As technology continues to automate an increasing number of tax preparation and compliance tasks, more and more accounting firms are looking at shifting their focus to offering clients more personalized financial insights and strategic guidance. But here’s the catch: many tax and accounting professionals believe they’re providing advisory services, when in reality, they’re caught in a trap of giving out-of-scope tax advice away for free.
To ensure you are properly compensated for your expertise, let’s break down the difference between casual, reactive advice and purposeful, revenue-generating advisory services. Knowing this distinction is key to growing your firm’s value, deepening client relationships, and building a more sustainable practice.
Jump to ↓
| Understanding advisory services in tax and accounting |
| Differences between accounting advisory services and business consulting services |
| Ensuring advisory is at the core of your client relationships |
| Communicating the value of advisory services to your clients |
| Making sure you are paid adequately for providing advisory services |
| Are you ready to build a successful advisory practice? |
Understanding advisory services in tax and accounting
Many tax and accounting professionals believe they are providing advisory services simply by answering client questions during tax season or providing occasional guidance throughout the year. The truth is, most firms are offering bits of advice on the fly — often out of scope and unpaid — without a structured approach or clear value proposition.
True advisory services go far beyond answering ad-hoc questions. They involve intentional, structured engagements that deliver strategic insight, long-term planning, and risk management tailored to each client’s goals.
Today’s clients aren’t just looking for someone to prepare their tax returns or ensure they’re in compliance with tax laws. They want a partner who can anticipate challenges, identify opportunities, and guide them through complex decisions year-round. By formalizing your advisory service offerings and clearly communicating the value, your firm can move away from simple tax preparation and toward becoming a trusted partner — a shift that opens the door to stronger client relationships and a more sustainable revenue model.
Differences between accounting advisory services and business consulting services
Accounting advisory services focus on helping clients make informed financial decisions by offering guidance on tax planning, compliance, financial reporting, and entity structuring. These services are rooted in a deep understanding of accounting principles and regulations, and they typically involve ongoing, proactive support to help clients optimize financial outcomes and stay aligned with changing laws.
In contrast, business consulting services take a broader approach, addressing operational strategy, organizational development, technology implementation, and performance improvement. While accounting may play a role, consultants look at the business holistically — evaluating workflows, market positioning, and leadership practices to drive growth and efficiency across all departments.
For tax and accounting professionals, offering both advisory and consulting services creates an opportunity to become a more strategic partner to clients. By combining financial expertise with broader business insights, your firm can deliver a full spectrum of guidance while optimizing tax strategies.
Ensuring advisory is at the core of your client relationships
Putting advisory at the core of your client relationships starts with a mindset shift — from being a service provider to becoming a strategic partner. Advisory isn’t just an add-on or a once-a-year planning session; it’s an ongoing relationship built on insight, trust, and forward-thinking guidance.
Clients who feel truly supported are more likely to stick with your firm and refer others. By embedding advisory into the core of your engagements, you’re not only offering more value but also fostering deeper, longer-lasting relationships.
That’s where the structure and support from a program like Practice Forward makes a real difference, helping you to articulate your advisory offerings in a way that resonates with clients. You’ll gain the tools and frameworks needed to define, package, and deliver advisory services in a way that is scalable and intentional.
Communicating the value of advisory services to your clients
One of the biggest challenges accounting firms face when transitioning to advisory services is clearly communicating the value to clients. Many are used to seeing your firm strictly as tax preparers or compliance experts, so when you start offering strategic advice, it’s not immediately clear why it’s worth paying for. The truth is that clients don’t always recognize the value of something they haven’t experienced before.
Whether it’s improved cash flow, proactive tax savings, or stronger decision-making confidence, the strategies utilized in the Practice Forward model make it easier to showcase client outcomes. These examples help prospective advisory clients visualize what advisory services could mean for their own business or financial situation.
Equally important is educating your clients about the long-term value of strategic advisory. They may understand the benefit of a one-time tax strategy session, but they don’t always realize the power of consistent guidance over time. From navigating changing tax regulations to preparing for a business transition, Practice Forward equips your firm with conversation guides and client-ready materials that help bridge this understanding gap.
Making sure you are paid adequately for providing advisory services
With the growth of advisory, more and more accounting firms are moving away from traditional hourly billing in favor of value-based and fixed-fee pricing models.
Value-based pricing focuses on the perceived value of services to the client, allowing firms to charge based on outcomes rather than time spent. This model supports stronger client relationships and aligns with the shift toward strategic advisory services. On the other hand, fixed-fee pricing offers a flat rate for services, making it easy to understand and budget — but it may not always reflect the true value provided.
With over 280 tools like proposal templates, client deliverables, pricing calculators, checklists, and videos, Practice Forward can ensure your firm is adequately paid for the value you bring to the table. In fact, Practice Forward members have reported:
- A 133% increase in average first 12-month billing for new clients.
- A 25% increase in overall annual revenue within the first 12 months.
- A 113% increase in average monthly billing for existing clients.
Are you ready to build a successful advisory practice?
If you think your firm is already providing advisory services, consider whether all of the work you do for your clients is in the scope of your service agreement — and if you are being fairly compensated for the expertise you provide.
With Practice Forward, your firm will gain access to the customizable tools, templates, and guidance needed to evolve your firm and confidently offer high-value advisory services. From proposal and pricing tools to educational client deliverables, everything is designed to help you communicate your value clearly and standardize how your firm delivers advisory services.
To learn more about where your firm stands in its advisory journey, take our advisory progress report quiz and learn more about Practice Forward.
