ethics question: commissions and contingencies

statue of scales of justicefollow the standards.

by august j. aquila

in the old days you could go into a shoe store and purchase sneakers or gym shoes. nowadays, there are tennis shoes, running shoes, cross trainers, aerobic shoes, basketball shoes, soccer shoes and the list goes on and on.

more: make the value curve work for you | how utility and value affect pricing | the four phases of service life | marketing orientation is what firms need
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perhaps the billable hour paradigm soon will go the way of the gym shoe. accountants need to realize that in pricing their services, one pricing method will no longer do. as with athletic shoes, accounting and consulting services can be priced in many different ways.
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make the value curve work for you

older businessman leaning back thinkingdoes your position match client perception?

by august j. aquila

there is a completely different way of looking at value and it is tied into the type of accounting or consulting work that is available in any given market and the type of accounting or consulting work that your firm provides. thirty-plus years ago william c. cobb wrote “the value curve and the folly of billing-rate pricing,” providing a great deal of insight into the concept of pricing and value. many of the ideas that follow are based on cobb’s article.

more: how competitors drive pricing | how to leverage demand in your pricing | the four phases of service life | what we know about pricing strategies | make the most of your marketing mix | marketing orientation is what firms need | when hourly billing hurts profits
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in discussing legal services, cobb notes that sophisticated clients do not tie benefits to hours. rather, there are certain types of services that have a significant impact on the client’s business. the key words here are “sophisticated” and “impact.”
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how to fire a client

big businessman foot on spring kicking three businesspeoplebonus: sample client disengagement letter.

by sandi leyva and michelle long

how many clients have you fired?

more small firm growth strategies: what to do when a client doesn’t pay | the dreaded ‘quick question’ | how to handle referrals – and how not to | why clients need dashboards | five ways to raise your prices | your existing clients are your best leads | need more business? focus on referrals

let’s talk about firing a client because sometimes you do need to fire your client. maybe they’re difficult to work with, or a guy is belligerent and loud and yells, and you don’t want to work for him. maybe there are ethical issues.
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how utility and value affect pricing

hand moving triangle along beam to indicate balance between price and valueeight kinds of utility and four perceptions of value.

by august j. aquila

if indeed we believe the phrase “perception is reality,” then it is the client’s perception that is the only reality. ultimately, only a client can determine the value of your service, that is, the fee he or she is willing to pay. if the client perceives that he or she has received a benefit there will be some perceived value attached to the service.

more: how competitors drive pricing | how to leverage demand in your pricing | the four phases of service life | what we know about pricing strategies | make the most of your marketing mix | marketing orientation is what firms need | when hourly billing hurts profits
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consciously or unconsciously, the client’s determination of the correct fee for a service is related to two concepts: utility and value. let’s look at these two concepts and how they apply to setting prices.
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how competitors drive pricing

four empty metal bucketsyou need to know the four types of competition.

by august j. aquila

intensive price competition in most professional service industries is now a way of life, from hotels to airlines, from car rentals to telecommunications and from law firms to cpa firms.

more: how to leverage demand in your pricing | the four phases of service life | what we know about pricing strategies | make the most of your marketing mix | marketing orientation is what firms need | when hourly billing hurts profits
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

an important factor affecting a cpa firm’s pricing policies is competition. as clients and prospects become more educated about cpa firms in their market, more sophisticated about the services offered, and more cost-conscious, pricing becomes more important and more firms stress the price of their services, especially in competitive request-for-proposal situations. read more →