PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES

Accountants Race to Tame AI before AI Outruns the Practice

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Only 1 in 5 firms has an AI strategy, leaving most firms with varying degrees of chaos.

Barely three years since ChatGPT launched, 98% of accountants are using AI regularly. 88% use it in client service.

By CPA Trendlines Research

With artificial intelligence now firmly embedded in the daily life of tax and accounting firms, the profession’s next test is whether practitioners can learn to run AI before AI outruns the practice.

A new crop of research studies and benchmarking surveys suggests firms have yet to fully govern the tools, price the work, train the staff and protect client trust under AI regimes. Reports from the AICPA, Karbon, CPA.com, Blue J, Intuit Firm of the Future, KPMG, Personiv, the ACCA, Rightworks, Business.com and Citrin Cooperman show AI adoption is no longer in doubt. Coping with it is.

MORE Artificial intelligence | Supkis Cheek: Most Accountants Are Missing This AI Shift | |Private Equity’s Big Bet Faces an AI Shake-Up | Doug Slaybaugh: How to Define “Values in Motion” | At ENGAGE 2026, a Profession Richer and Less Certain Than Ever. | Jen Cryder: From Membership Model to Market Maker | Big 4 Transparency | Three Tech Priorities with Rapid ROI | The Google Playbook for Young Accountants | AI Can Fix Your Workflow—or Break It in Seconds |

Karbon says 98% of accounting professionals use AI, up 15 percentage points from last year, with 55% using it several times a day and 74% using it daily or more often.

Intuit says 88% of accounting professionals used AI for at least one client service in the last 12 months, and 86% used AI for at least one firm operation. Some 46% of firms are investing in AI training, 21% have an AI policy, and 21% have an AI strategy. Intuit says 30% describe AI as embedded by default in daily work, while 54% use it only when it seems useful.

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Five Alternatives to Time for Your New Metrics

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Measure your progress and success, just not by the hour.

By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA

It may sound ridiculous, but the only people who are married to timesheets are professional services firms staffed by people who spend their professional lifetimes building their knowledge. Every other company in the world has figured out how to sell and price products or services without relying on timesheets.

MORE by Jody Padar
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Why do professional services firms believe you should sell knowledge in increments of time? Ron Baker, an accounting visionary and author of “Firm of the Future,” once asked, “When you’re a knowledge worker, should you be selling your time?” I don’t think so.

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As Easy as Buying a Can of Paint

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Productize your services for consistent client value.

By Jody Padar
Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA

Now that you have hopefully standardized your services, it’s time to look at productization. Productization is the packaging of intangible services to make them feel tangible. You put everything you will do for a persona into an offering that resonates with them because it’s customized for them. It’s then clearly priced so the buyer knows what they get for their investment.

MORE by Jody Padar
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

This is just as useful for your clients as it is for your staff. Clients appreciate it because they know exactly what they’ll get and what to expect. Staff appreciate it because, unlike in traditional firms where there are at least four different ways to get to the same deliverable, this model has one pathway for each deliverable and service product, making it both efficient and traceable.

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CPAs Regain Upper Hand in Pricing Battles

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Advisory and specialty services lead the way.

Tax pricing pulls away from audit, year-over-year percent change. (CPA Trendlines)

By CPA Trendlines

After two years of mostly weak pricing power, accounting firms appear to be regaining the initiative on billing rates, led by tax services with eye-popping 8% increases.

MORE in Pricing: Tax Prep Billing Rates Lift Busy Season | The Hidden Data Behind CPA Firm Burnout and Profit Pressure | Six Steps to High-Value Tax Advisory |

CPAs are raising rates by 4.2 percent year over year, reversing a 2.1 percent decline recorded a year ago, according to new CPA Trendlines findings.

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