As the days close in on yet another peak volume “season” of tax work, I have a proposal to help improve the lives of most tax professionals, and may it be your new mantra: Value matters more than volume.
In my time getting to know accountants and how they work, there is not a year that goes by that tax pros in particular don’t complain about the hours they work. Some even see it as some kind of sadistic badge of honor.
Many even believe they don’t have much choice and can’t simply say they’ll work fewer hours and make it stick. Why? Because too many still tie their overall income to the volume of work they do without putting a price on the value.
It may seem simple, or even trite, but at the core of the idea of “value pricing,” ultimately leading to earning more and working less, is figuring out what the value of your work is, putting a price (or prices) on it, and effectively reducing the number of clients you need to live the life you want. Yet from almost time immemorial, it seems the basis of tax work requires charging for hours of “work” done, which also requires a certain number of clients in order to justify acceptable revenue levels. In this model, simply charging more and firing clients or even having a “fixed fee” doesn’t quite get it done.
Those who preach true value pricing want you to take a good look at the amount of time you spend on a particular set of tasks and then add in your expertise, education, and ability to see what the numbers actually mean and ultimately have pointed conversations with your clients about all of it. In this scenario and dedicated practice, your business will not need to rely on a volume of work at the end of the day.
I’m not saying move away from compliance, far from it. If that is what you know and have always done, great. But do it less. Make it a part of an overall package of services that you perform throughout the year. Make what you do valuable to the growth and financial well-being of your clients. Trust me, you will not need to work with as many of them in order to earn what you are truly worth. The value of what you do is not in a set of tasks, maybe at one time in history it was, but automation and outsourced services are seeing to it that tasks are not what accounting is (or could be).
Say it loud, say it proud: Value over Volume. Learn from the doers in this scenario. They’ve stumbled; they heard the rallying cries and went straight to raising prices and firing clients, only to find they missed some steps in between. Let them teach you about how life-work balance and harmony can (and need to) happen.
Put a conscious end to “busy season” by not letting work happen to you but controlling its flow and increasing its value. This is my hope for this profession: for you all to evolve from compliance officers to creators of long-lasting value and healthy financial futures.
Accounting supports the backbone of our economy: the small businesses and investors in them. You deserve to be rewarded for that support by charging what you are worth and not having to work more hours to earn it.
Wonderful