ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Advisory Includes More Than You Might Think

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Henry
 Rory Henry, a Behavioral Financial Advisor, is the director at Arrowroot Family Office and co-founder of AFO Wealth Management Forward. He has created a program to help accounting professionals incorporate holistic wealth management and proactive planning services into their practice.

What do you see when you envision your future?

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

I work at a virtual family office called Arrowroot Family Office. Over the course of my career I have learned that family (and family dynamics) significantly shapes who we are and how we form relationships in life.

MORE: Wealth Management: Can You Afford Not to Provide It?
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Research shows that one of the biggest drivers of family dynamics is the order in which each child is born. Birth order theory, developed by Alfred Adler in the 20th century, suggests that the order in which children are born can have a significant impact on their development and personality.
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Client Accounting vs. Client Advisory Services: The Five Key Differences

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man standing, looking down at five giant golden keys

Plus three ways to help clients see the value.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

I am often asked the question, “How do I show a client the value of my advisory services?” My answer is simple.

Many firms blur the line between accounting and advisory, but your clients don’t. This article will help you learn how to ensure clients understand the real value of your advisory services. We will break down the five key differences that separate CAS from traditional accounting, and how to clearly communicate each one. Understanding this distinction helps you price with confidence, package your offerings and help clients grasp your value.

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Did you notice that clients now want more than just numbers? They seek an advisory service that enables them to make informed decisions, allowing them to focus their efforts on growing their businesses and creating value for themselves and others. Providing advisory services is a very rewarding job, but it can be challenging to ensure that your clients understand the value of your services.
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The Future of Tax Advisory

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two seated businesspeople with glasses meet, window wall in background

The landscape is shifting now. Where are you headed?

By Jackie Meyer

The tax advisory world is changing faster than ever before. When I first started my firm, technology played a limited role – mostly in the form of software that helped with basic data entry, compliance and tax returns. Today, however, we’re in the midst of a true revolution, driven by automation, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and client expectations that are continually evolving.

MORE: Five Common Pitfalls and How to Overcome Them | Four Practical Case Studies of Real Advisory Success | Five Hard-Earned Lessons from Exiting an Accounting Firm | Reclaim Your Hours with Time Management and Productivity Hacks | Hiring Strategies for Your Dream Team | Streamline Your Operations with Systems and Processes | From Compliance to Advisory: Shifting the Value Proposition | How I Became an Accidental Entrepreneur | Build a Seven-Figure Firm in Four Hours a Week
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The days of a compliance-focused practice being enough to keep you profitable are quickly disappearing. Compliance has been commoditized – clients see it as a cost to be minimized, rather than as a value-add service. If you want to remain competitive and thrive in the years to come, it’s essential to lead with advisory, embrace technology and position yourself as an indispensable partner in your clients’ financial success.
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Advisory Opportunities Emerge from Core CAS Offerings

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two women talking while seated at a table

Think about where your insights originate.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

“We want to offer outsourced CFO and advisory services.”

It has become an increasingly common intent of accounting firms of all sizes.

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This article demonstrates how compliance, accounting and reporting can serve as doorways to deeper insights, more strategic conversations and higher-value advisory relationships.

Technology automation, artificial intelligence and more innovative solutions seem to make it even more logical for accountants to feel that the future is more about advisory services than ever before.
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Five Common Pitfalls and How to Overcome Them

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man walking across marble floor with large holes in it

Transitioning isn’t always smooth sailing.

By Jackie Meyer

When I made the decision to shift from a compliance-heavy firm to an advisory-first firm focused on delivering measurable ROI, I wish I could say it was seamless. It wasn’t. This kind of transformation brings new opportunities, but it also brings challenges – some that you can anticipate, and others that take you by surprise. The key to success isn’t avoiding challenges altogether (that’s impossible); it’s learning to navigate them when they arise.

