Accountants Overhead Cost (Daily) Calculator
Estimate your accountancy practice's daily overhead cost from recurring expenses, annual costs, working days and billable capacity.
Overview
This Accountants Overhead Cost (Daily) Calculator estimates the daily cost of running an accountancy practice. Add recurring monthly costs, annual fixed expenses, operating days and billable capacity to see both total daily overhead and the overhead that each billable accountant-day needs to recover.
How it works
The calculator converts monthly costs into annual costs and adds your annual fixed expenses. It divides that total by the number of operating days to estimate daily practice overhead. It also estimates annual billable accountant-days by applying the utilisation percentage to each billable team member's working days. Dividing annual overhead by this capacity shows the overhead to recover through each billable accountant-day before profit or other costs are added.
How to use this calculator
- 1Enter your regular monthly premises costs.
- 2Add other monthly operating expenses such as software and administration.
- 3Enter annual fixed costs, including insurance and professional fees.
- 4Set the number of operating days in a typical year.
- 5Add your billable headcount and expected billable utilisation.
- 6Review the daily overhead and overhead per billable accountant-day.
Example Calculation
Monthly premises cost
$2,500
Monthly operating cost
$3,500
Annual fixed costs
$12,000
Working days per year
230
Billable accountants
4
Billable utilisation
70%
Daily overhead cost
$365
With annual overhead of 84,000 and 230 operating days, daily overhead is about 365. With four billable accountants at 70% utilisation, the overhead is about 130 per billable accountant-day.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as overhead for an accountancy practice?
Overhead commonly includes office costs, utilities, software, subscriptions, administration, marketing, insurance, professional fees, training and equipment. Include the costs you want your client fees to recover.
Why calculate overhead per billable accountant-day?
It helps show the minimum overhead recovery needed from a day of chargeable work. You can use it alongside salary costs, desired profit and expected write-offs when reviewing pricing.
What billable utilisation percentage should I use?
Use your own time records where available. The percentage should allow for administration, internal meetings, training, business development, leave and other non-chargeable time.
Should salaries be included in overhead?
You can include non-billable staff salaries and employer costs in operating expenses if you want them recovered in this figure. Many firms assess billable staff salary costs separately when setting charge-out rates.
How many working days should an accountancy firm use?
Use the number of days your practice normally operates after weekends, public holidays and planned closures. A typical full-time year is often lower than 260 days once non-working days are excluded.
Does this calculator set an appropriate client charge-out rate?
No. It estimates overhead only. A charge-out rate may also need to cover staff costs, partner time, taxes where relevant, profit targets, risk and expected non-recoverable time.
Explore Related Calculators
Assumptions and warnings
Assumptions
- Monthly costs remain broadly consistent throughout the year.
- Working days exclude non-operating days such as weekends, public holidays and planned closures.
- Billable utilisation represents the proportion of available time that can be charged to clients.
- The result is an operational estimate and excludes profit, taxes, loan repayments and owner drawings unless included in your costs.
Warnings
- This calculator provides an estimate only and is not financial or business advice.
- Review actual costs and billable time regularly, as utilisation and overhead can change during the year.