meetings, one would have to do a little research on the various issues they need to talk about. Where can I charge these hours to? We've already set the budget, and I know I'll be above the budgeted hours for the planning meeting, so i'm already over? Sure, I should have realized this while the budget was being set. But trust me, some battles can never be won. And what about client inefficiencies? Yes, we have to charge that to the client, that's what the book says. Not the case in reality. So that makes us struggle to mix and match hours between clients. It makes you wonder how the normal jobs are flexible in that you don't have to worry about every single hour you work.
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Anonymous said…
as a first year... should you be completely honest in logging your hours, or should you mark down the time you think your superiors are expecting?

because if your taking too long, they may seem your inefficient. If your too quick, your not making the company enough money. thoughts on this? thanks
June 16, 2009 at 9:05 PM
Anonymous said…
Most audit engagement are fixed fee engagements anyway, so you can never go "too" quick and cause them to lose money.

The big issue is that your annual evaluation is largely based on your chargeability (percentage and amount of hours).
June 17, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Anonymous said…
I hope you're using "you're" instead of "your" in that context when you're communicating to the partner or the client.
June 17, 2009 at 8:58 PM
notfordisplay said…
Well, as a first year, be honest about logging your hours, and make sure your senior knows if you go significantly over what you're scheduled for. So if you are taking too long, let him/her know it's taking longer than expected. That way everyone knows everything up front and there's no surprises.
June 18, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Anonymous said…
What are you, the grammar police? Life is too short buddy!
June 22, 2009 at 8:39 AM
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