Are You Overlooking These 36 Consulting Services?

business meeting of a woman and two men

Watch for the 38 events that trigger those needs.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

In today’s business world, the greatest growth and margin opportunities for a CPA firm are in the consulting area, as clients outsource specialized skills to deal with business challenges that they cannot handle internally.

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Presented below is a summary of the most typical CPA firm service offerings, together with opportunity triggers and market trends.
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Why Advisory Is Broken. And What Comes Next

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 EmpathyWoodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver ResultsAdvisory-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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Clients Demand Niche Know-How, and They’re Willing to Pay for It

Expertise is the new table stakes.
Brands matter: Clients rely on business or personal referrals to find their accountants.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines Research

U.S. business clients are willing to pay up to 25 percent more for specialized accounting services — and many are making niche expertise a non-negotiable.

MORE in Client Service Opportunities and in Advisory and Consulting, and

A TaxDome-commissioned survey of 353 small- and mid-sized business executives and owners across industries finds that as companies grow, they leave generalists behind in favor of firms that understand their vertical, speak their language and solve the high-stakes problems that come with scale.

Once they go niche, they rarely return.

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Most Tax and Accounting Firms Are Relying on Pay Raises in a Losing Battle for Talent

Hiring in the management consulting sector slows, but remains positive. Tax & accounting sector shrinks workforce.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The professional services industry is accelerating a quiet but consequential reshaping toward higher-end advisory services and away from low-end compliance work.

ASK CPA Trendlines A.I.: Where do accountants go when they quit?

Consulting firms have added more than 27,000 jobs over the past 12 months, pushing total headcount to 1.56 million. In contrast, the accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll sector remains stuck near 1.155 million employees, a plateau that has persisted for much of the past three years, according to a new analysis by CPA Trendlines Research.

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Five Ways Your CAS Practice Traps You

Know the pitfalls … and how to avoid them.

By W. Michael Hsu, CPA

Are you working tirelessly but not seeing the benefits and results you deserve? Essentially, do you feel trapped in the cycle of your business? If so, you’re not alone.

MORE: Review Your CAS: When, What, How | Be Serious About AI, Not Amused | How to Offer Proof to CAS Prospects | How to Market CAS to Existing Clients | 12 CAS Profitability Killers | How Weekly CAS Reports Help Businesses | CAS: Much More than Bookkeeping
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Many firm owners, as well as the entrepreneurs they serve, feel exhausted by their business, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

In this article, we’ll identify common signs that your business is trapping you, and show you how to optimize for freedom. By addressing these issues and implementing some simple strategies, you can reduce stress, achieve more and live a life you love.

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