The vast majority of accounting and tax firms plan to raise their fees next year, with many of them shifting from hourly billing to value-based pricing as costs rise, according to a new survey.
The report, released Thursday by Ignition, polled 219 U.S.-based accounting firms using Ignition’s practice management software and found 80% of the firms plan to raise prices across their services in 2026. Over two-thirds (37%) of the firms plan to raise prices by 5%, while 30% of the firms plan to raise prices by 10%.
It found 40% of the firms cited rising business costs as the main driver for raising prices. Over 9% of the firms cited revenue growth as their reason for raising prices (up from 5% last year), and 18% to improve profit margins (up from 12%).
Some of the firms are worried about losing business as a result of the price hikes, with 28% saying fear of losing clients holds them back, while 30% report no hesitation at all. