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‘Why Does This Profession Think There Ought to Be No Client Left Behind?’

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez
a calculator on US currency, to do list, tax preparer fees

Our 2024 Predictions For the Accounting Profession survey is still open and we invite you to share your thoughts on what lies ahead. Not only do we care about the future, we also asked what issue is currently affecting the profession but not talked about nearly enough or even at all. Shout-out to all of you who mentioned pay as if that isn’t THE most talked about issue. Still, critically important. Keep mentioning it. Loudly and frequently.

We’ll share the full results after the survey closes but for now I wanted to highlight this response to the question “What issue ISN’T being talked about and should be?”

Why not have more schooling for a CPA. Attorneys did this years ago, and there is not a shortage of Attorneys. I think if CPAs were a more elite group, although it may take a while there will be more CPAs once people realize that it is an elite group. Also, why do we care so much if there are fewer accountants, just let some of these clients go without an accountant when they complain about the fees. Why does this profession think that there ought to be no client left behind. This profession isn’t a public school. We should have waiting lists for new clients. We should dump about half our clients and charge 150% more than we are charging now. Then we could afford to pay staff more.

Breezing right past the suggestion that CPAs need more schooling, they make an excellent point. Maybe it’s just the #taxtwitter accounts we see often in our feed (as in, the influencers and disruptors who are leading the charge to…well, charge) but there has definitely been a shift in the past few years away from lowballing yourself and toward charging what you’re worth and being picky about which clients you take on. FINALLY. Maybe preparers are starting to internalize the messaging.

A few examples:

But then we also have:

And Albert again with another:

Look, I don’t know who needs to hear this but you’re allowed to charge more. You will probably lose some clients, so what. They’re cheap and don’t value what you do for them. DITCH THEM.

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One thought on “‘Why Does This Profession Think There Ought to Be No Client Left Behind?’”

  1. The survey response quoted in this article is SPOT ON. Nice to see someone finally talk about the actual root cause. Take audit as an example. There are public company audits with lower rate-per-hour metrics than the labor rate that car dealerships charge. Why would a legally mandated service that can only be done by four-six companies on the planet and carries the risk of jail time be priced like a commodity?

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