Are You Offering What Your Clients Value?

As featured on Accounting Today’s “On the Air” podcast with Dan Hood

In a recent episode of Accounting Today’s podcast On the Air, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dan Hood about a critical topic for accounting professionals: the persistent disconnect between what accountants think they’re offering and what clients actually value. Our conversation was wide-ranging but centered around one key theme: for accountants to remain relevant—and profitable—we must move beyond compliance work and become protectors of our clients’ journeys.

The value gap: what accountants sell vs. what clients want

Perception vs. reality

Most accounting and bookkeeping practices believe they’re delivering value through compliance: tax prep, financial statements, and regulatory filings. But to the client, these are necessary evils—utilities, not differentiators. As I said during the episode, tax professionals serve one of the two unavoidable components of life – as told by the famous cliché – “Death and Taxes,” which means tax pros keep company with the undertakers. As tongue in cheek as I might have been in making this statement the truth behind the joke is very real. We must move from servicing the unavoidable and inevitable and offer, instead, what clients ultimately value in an accounting professional:

1. An increase in wealth—which includes but isn’t limited to financial gain.
2. Peace of mind—knowing someone is watching their back and helping them navigate uncertainty. I also refer to this as protection of the client’s journey.

The illusion of value in compliance work

Commoditization and AI threats

Compliance work is becoming a commodity. Whether it is Intuit’s Super Bowl ads promoting QuickBooks as a “complete” business solution, or TurboTax suggesting it can match any CPA’s tax-saving skills, the message to the market is clear: software can do what the professionals can do, faster and cheaper.

Even if you are argue with the merits of this position (and there is an argument to be made), the perception is enough to devalue the service—even if the professional truly offers more depth and insight.

As Dan Hodd (podcast host) pointed out during our discussion, “Computers are really good at applying a set of rules to a set of data”—which is the essence of compliance. If all you are offering is something AI can replicate, your value proposition is evaporating fast.

Shifting to what clients truly value

From historical reporter to journey protector

Accountants and bookkeepers must transition from being passive recorders of history to active protectors—and even guides—on a client’s business journey.

What does that mean in practical terms? It means stepping into the role of controller focusing on three key areas of value:

1. Regulatory Compliance: Helping clients stay compliant with state regulations, sales tax, payroll, etc.
2. Risk Mitigation: Guarding against loses like fraud and bad debt expense (uncollectible receivables).
3. Managerial Compliance: Guiding clients on budgets and budgetary accountability, spending policies, and purchasing policies.

These services not only protect the client from downside risk—they also offer the potential for significant upside by improving margins, reducing unnecessary expenses, and enabling better decision-making.

Introducing CAS: Client Advisory Services as a bridge to value

Why CAS is the future of the profession

Client Advisory Services (CAS) provide an ideal path for firms looking to offer what clients truly value.

Unlike seasonal tax work and audit work, CAS engagements create ongoing touchpoints. Unlike bookkeeping which only records the client’s historical transactions, CAS focuses on current operations…on ways to reduce expenses and costs, not just record them. A tax or audit client might speak to their CPA or EA once or twice a year. A CAS client may interact as often as weekly with their client, especially if you are offering BPO (Back-office Process Outsourcing). That level of integration allows professionals to spot inefficiencies, recommend changes, and build relationships that are hard to replace—by AI or otherwise.

Crucially, CAS allows firms to:

Command higher monthly fees, commonly exceeding $5,000 per month per client
Create consistent, year-round revenue.
Deepen client relationships beyond transactional work.

Using AI as a strategic advantage, not a threat

Leverage, don’t fear, the machines

Rather than fight AI, practices should embrace it—to deliver better results faster, and at scale.

During the show, I shared an example from a class I taught recently on spend management. Manually identifying recurring expenses (i.e. passive purchases) from 13 months of bank and credit card statements would take hours ad would often ben cost-prohibitive for you and the client. However, with ChatGPT, I uploaded PDFs and received a detailed spend analysis in seconds, including an identification of which software providers had overlapping features and might be candidates for cancellation or license reduction. Note: I used ChatGPT Enterprise for this exercise as that edition of ChatGPT (and ChatGPT Teams Edition) are more secure and private and do not use uploaded data to inform its larger AI models.

The magic isn’t in knowing how to run the software—it’s in knowing what questions to ask and what actions to take based on the answers. AI won’t replace the human judgment required to decide whether a salesperson should stay at a Ritz-Carlton or a Courtyard. But it will significant reduce the amount of work involved in identifying transactions that are at luxury hotel brands.

Firms that combine their professional judgment with AI’s processing power will deliver superior results and enjoy better margins.

The emotional side of value: don’t overlook “how you make me feel”

Clients pay for outcomes—and peace of mind

Beyond dollars and deliverables, clients also pay for emotional outcomes. As professionals, we often undervalue this, but it’s real.

To revisit a phrase from the episode: “There are only two things people will pay money for—how you solve my problem and how you make me feel.”

Think of a business owner in the $2M–$10M revenue range. They live in a state of chronic, low-level fear. They know how to perform their trade, but not how to run a business that is at any degree of scale or complexity. When a professional can step in and say, “I’ve got your back,” that reassurance—combined with real business insight—is priceless.

From fear to action: why accountants must shift first

It’s not the client’s mindset that needs to change—it’s ours

The irony I pointed out at the end of the episode is that while the podcast (and my keynote at the upcoming Firm Growth Forum) is focused on why clients don’t value the accountant’s services, it’s not actually the clients who need to shift their mindset. It’s the professional who is servicing them.

Clients already want help. They already value guidance. They just don’t expect it from their accountant or bookkeeping —because those professionals haven’t shown their clients their full potential – they have limited their role to what is necessary, not to what is possible.

By changing our mindset from “compliance provider” to “journey protector,” we unlock a world of value that clients are already willing—and eager—to value.

Final thoughts: a practical path forward

For practices that want to begin the transition toward more valuable services, here’s where to start:

Adopt CAS (Client Advisory Services): Begin offering controllership and FP&A (Financial Planning and Analysis) services with a clear, structured model.
Focus on Outcomes: Help clients reduce waste, improve profitability, and reduce risk.
Use AI Strategically: Let automation handle the data crunching so you can focus on insight and relationship.
Package the product called “Peace of Mind”: Don’t underestimate the emotional security your services can provide.
Change Your Own Thinking First: Before clients can see your value, you must believe in it—and deliver it—in new ways.