Value Pricing in the Cloud

Source: CPA Trendlines

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by Gary Boomer.

There is good news on the horizon for accountants who wish to package and price advisory services for value rather than by the hour. Cloud computing is the enabler that allows accountants to eliminate redundancy, improve efficiency and take over the platform while offering their clients a uniform and standardized system accessible by both the client and the accountant. Until now, the accounting firm had to rely upon vendors who did not operate as partners, but acted as competitors.

What is the difference between cloud computing and the client server model? There are several:

1. The client and the firm do not need to invest in as much technology and can share resources through virtualization.
2. The firm can standardize and private label the platform used by many clients while maintaining the current version on hosted virtual servers.
3. The technology allows the accountant and client to share transactional data as well as advisory reports 24/7 in a secure environment.
4. The accountant does not need to waste valuable time traveling to and from the client's offices.
5. The accountant's market is expanded from local to global with access to the Internet.

The first step is to survey some of your entrepreneurial clients and propose the cloud computing solution. Get their reactions. Sell tickets and then produce the show rather than build something that doesn't meet the client's needs or wants.

Second, bundle and price these services on a monthly basis. Utilize a fixed price agreement that narrowly defines the scope of services and responsibilities of both the client and the accounting firm. Be sure to include a change order clause because it protects the client and the firm.

While naming may not seem important, it is very important to the market and potential clients. He who names the process owns the process. Clients will always buy from the supplier who can name and graphically demonstrate a process.

For the complete article, read “New Tech Tactics for Killing the Billable Hour.”

From CPA Trendlines, http://cpatrendlines.com, March 30, 2012.