pricing, fees & billing rates

why time tracking still matters

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if your team dismisses timesheets as old school, you may want to rethink that strategy.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

pen ready to fill in blank timesheet

because capacity is the denominator in the lean six sigma equation, and employee productivity is a big factor in capacity, employee productivity becomes a big factor in determining turnaround time.

more: business owners face one of three exits | don’t let clients dictate tax workflow | make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity | how small firms can win the talent wars | easy ways to avoid ‘done but’ tax returns | six ways to create a millennial-friendly firm | do you know your turnaround time?
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first, let’s dismiss all the consultants who tell us time tracking and productivity metrics don’t matter. for the most part, these consultants have never managed or owned cpa firms. rarely have they worked in firms for any length of time. they have never known the struggles of meeting payroll the first pay period in february, when employee hours are up but the tax season money is not rolling in yet.

here’s an example that shows why time tracking and productivity metrics matter:
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how bullish are you this tax season?

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tax pros see gains in clients, revenue, and profits.

rosy scenario: 75% forecast increases in revenue per client. more work, or higher fees, or both?

join the 5-minute survey. get the answers. start here.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

if the early results of the 2023 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer are any indication, tax practitioners can look forward to a lucrative year.

more tax season ’23:accountants’ top problems for tax season 2023 | tax season 2023: better or worse? | tax: the procedural checklists your firm needs  |  stop tax return review shortcuts  |  offers in compromise aren’t for everyone  |  trump’s tax returns: read the originals here  |  survey: tax software favorite keeps crown

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over 46 percent of respondents expect a five to ten percent expansion of clientele, and another 13 percent say theirs will swell by more than ten percent.

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aynsley damery: adding value is the only way to stay in business

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rethink the 80:20 rule, because the 80% are likely stealing from you.

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the disruptors
with liz farr for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

aynsley damery wants accountants to think more deeply about their work. the ceo for clarity said we need to think about what clients want and deliver it to them, but as simple as that sounds, the problem is he doesn’t “think many accountants truly understand what their clients are looking for.” clients who have started their own businesses are looking for a combination of “money, time and freedom.” however, damery said, we’re selling them dashboards, kpis and cash flow forecasting without explaining why that’s important and what that’s going to do for them. “clients are looking for an advisor who’s going to listen to me, understand my hopes, my fears, my vision, what the challenges are, and be able to be there to support me,” damery said.

more: erik solbakken: yes, you can work less and make more | donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshift | jennifer wilson: empower young workers to build the firm everyone loves | mike whitmire: re-think your hiring and training practices | hector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be free| private equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go  | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers  | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinson | when financial statements go extinct with corey schmidt | can geraldine carter save accountants from themselves? | re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson

goprocpa.com exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

“our clients don’t understand numbers, yet we give them plans with the numbers, and … it doesn’t help,” he said. instead, damery said cpas need to help them understand what they need to do “to make a difference and move their business forward. and that’s not about giving them the answers. that’s about asking the right questions.”

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will my clients find cas expensive?

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provide a different value experience with cas to stop price comparisons. hitendra patil cas q-and-a logo

by hitendra patil
the definitive success guide to client accounting services

have a cas question? get it answered here.

question: at our firm, we have been working on creating cas capabilities. we feel that the cost of offering cas will increase our services’ prices. we are worried that our clients will find cas too expensive. traditionally, it has not been easy for us to increase our prices. how should we go about our cas pricing?

more cas: matching your tech to your cas clients | the tech stack you need for cas | yes, you have the staffing for cas | six steps to spreading cas awareness  | finding profits in cas

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a: there are two separate problems here. first, your firm has a cost-plus pricing model. you’d want to change it not just for cas but also for other services. in general, cost-plus pricing emphasizes the features of your service. your pricing should reflect the relevant benefits of your service. second, you need to find out the different value that clients will experience from your cas offering.

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cpa billing rates rise at 6.5% pace

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the mark tops six months of steady growth.

line chart
overall pricing at cpa firms, year over year

by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

pricing at cpa firms has been growing for the past six months, according to a new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 study, and the numbers are worth noting. august was the first year-over-year hike of over 5 percent, at 5.1 percent. from there, it hopped to 5.5 percent in september, 6.3 percent in october and 6.5 percent in november.

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financial auditing at cpa firms was slightly behind, with annual differences of 4.9 percent in september, 5.5 percent in october and 5.9 percent in november.
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yes, you can work less and make more

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erik solbakken: build the firm of your dreams.

 

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the disruptors
with liz farr for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

q: why did the accountant cross the road?

a: because they did it last year.

erik solbakken, a.k.a. “the heavy metal cpa,” is on a mission to free accountants from an oppressive business model. solbakken spent 18 years working his way up to be a partner in a firm in canada, but when the partnership fell apart, he was liberated to create a new kind of firm, where he and his staff never worked overtime and he made more money. today, he acts as the guide he wishes he’d had when he started out, empowering accountants to create firms they love working in.

more: donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshift | jennifer wilson: empower young workers to build the firm everyone loves | mike whitmire: re-think your hiring and training practices | hector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be free| private equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go  | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers  | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinson | when financial statements go extinct with corey schmidt | can geraldine carter save accountants from themselves? | re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson

goprocpa.com exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

how do you get away from the commoditization trap? simple, deliver to the client the transformation that they want for themselves.

solbakken said the profession has brainwashed us into believing three lies:

