today's features
client service opportunities

weak business models exposed | gear up for growth

ai accelerates advisory work, but only if firms rethink pricing and risk.
sponsored by “radical pricing: how to optimize profits, delight customers, and build a top-value firm” by jody padar | see today’s special offer

click to subscribe anywhere: apple, google/youtube, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music and audible, player fm, audacy, gaana (india), boomplay (africa), or rss. 

gear up for growth
with jean caragher
for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

on this episode of gear up for growth, host jean caragher sits down with john higgins, founder and ceo of higgins advisory, to explore how chatgpt and generative ai are reshaping advisory services, pricing models, and the way cpas work.

higgins is blunt about the opportunity—and the risk. “ai and chatgpt-type tools can become your advisory services assistant,” he says. “they help cpas communicate better as advisors and focus on what matters most for each client. but you can’t let them turn into a way of giving away your time.”

gear up for growth spotlights the best strategies for smart and effficient growth in today’s competitive landscape. more gear up for growth every friday here.|  more capstone conversations with jean caragher every monday | more jean caragher here | get her best-selling handbook, the 90-day marketing plan for cpa firms, here | more 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 videos and podcasts here

for decades, cpas have been told they need to “become more advisory.” the challenge hasn’t been belief—it’s been execution. many practitioners equate advisory with answering questions accurately, rather than proactively guiding decisions.

generative ai changes that equation.

read more →

accounting arc

small firms may have the biggest advantage in 2026 | arc

less legacy infrastructure could mean faster adoption and outsized opportunity.

sponsored by the balanced millionaire: the advisor edition by dr. jackie meyer | see today’s special offer

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google/youtube, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music, audible, player fm, audacy, rss.

accounting arc
with liz mason, byron patrick, and donny shimamoto
center for accounting transformation

build a 7-figure firm in just 4 hours a week!

in their new year’s episode, the hosts of accounting arc do something many industry commentators avoid: they revisit last year’s predictions, mark what proved accurate, and adjust what did not. donny shimamoto, cpa.citp, cgma — founder and managing director of intraprisetechknowlogies and founder and inspiration architect of the center for accounting transformation— joins liz mason, cpa, ceo and founder of high rock accounting, and byron patrick, cpa.citp, cgma, senior product manager for karbon, and co-founder and educator for tb academy, to grade last year’s predictions and discuss what’s to come in 2026.

more accounting arc: downgraded: what the doe said about accounting | savage: using your license as a megaphone |  baker: interpreting pricing psychology | don’t get fired by your own automation | what amazon doesn’t tell you | royalties, residuals, and reality checks | arc-slc | free speech is a right; respect is a responsibility | cash bags, casinos & audits: how first jobs shape us | gen z redefines careers | bootleggers, baptitsts & cpas: rethinking licensure

the episode blends reflective scorekeeping with forward-looking speculation, centering on three forces that continue to reshape accounting: alternative licensure pathways, the pace of ai adoption, and the role of culture in firm competitiveness.

read more →

client accounting services

cracking the code of modern cas: a new era begins

what’s next for casextreme close up of female hand with pen pointing on cash flow document.

 

 

by hitendra patil

the accounting profession is evolving rapidly. if you work at a firm today, you likely feel the urgency to adapt.

clients want clearer information and added value, while firms juggle capacity, staffing, and tech changes. is your firm ready for these new demands?

we created this newsletter for one reason: to help you confront these challenges with confidence and clarity.

casnext® will be a practical, research-informed series packed with field-tested insights and actionable strategies you can bring directly to your firm’s conversations and client work.

think of each edition as a working session—part mirror, part map—setting the stage for everything that follows. read more →

cornerstone

cornerstone report: cpa billing rates, tax return fees, and client accounting pricing at cpa firms | 2026

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research cornerstone reports deliver instant situational awareness on the day’s hottest topics.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

tax return pricing in 2026 is best understood as a structural repricing rather than a routine inflation adjustment. firms are charging more, charging differently, and narrowing capacity.

more on pricing.

in this cornerstone report, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 finds a 45.7% rise in the national average base fee for a 1040 with schedules 1–3 (2023 to 2025); benchmark add-on prices for common schedules; national averages for entity and fiduciary returns; fee-increase cadence and the dominant 6%–10% increase band; a median typical-client fee level of $1,263; a common unbilled-work leakage estimate of 6%; and large-firm benchmarking metrics that show how higher rates interact with realization and income per partner.

read more →

advisory & consulting

why advisory is broken—and what comes next

from strain to scale: the new world of advisory

by eric eager
co-founder and ceo
4impactdata 

for years, advisory services have been positioned as the future of the cpa profession. conferences are filled with sessions on “moving up the value chain,” and firm leaders are under growing pressure to make the shift. but here’s the hard truth: most firms are still trying to deliver tomorrow’s services using yesterday’s methods.

more eric eager’s special series on 10x advisory is available as an ebook, at no charge, from 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 here.
more cas | more tech | more advisory

long discovery meetings. manual analysis. generic powerpoint decks. pricing models built on billable hours instead of business outcomes. these are the hallmarks of the old world of advisory—time-intensive, inconsistent, and hard to scale.

and they simply don’t hold up anymore. today’s business owners are moving faster, expecting more, and looking to their advisors for guidance that’s real-time, relevant, and actionable. but most firms are still operating with a rearview mirror—offering valuable insights that often arrive too late to act.

the real problem isn’t value—it’s scalability

advisory is broken not because it lacks value, but because it lacks leverage. teams are stretched thin. capacity is limited. work is being recreated client by client, one proposal at a time. the result? growth becomes painful, quality becomes inconsistent, and advisors start to burn out.

even worse, most firms find themselves in a constant trade-off: grow the number of clients or preserve service depth. you can’t do both without a new model.

but here’s where most firms get stuck: they don’t even know where to begin.

read more →