Busy Season 2026: Too Much Work, Not Enough Time
CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer: Modest Gains, Mixed Outlook, Cautious Tech Upgrades Ahead
By CPA Trendlines Research
PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES
Shift Focus Away from Price
Three ways to set yourself apart.
By Sandi Leyva
The Complete Guide to Marketing for Tax & Accounting Firms
I hear more accountants grumbling every day about how price-sensitive their prospects and clients have gotten. And they are right, to a degree. The economy has caused even the rich to count their pennies, and the percentage of people who look at a price tag before they buy has increased over the last five years.
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Yet studies show that roughly 54 percent of buyers are NOT price-sensitive, and I would be willing to bet even more are selectively price-impervious depending on what they buy: women’s shoes, men’s cars, personal services, jewelry, vacations, cosmetics and hair, to name a few exceptions.
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Start Value Pricing with Six Steps
Who are you selling to?
By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA
Can you remember doing business before cell phones or social media? You really don’t have to be too old to remember because change happens fast. In fact, if you are over 50, you probably remember when every home had a landline, firms advertised in the Yellow Pages, and accountants charged hourly for mundane compliance tasks.
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It really wasn’t that long ago when the internet was intriguing rather than indispensable.
At some point, change becomes inevitable, and I would argue that value pricing has reached this critical stage.
Hourly Billing Sells Firms Short
You have more to offer than time.
By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA
Amazing things happen when you stop thinking about what you’re selling and focus on what clients are buying.
Many of the things clients don’t value are compliance-related like:
- Tax returns
- Payroll
- Accounting services
MORE: Why Pricing Is So Disruptive | The Radical Pricing Model: Start with $25K | Three Critical Factors Drive the Value Pricing Trend | Accounting Disruptors Are Heading Your Way … with Deep Pockets | The Convergence of Trends Makes Pricing Changes Imperative | Stop Looking for Talent that Does Not Exist | Advisory Work Must Be Priced by Value, Not Hours
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But much of what they do value is less defined, though of higher value to their business lives:
- Small business expertise
- Management support and confidence
- Any service requiring specific knowledge or experience
Price By What You’re Worth
Disruptive? We’re OK with that.
By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA
The familiar is always more comfortable than something new. Shifting your pricing model is bound to be disruptive because the billable hour is what we know and have always known. It is the default billing model of every new firm. It’s comfortable, familiar, embedded in our DNA and seems like the easiest billing solution.
Certainly, there are some pros to billing by the hour. Profits remain relatively stable. If you work 40 hours, you know you’re going to bill and hopefully be paid for those 40 hours. There’s a clarity and certainty to it. But there are only so many hours in a week. By embracing the billable hour, you’re putting a profit ceiling on your firm.