MORE: Will Your Success be Incremental or Exceptional? | Your Balanced Millionaire Journey Begins Now | How to Cultivate Holistic Wealth | Five Hard-Earned Lessons from Exiting an Accounting Firm | It’s Never Too Early to Plan Your Exit Strategy | Beyond Blocking: More Time Management Strategies | Reclaim Your Hours with Time Management and Productivity Hacks | How to Bring Core Values into Your Accounting Firm | Ten Key Guidelines for Accounting Staff | Hiring Strategies for Your Dream Team | The AI Revolution: Embracing Artificial Intelligence in Your Practice
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In this article, I want to help you understand the common pitfalls that can derail your progress and the practical steps you can take to overcome them. Whether it’s dealing with clients who are stuck in the old model, learning to price confidently or avoiding burnout, there are solutions to keep you moving forward.
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Private Equity and the Future of Client Advisory Services

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What to watch for now and over the next 10 years.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

The accounting profession has experienced an unprecedented increase in private equity (PE) and private credit activity in recent years, significantly transforming the landscape of client advisory services (CAS).

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Let us explore why PE firms are interested, how these deals work and what it all means for the Advisory-CAS movement. Whether your firm is courting outside capital or not, these shifts signal where the profession is headed and how to future-proof your role within it.
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Help Clients Envision Their Future Selves

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Businessman sitting on cloud

Ask the “best hopes” question.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

When helping clients plan for retirement, exit their businesses or reach other major financial goals, we tend to default to the numbers. Financial projections, spending needs, drawdown rates and risk tolerance are great navigational aids, but as Lewis Carroll wrote in “Alice in Wonderland,” “If you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there.” However, a new approach is showing that getting in tune with our future selves is one of the best ways for clients and their advisors to plan for retirement.

MORE: How to Use Values-Based Financial Planning | Life Planning: Going Beyond the Financials | Understand Clients’ Relationship with Money | From Services to Experiences to Transformations | How Behavioral Finance Works | Priority No. 1: Your Mental and Physical Health | Trust Is the Primary Ingredient | How to Prepare Your Clients’ Kids for Their Inheritance | Quantifying the Value of an Advisor | Raise Your Rates to Change Your Clientele | How WealthTech Is Reshaping the Future of Holistic Advice | Profile of a Modern Firm: Putting the Vision into Practice | Tsunami of M&A, PE Is Disrupting the Accounting Profession | Introducing You to a Fulfilling Return on Relationships
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As a result, we must continually adjust our goals, including retirement planning, and that comes by getting well acquainted with our “future selves,” according to UCLA Professor Hal Hershfield. He said that while it’s important for you to consider the goals for yourself when it comes to money and saving, it’s just as important to think carefully about the goals you have for your future self long after you have stopped earning an income.
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Emerging Trends Are Reshaping Advisory-CAS

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Don’t just buy technology; strategically activate it.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

Advisory is changing rapidly and it is not just in what firms offer, but in how clients think, how technology fits in and how pricing evolves. This article examines the emerging shifts redefining the Advisory-CAS world, from burnout and outdated service models to the increasing demand for proactive, strategic insight. You will see what’s fading and what’s rising, and where to focus to stay ahead.

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Most surveys focus on direct responses, but the real value comes from analyzing what those responses reveal, especially in context. The nuances, patterns and implications hidden within the answers often provide the most strategic insights, particularly when you connect the dots across service lines, firm models, client dynamics and workforce pressure points.
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Why Advisory Is Broken. And What Comes Next

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It starts with a conversation. 

By Eric Eager
10X Advisory

For years, advisory services have been positioned as the future of the CPA profession. Conferences are filled with “moving up the value chain” sessions, and firm leaders are under growing pressure to make the shift. But here’s the hard truth: most firms are still trying to deliver tomorrow’s services using yesterday’s methods.

