pricing, fees & billing rates

survey says 57% of firms are raising prices next year

bar charts

are you charging enough?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

more than half of american accounting firms plan to increase their prices next year, according to the 2024 u.s. accounting and tax pricing benchmark survey just issued by software developer ignition.

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the survey finds that 57 percent plan to jack up their invoices across all services, with 31 percent of them going for a 10 percent increase. but 37 percent will limit their increases to just 5 percent.

and a gutsy 6 percent will go for 20 percent more.

widespread increases

some services will see widespread increases.

  • 90 percent will increase fees for individual tax returns.
  • 87 percent will increase fees for business returns.
  • 70 percent will increase fees for tax planning and advisory services.
  • 85 percent will increase fees for bookkeeping and accounting services.
  • 76 percent will increase fees for cfo and controller services.

covering costs

in a sign of reluctance to ask for more from clients who are suffering the lingering inflation, a slim majority of firms – 58 percent – are raising prices only to cover their rising costs. though the survey didn’t say so, the increased cost of hiring and retaining talent is probably the most inflationary driver.

the second-most common driver is an effort to price out lower-value clients, cited by 12 percent. only 5 percent simply want to increase their revenue.

whatever the reasons, firms are taking a more strategic approach to pricing. time-based billing is still common, but fixed-fee and value-based pricing is becoming a standard.

  • 54 percent use it for tax prep.
  • 67 percent use it for tax planning and advisory services.
  • 79 percent use it for bookkeeping and accounting services.
  • 75 percent use it for cfo/controller services.

current fees

currently, about a quarter of firms are charging $400-$599 for an individual tax return. about a fifth charge $600-$799. and another fifth are pulling down a grand or more.

fees for business returns are higher, of course. only 17 percent charge an average under $1,000, while 31 percent get $1,000-$1,500. a mere 4 percent charge over $3,000.

is your increase too small?

practically nobody still charges an hourly rate for tax prep. thirty-five percent have fixed fees, but nearly as many – 30 percent – work off a minimum fee to which they add costs based on complexity. nineteen percent have worked out a value pricing scheme.

ralph lazanis, cpa and ceo of future tech, offers a simple if somewhat reactionary system for determining how much a tax preparer can increase fees. he says that if most clients agree to a given price increase, the increase was too small.

though barely 2 percent of respondents plan to increase fees by more than 20 percent, lazanis says increases of 200 percent are possible if done properly. (sorry. he gives no clue to a definition of “properly.”)

who’s valuing, who’s fixing?

value pricing is a lot more useful for tax planning and advisory services, in use by 38 percent of firms that offer those services. another 29 percent establish a fixed fee. time-based billing is more popular here than in tax prep, applied by 21 percent.

on the other hand, half of firms charge a fixed fee for bookkeeping and accounting services. lazanis says that most boutique firms could maximize their price per client with value pricing, though only 29 percent are doing so. fixed pricing, he says, benefits firms that crank out high volumes and need to simplify their sales process.

bottom line: charge more

lazanis says that accounting firms are suffering because they they don’t recognize what their services are worth.

“too many accountants are undercutting themselves,” he says, “charging far less than they should for the value they deliver. this leads to two major problems: they’re overworked and burned out.”

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