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18 ways to boost billings and collections

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happy hispanic businesswoman making a gesture of successdaily timesheets, change orders and other ways to ease your load.

by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services

is the phrase “effective billing philosophy” an oxymoron? i’m beginning to believe that it is. analysis of the results of current billing and collection procedures and policies reveals that, for the most part, they aren’t working very well.

more: get clients to accept your new pricing philosophy | getting partners to accept a new pricing philosophy | ethics question: commissions and contingencies | how competitors drive pricing | what we know about pricing strategies | when hourly billing hurts profits
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the fact is, they have not worked well for decades. while it is true that most firms have some sort of billing procedure and some even have a billing philosophy that is taught to each new biller, the fact is they are seldom followed. hence, very few firms have an effective billing and collection philosophy.
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ed kless: clients don’t want outputs. they want outcomes

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the disruptors: too busy? raise your prices.

 

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the disruptors
with liz farr for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

what do clients – or, as ed kless prefers, customers – want from their accountants? it’s not the tax return or the financial statement but the outcome for the customer, which is most often peace of mind.

to remain relevant in disruptions like online tax preparation and automated bookkeeping tech firms like pilot, accountants need to consider other ancillary services they can provide above and beyond those basic services.

more:  seth fineberg: your classic business model won’t allow growth | hector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be free| private equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go  | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers  | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinson | when financial statements go extinct with corey schmidt | can geraldine carter save accountants from themselves? | re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson

goprocpa.com exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

“when you bill by the hour, when you have to measure your time, and when you tell the customer, ‘pay attention to my efficiency because that’s what i’m going to charge you,’ then they start looking at your efficiency instead of your effectiveness, which is the wrong thing to be looking at,” kless explained.

additionally, kless said cpas who are “too busy” need to raise their fees.

he said, “one of the mantras in pricing is innovating for growth, pricing for profit. when an organization wants to grow, the focus has to be on innovating, creating new things to offer, not necessarily what we used to be called rainmaking, which is getting more customers.”

kless maintains that accountants or cpas should strive to be the first person called, no matter what the customer wants, whether it’s super bowl tickets or a recommendation for the best medical team in an emergency. but experimenting with adding additional services or converting to a subscription-based business model will not be possible for firms that remain wedded to the timesheet, which, kess said, quoting ron baker, is cancer of the accounting profession.

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get clients to accept your new pricing philosophy

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hand moving triangle along beam to indicate balance between price and valuea client who does not contribute to your bottom line is not a client.

by august j. aquila

once your partners are sold on the new pricing philosophy, you will need to communicate it to your clients. there are five ways to get clients to understand and accept the new pricing methods. each of these methods is discussed below.

more: getting partners to accept a new pricing philosophy | when to use 11 alternative pricing methods | make the value curve work for you | how to leverage demand in your pricing | make the most of your marketing mix
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believe that clients will accept a new pricing method: if you don’t believe it, you can be sure that your clients won’t either. it is not unusual for physicians, stockbrokers and attorneys to change billing methods. actually, most of your clients will understand what you are doing if you clearly communicate with them. there is a truism that good client relationships are based on trust. the clients trust that you will do the right thing for them. if they lack this trust, no matter what pricing method you employ, you will have problems with your client.
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getting partners to accept a new pricing philosophy

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post with two signs, "same" and "change"they have to be on board before clients.

by august j. aquila

once you have decided to adopt an alternative pricing philosophy, what do you do next? changing your firm’s pricing philosophy is really a three-step process.

more: when to use 11 alternative pricing methods | 12 subjective factors for pricing your next engagement | how utility and value affect pricing | the four phases of service life | marketing orientation is what firms need
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first, you need to consider several factors before suggesting a change. second, you need to get your partners to agree that it is a good idea, and third, you need to educate your clients so that they accept and understand the new approach. the steps are not easy, but they are possible. and, remember, change does not occur overnight.

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when to use 11 alternative pricing methods

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businessman and tablet with the word "pricing" above.plus why.

by august j. aquila

there are many ways to price professional services. alternative pricing methods in the legal profession have received much more attention than in the accounting profession. in fact, entire publications have been issued by the american bar association on this particular topic.

more: 12 subjective factors for pricing your next engagement | ethics question: commissions and contingencies | how competitors drive pricing | what we know about pricing strategies | when hourly billing hurts profits
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i am aware of at least 14 different approaches to billing that attorneys can use under different sets of circumstances. obviously, each method has advantages and disadvantages as well as marketing and operational implications. i maintain that several of these methods can be used by accountants and consultants in accounting firms when pricing their services.
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12 subjective factors for pricing your next engagement

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price targetstandard rates too often leave you short.

by august j. aquila

accountants face only two major restrictions in determining their fees – the restriction against contingency fees under certain circumstances and the taking of commissions or referral fees. we have also seen that for the most part, accountants bill their time based on a cost-plus method.

more: ethics question: commissions and contingencies | make the value curve work for you | how to leverage demand in your pricing | make the most of your marketing mix
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we don’t have to go far to find a source that suggests “that no business can survive and grow in the marketplace unless it is profit-oriented and motivated,” and “time charges at standard rates should only be the starting point for determining the amount to be billed. the real criteria is the value of the service to clients.” the source for these words of wisdom is none other than the aicpa management of an accounting practice handbook. the handbook goes on to say that “standard rates should not represent a maximum that can be billed for services; rather they should represent a minimum.”
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