| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Do you normally round the total value of your invoice? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Mario Chavez (X) 
Local time: 13:53
English to Spanish
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| Unbeknownst to the client, rounding up amounts to dishonesty | Jun 1, 2016 |
I see no reason to round up or down my billing figures. Now, if the customer asks for a quote, it is up to me to give him a dollars-and-cents figure or a dollars-and-zero-cents one. Simple math.
Here, most thriftstore cashiers would ask you if you want to round up your $2.16 purchase to $3.00 as an extra charitable gift to their organization. I often say no because that's my choice as a consumer. But at least they have the courtesy and honesty to ask me.
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but just recently a client booked my time for a rush translation that was coming any second now (!!) and sent me a provisional file. This meant I rejected translations that came in during that time, putting others on hold and started on the provisional file to get a head start only to experience no final version. On querying where the job was, I was repeatedly told it was coming any minute. On discovering the PM had gone home without informing me no final file had been sent, I wasn't best please... See more but just recently a client booked my time for a rush translation that was coming any second now (!!) and sent me a provisional file. This meant I rejected translations that came in during that time, putting others on hold and started on the provisional file to get a head start only to experience no final version. On querying where the job was, I was repeatedly told it was coming any minute. On discovering the PM had gone home without informing me no final file had been sent, I wasn't best pleased.
The translation finally arrived the next day and the client smoothed my ruffled feathers by paying me for the wasted time the previous day. As a gesture of goodwill, I rounded that invoice down. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ventnai
Spain
Local time: 19:53
German to English
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One or two clients always ask me to quote. One does not deal in euro cents and I always round up the other one. They get a good deal from me anyway.
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 14:53
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Professional practices | Jun 1, 2016 |
IMO, the correct way to issue an invoice is agreed rate X number of words (or whatever unit you use). It's not a commercial practice to "round up". If you want to give a discount, it has to be something meaningful, not a few cents, which could even be considered negative if the client says "what? a 25 cent discount??" This is not a professional practice in the service market. It makes no difference to the person making the payment. It would be a mere "ornament" to round up invoice amounts.
... See more IMO, the correct way to issue an invoice is agreed rate X number of words (or whatever unit you use). It's not a commercial practice to "round up". If you want to give a discount, it has to be something meaningful, not a few cents, which could even be considered negative if the client says "what? a 25 cent discount??" This is not a professional practice in the service market. It makes no difference to the person making the payment. It would be a mere "ornament" to round up invoice amounts.
I have worked for several years with the Procurement department of large projects. We're talking about invoices of millions of dollars here. And believe me, they all have the cents and all the "broken" values. I've never seen an invoice being "rounded up". And when a discount is applied, it is usually a percentage, and the cents are still there in the total. So again, it's a mere "ornament" for those who think the invoice "looks better" if the amount is round. It's nonsense.
[Edited at 2016-06-01 17:52 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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I often quote a flat (per-project) price, which is normally a rounded price. So I may round the quote. But not the total invoice value, because that depends on the total prices for all the projects on the invoice plus and minus local national insurance, withholding taxes and VAT.
| | | | Anne Bohy
France
Local time: 19:53
English to French
I'm using an accounting software, and there's no rounding option for the bottom line.
However, I simply omit any line of my invoice which would be less than $1. That is, if there's only a small number of repetitions, I just drop them.
Reversely, if there are only a few fuzzy matches, I'll count them as regular (new) words (always with the rule that the difference must be less than $1 for my customer).
Actually, I've used this rule mainly with one customer sending many small job... See more I'm using an accounting software, and there's no rounding option for the bottom line.
However, I simply omit any line of my invoice which would be less than $1. That is, if there's only a small number of repetitions, I just drop them.
Reversely, if there are only a few fuzzy matches, I'll count them as regular (new) words (always with the rule that the difference must be less than $1 for my customer).
Actually, I've used this rule mainly with one customer sending many small jobs with a common TM. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Parrot
Spain
Local time: 19:53
Spanish to English
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LegalTransform wrote:
I always get rid of the .xx because it makes accounting easier.
Doesn't the state add its .xx? (And face it, my accounting problems come from the state, not clients).
| | | | | A/P people are picky | Jun 1, 2016 |
The A/P people of many of my customers are terribly picky and will force everybody (themselves, myself, and their PMs) to reprocess the invoice for a difference of 2 cents, so I simply stick to whatever the PO says, to the last cent. They cannot question their own POs, can they?
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My rates are on the low side anyway, so I don't give discounts. I don't think anyone would be happy if I rounded up either.
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 19:53
French to English
I too prefer to always quote a flat rate. I work out the time I'll need to do a job, add on some extra for question time afterwards in case the client queries anything (and since I tend to transcreation and rewriting, clients do query stuff. Most don't speak English well enough to recognise my talent - sigh!) and then I'll round it up.
It does make life more simple and I don't begrudge anyone anything like that. Clients like to keep it simple too, when the wysiwyg factor kicks in <... See more I too prefer to always quote a flat rate. I work out the time I'll need to do a job, add on some extra for question time afterwards in case the client queries anything (and since I tend to transcreation and rewriting, clients do query stuff. Most don't speak English well enough to recognise my talent - sigh!) and then I'll round it up.
It does make life more simple and I don't begrudge anyone anything like that. Clients like to keep it simple too, when the wysiwyg factor kicks in  ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 18:53
Member (2007)
English
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It's quite a buzzword nowadays and the rules for fresh food origin etc go too far IMO, but I agree with it in principle. A client should be able to link the quote with the text and with the invoice. I dare say most wouldn't bother too much about a few cents either way, but I'm sure they'd have more confidence in a supplier who practised transparency.
If I had to do all the calculations with paper and pencil then it mght be a different matter. But my computer, and the calculator I us... See more It's quite a buzzword nowadays and the rules for fresh food origin etc go too far IMO, but I agree with it in principle. A client should be able to link the quote with the text and with the invoice. I dare say most wouldn't bother too much about a few cents either way, but I'm sure they'd have more confidence in a supplier who practised transparency.
If I had to do all the calculations with paper and pencil then it mght be a different matter. But my computer, and the calculator I use for double-checking, both deal with cents quite happily.
If you receive the payment by PayPal then they'll deduct commission as an exact figure, so you'll end up receiving cents. The same often applies to bank commission, unless they deduct a minimum rather than a percentage. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nikki Graham
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:53
Spanish to English
| Blog post mention | Jul 19, 2016 |
Many thanks for the mention, Charlie.
Essentially the idea behind charging a flat fee/lump sum is to charge per project and not per word. We all know that some texts are more challenging than others, both to translate and format, and a lump sum can take this account by adding a bit extra. And if it's an easy text and the client expects some kind of discount, dropping your price per word might make the discount too hefty and unappealing, so rounding it down instead can keep both client and translator happy.
I'm not saying it's the right thing to do in every situation as it depends on the individual and how much you want/need the job. But there's too much emphasis on per-word prices in translation, which means it's viewed as a commodity rather than a service. And a gradual shift in clients' mindsets away from that notion would be a good thing, IMHO.
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