MORE Client Accounting Services here | MORE Tech and Fintech here | MORE:  Steven Ladd: Start Advisory with Empathy | Woodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver Results | Advisory-CAS Ascending: What Research Reveals About the Future

Long discovery meetings. Manual analysis. Generic PowerPoint decks. Pricing models built on billable hours instead of business outcomes. These are the hallmarks of the old world of advisory—time-intensive, inconsistent, and hard to scale.

And they simply don’t hold up anymore. Today’s business owners are moving faster, expecting more, and looking to their advisors for real-time, relevant, and actionable guidance. But most firms are still operating with a rearview mirror—offering valuable insights that often arrive too late to act.

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Ladd: Start Advisory with Empathy | It’s Not Just the Numbers

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By starting with conversations and clean books, accountants can deliver clarity, confidence, and real results.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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It’s Not Just the Numbers
With Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead
For CPA Trendlines

4ImpactData: 10X Your Advisory.
Not Your Headcount

When accountants and advisors talk about “advisory services,” the conversation often drifts toward models, frameworks, and numbers. Advisory is explained through dashboards, KPIs, forecasts, and ratios. However, sometimes in our focus on data, we forget the human side —the fact that behind every balance sheet is a business owner who is stressed, overwhelmed, and often lonely. 

MORE Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead | MORE Advisory & Consulting | BUY “It’s Not Just the Numbers”

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That’s where voices like Steven Ladd’s come in. In a recent It’s Not Just the Numbers podcast “After Hours” session, Ladd shares his journey from engineer to entrepreneur to trusted advisor for small business owners. His insights reveal why advisory services are more than just financial analysis. They’re about empathy, connection, and equipping business owners with clarity. 

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Advisory-CAS Ascending: What Research Reveals About the Future

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Clients have said what they want. Are you ready to provide it?

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

Understanding what advisory really is is only half the challenge. The real question is: “Where is it all heading?”

What are the hard truths behind the excitement, and why do so many firms still feel like they are in the early stages when it comes to client advisory services? Let’s take a closer look at what the data tells us about the exciting future of advisory services.

MORE by Hitendra Patil: The DNA of Advisory-CAS | Advisory Is Not Consulting | What Exactly Is Client Advisory Services? | Review Your CAS Offerings | CAS Prospects Want Proof? You’ve Got That | What AI CEO’s Warning Means (and Doesn’t) for Accountants | Ditch the Sales Pitch | How to Get CAS Clients to Blow Your Horn | Four Questions for Choosing CAS Clients | What Is Your Firm’s Marketable Value? | Seven Tips for CAS Marketing | Twelve Things That Kill Your CAS Profits
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The numbers don’t lie: CAS is no longer just a trend. It is a fundamental shift.

Let’s explore insights from one of the biggest CAS research surveys ever done. This rich and meaningful data draws us in and inspires us to think more creatively about how advisory services can evolve in the years to come.
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Life Planning: Going Beyond the Financials

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woman and man talking in office

 

What actions and changes can enhance emotional well-being and quality of life? They may be financial.

By Rory Henry
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

The future of advice is not financial, it’s human! It is about helping clients live their best lives.

MORE: How to Conduct a Proper Discovery Meeting | Understand Clients’ Relationship with Money | Manage Change through A PACT | Marketing Strategies for Wealth Management Services | An Accountant’s Role in Exit Planning | Trust and Estate Planning Is for Clients of All Ages | Help Clients Manage and Embrace Investment Risk | Tax Advisory Services: A Pathway to Greater Financial Freedom | Leverage AI to Grow and Protect Revenue: Six Steps | Four Ways to Provide Wealth Management in Your Accounting Practice | What Multiples Mean to Accounting Firms | How Wealth Management Has Evolved | Why Now Is the Time for CPAs to Embrace Wealth Management
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Instead of emphasizing technical skills such as minimizing taxes, building a portfolio and executing a Roth conversion, our goal is to shift your thinking toward a human-first financial mindset. This approach helps you uncover a person’s entire life. By being attentive to the many aspects of well-being, we can have a transformative impact on our client relationships that goes beyond financials.
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