Accounting firm advisory: how to package CFO services
Most accounting firms want to sell more advisory and less plain bookkeeping. What holds them back is rarely the know-how, but that preparation takes too long per client. Here is how to package the service so it can be sold, delivered and scaled.
Bookkeeping and year-end closing are the foundation of a firm, but they are also the part that is automated fastest and where prices are squeezed. Advisory is what clients are willing to pay more for: someone who explains the numbers, sees where the company is heading and speaks up before the cash runs out.
Yet advisory often stays with a handful of clients. Each client has its own export, its own template and its own reminder, and advisory becomes whatever the consultant has time to prepare before the meeting. This guide covers how to package advisory and CFO services so that more clients can get them.
What a CFO service from a firm usually includes
- Monthly report with commentary. Profit and loss and balance sheet against budget and last year, with a short explanation of what deviates.
- Budget and forecast. This year's budget built on actuals, and a forecast that updates when new actuals come in.
- Cash flow forecast. What happens to cash over the coming months, and when a credit line or an action is needed.
- KPIs. The figures that drive that particular client's business, for example margin, staff cost per unit of revenue or accounts receivable.
- Board material. Material for the board meeting in the same format every time.
- Group report. When the client has several companies: a combined result for the whole group.
Three tiers to package
Advisory is easier to sell when the client can choose between a few clear tiers instead of buying hours. A common setup is three tiers, where each one builds on the previous.
| Contents | Meetings | Fits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Follow-up | Monthly report and KPIs | When needed | Clients who want to see the numbers every month |
| Advisory | Follow-up plus budget and forecast | Monthly or quarterly | Growing companies with an owner who steers by the numbers |
| CFO service | Advisory plus cash flow and board material | Monthly and board meetings | Companies with a board, a bank or several companies |
Price per client and month, not per hour
A fixed monthly price makes the service easy to buy and easy for the client to budget for. For the firm it becomes clear what the service may cost to deliver for it to be profitable.
Preparation decides profitability. If it takes half a day to put the material together before each meeting, advisory becomes expensive. If the material comes straight from the accounting, the time goes to the conversation with the client instead.
Which clients should get advisory?
- Companies that are growing and need a budget, a hiring plan or financing.
- Clients with several companies in a group, where the owner wants to see the whole picture.
- Companies with a board or a bank that wants regular reporting.
- Owners who already ask about the numbers between closings.
Clients who only want their bookkeeping done should not be pushed into an advisory package. Keep them on a simple follow-up, so the firm sees when they start to fit for more.
What makes advisory scale
- Current data without exports. The numbers come straight from the client's accounting system, whether it is Fortnox, Visma or something else.
- One list of all clients. You see which have current data, which have errors to fix and which reports are due.
- One report for many clients. The template is built once and filled with each client's numbers.
- The report is shared as a link. The client reads it without logging in, and you go through the same material in the meeting.
- The client sees their own numbers. Advisory continues between meetings when the client can follow actuals on their own.
How it works in Fintower
In Fintower the firm gathers every client company in one work list. There you see when each client last synced, which errors need fixing, which requests are waiting and which routines are due. Each client can have its own accounting system, for example Fortnox, Visma, Hogia, Business Central or Xledger.
For each company you choose Routine or Advisory. Routine only connects the bookkeeping and costs SEK 10 per company and month. Advisory gives consultants and the client's own participants access to the full product for SEK 449 per company and month, excluding VAT. Budget and forecast and group consolidation are available as add-ons per client. The full price list is at fintower.ai/en-us/pricing/agency.
Reports are shared as a link the client can open without logging in. The client can request integrations and colleagues in the product, and the firm approves them from the work list. The firm has one agreement with Fintower and receives one invoice per month. Data is stored in the EU and is not used to train AI models.