The fee review nobody wants to start
Once a year, the practice reviews fees. Someone exports client fees from the practice software, time from the timesheet system and scope from memory. Partners go through the spreadsheet row by row, deciding increases. Then letters are written, often individually, and after that someone updates every direct debit or recurring invoice by hand.
It takes weeks. Some years it gets postponed. Some clients are missed. And by the time it is finished, it is almost time to start again.
The data lives in three places
Deciding a fee needs several facts side by side: the current fee, the time recorded last year, the scope of services and any extra work. Those live in different systems. Bringing them together is manual, and the result is a spreadsheet that is out of date as soon as it is made.
The follow-through is just as manual. Letters, updated engagement terms and billing changes each need doing per client. The admin load is why many practices review fees less often than they would like, which lets underpriced clients stay underpriced.
Partners also find it hard to judge fees without context. A fee that looks fine on its own may be well below what similar clients pay, but that comparison is not visible unless someone builds it.
What an awkward fee review costs
| Issue | Effect |
|---|---|
| Review postponed | Fees fall behind the work |
| Clients missed | Some fees never reviewed |
| Letters written by hand | Weeks of partner and admin time |
| Billing updated manually | Old fees charged after increases are agreed |
| No view of profitability | Decisions made on instinct |
The longer a fee goes unreviewed, the harder the eventual conversation. A modest yearly change is easier for a client to accept than a large correction after several years of standing still.
The fee review tool we build
- For each client, the tool pulls the current fee and billing from your practice or accounts system, time recorded over the period from your timesheets, the recorded scope, and extra work logged.
- Partners see each of their clients on one screen with those figures side by side, and set a new fee or keep the current one, with a note.
- Rules your practice sets, such as a standard uplift or a minimum fee, can be applied in bulk, with partners adjusting exceptions.
- Letters are generated from templates your practice approves, personalised with the client's services and new fee, and sent by email with any updated engagement terms for e-signature where needed.
- Once the notice period your practice uses has passed, recurring fees are updated in your billing system, such as Xero repeating invoices or GoCardless mandates, through their APIs.
- A tracker shows who has been reviewed, who has been notified and who has queries.
The fees are your partners' decisions. The tool gathers the data and carries out what they decide.
A review that fits into a fortnight
Partners make decisions with the relevant figures in front of them. Letters go out consistently. Billing changes happen on time and are not forgotten. The practice can review fees every year without dreading it, and underpriced clients are spotted rather than quietly carried.
Clients also receive clearer letters. A letter that sets out their services and new fee in plain terms, sent in good time, tends to prompt fewer complaints than a surprise on the next direct debit.
Does your fee review look like this?
- Fee reviews involve a large spreadsheet export
- Reviews are postponed or skipped in busy years
- Letters are written individually
- Direct debits are updated by hand after increases
- Some clients' fees have not changed in years