- 018 hours of admin
- 02S$50 per hour
- 03S$400 of your time
What is your time worth?
Illustrative time value, not a fee, tax deduction or guaranteed saving. Nothing you enter here is stored or sent.
The software bill is visible. The evening you spend finding invoices usually is not. Before deciding to do every bookkeeping task yourself, count the work around the task too: searching, checking, correcting and following up.
01Count a real week
Write down how long you spend on records for one week. Separate collecting documents from work that needs accounting judgement. The point is to find repeated friction, not to put a price on every minute of your life.
You might be comfortable collecting receipts but lose time explaining the same payment twice. That is a process problem worth fixing before buying another tool.
02Try the time calculation
Suppose you value an hour of your working time at S$50 and spend eight hours preparing records. That is S$400 of illustrative time value.
| Input | Example |
|---|---|
| Hourly value | S$50 |
| Your time | 8 hours |
| Time value | S$400 |
This is not a promised saving, a tax deduction or extra cash in the bank. Your real opportunity cost depends on whether those hours could be used productively elsewhere. A professional fee may also cover work beyond the eight hours you counted.
03Compare the same scope
Ask what a service includes before comparing its fee with your time. Document collection, monthly bookkeeping, year-end accounts and tax filing are different jobs. You may still need to provide explanations and approve the result.
Tidy records help. They do not make professional judgement unnecessary, and they do not guarantee a lower fee. Compare the whole handover, including your remaining tasks.
04Give records one home
Clair is JM Atelier's sister firm. We use Clair client access as a place to bring your accounting records and related administration together. Ask your contact which records and tasks belong in your workspace. Available access and the agreed service scope determine how you use it.
The practical aim is fewer scattered handovers, not a promise that software completes your compliance. Clair client sign-in takes you to the login page; you need your own authorised access.
05Keep the documents, even when you change tools
Maintain a retrievable copy of your records and know how to obtain them from your provider. IRAS requires companies to retain relevant records for at least five years from the relevant Year of Assessment, including when accounting software changes. IRAS: record keeping.
Start with one improvement: put this month's records in order and list what is missing. Then decide which work you want to do yourself and which work is better handed over.