{"id":56901,"date":"2018-11-26t12:30:55","date_gmt":"2018-11-26t17:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/48e130086c.nxcli.net\/?p=56901"},"modified":"2018-11-27t13:40:54","modified_gmt":"2018-11-27t18:40:54","slug":"clients-buy-solutions-not-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2018\/11\/26\/clients-buy-solutions-not-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"clients buy solutions, not hours"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hand<\/a>are you providing the value they expect?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

by ed mendlowitz<\/i>
\ncall me before you do anything: the art of accounting<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

pricing, billing and collecting fees for services are how accountants earn their livings.<\/p>\n

more:<\/b> what consulting is<\/a> | make obsessed leadership work for you<\/a> | client checklist: top 10 issues for real estate investors<\/a> | working hard? or hardly working?<\/a> | it\u2019s not always about the money<\/a>
\n\"goprocpa.com\"exclusively for pro members. <\/span><\/strong>log in here<\/a> or 2022世界杯足球排名 today<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

one time, one of my fellow partners at withumsmith+brown, peter weitsen, billed a client for a lengthy phone call and a followup memo, and the client complained, saying that he did not realize he would have to pay for the work he did.\u00a0
\npeter replied, \u201cthat\u2019s how i make my living!\u201d the client understood and paid the bill.<\/p>\n

there seem to be many ways clients are charged for the work we do. and the value to the client is usually perceived differently than by the cpa.<\/p>\n

i also have seen that the value to the client is always greater before the work is done than after, yet most accountants determine the fee and present the bill afterward. sometimes they even reduce it (before presenting it) because they think it is too high, only to have the client complain about the \u201chigh\u201d bill.<\/p>\n

many accountants charge by the hour and don\u2019t know what the fee will be until the work is completed and time calculated, with the corresponding rates for each person who worked on the assignment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

i have been in business a long time, and with the exception of some rare instances, never had a client tell me they wanted to buy x number of hours. what they do tell me is that they want to buy a solution to a problem or relief from a compliance matter. they don\u2019t buy the hours; they buy the solution, yet they are charged by the hour.<\/p>\n

a colleague, ron baker, developed an industry within professional services in which a cpa (or any other professional) and client decide before the job starts<\/p>\n