{"id":29782,"date":"2023-07-10T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/?p=29782"},"modified":"2023-07-13T12:02:35","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T17:02:35","slug":"tax-advisory-price-process-and-getting-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accountants.intuit.com\/taxprocenter\/advisory-services\/tax-advisory-price-process-and-getting-started\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax advisory: price, process, and getting started"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Advisory, Advisory, Advisory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does advisory mean to you and your firm? Larger practices have entire departments and groups of professionals devoted to delivering Client Accounting Services, while smaller firms know they should deliver tax advisory<\/a> services, yet struggle with how to get started, the fees they should charge<\/a>, and capacity issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTax advisory is so important for the future of our profession,\u201d said Dominique Molina, CPA, MST, CPS, co-founder and president of the American Institute of Certified Tax Planners<\/a>, and a presenter of advisory-related webinars to Intuit\u00ae ProConnect\u2122 Tax<\/a>, Lacerte\u00ae Tax<\/a>, and ProSeries\u00ae Tax<\/a> customers. \u201cAs our tax work becomes more commoditized, and with the development of technology, the personalized level of service and value that we bring as professionals is starting to be diminished in the eyes of the public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interest by tax accountants in learning more about advisory is strong. In addition to a section devoted to advisory<\/a> on the Intuit Tax Pro Center, many practitioners are now creating custom tax plans with tax strategies with Intuit Tax Advisor<\/a>, a cloud-based program that integrates with ProConnect Tax and Lacerte. In addition, hundreds of tax professionals attended the May 2023 virtual conference, Accelerate Your Path to Advisory<\/a>, with two days of sessions to help them learn more about how to offer advisory in their firms (recordings of sessions are available until mid-August 2023).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the conference, poll questions revealed several important findings. For example, more than half of the respondents said that less than 5% of their firm\u2019s revenue was driven by advisory services. However, the majority of respondents lead with compliance, but are interested in offering advisory (31%). Others have started their journey to tax advisory (30%), or proactively lead with tax advisory and meet with their clients on a regular basis (5%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest benefit of leading with tax advisory services is that it’s sticky,\u201d said Eric Aragon, CPA, president and founder of Aragon Accounting Corporation<\/a>. \u201cWhen you bring on a new client, show them a map, and give them tax strategies, you help them save money. They will value your services and stick around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Nesha Jones, CPA, MBA, MOM, agrees. Jones is founder of ASE Group<\/a> and a member of the Intuit Tax Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe believe that almost every client could benefit from tax advisory services because we view tax advisory as helping clients understand the matters that don’t come easy to them,\u201d she said. \u201cThe biggest benefit for my practice is leading with advisory. It\u2019s really helped us find our purpose and fulfill our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the concerns about leading with advisory? According to the poll, the primary roadblock is that respondents didn\u2019t know enough tax savings\u2019 strategies, while others felt differently. For example, some said \u201cMy clients won\u2019t pay for it,\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t have the capacity,\u201d and \u201cI can\u2019t update my services with my current clients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, 22% said they were ready to lead with tax advisory, but what does it take to begin? The overwhelming majority of respondents (77%) reported they needed guidance and resources to help price and package their services, yet 25% said they offered tax advisory as a service, but weren\u2019t charging for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process of offering advisory in your firm isn\u2019t paved in gold; it takes time and energy to move from compliance to helping clients with a number of advisory services. In her practice, Jones knew business owners needed more than tax returns and tax filings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe provided advice as clients needed it and provided advice after the fact, but there was something of a disconnect,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we figured out the advisory piece, gave it a name, gave it a price, and then tied all the pieces together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pricing, indeed, is an obstacle for many firms. In the conference poll questions, charging by the hour and single fixed pricing were the two most popular responses. More than 20% said they always offer the client a choice of packages, charge based on a percentage of tax savings, or only offer value pricing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re now in what I call \u2018relationship pricing,\u2019\u201d said Dawn Brolin, CPA, CFE, owner of Powerful Accounting<\/a> and a member of the Intuit Tax Council. \u201cWe want a commitment from our clients as much as they want a commitment from us, so we absolutely had to change our processes. I look at the process as offering a spot in line. Clients who are willing to meet and have conversations about their businesses are our ideal clients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intuit Tax Advisor can be helpful as well, and over the last 12 months, several important new features<\/a> were added, including more than 45 predefined strategies, such as the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n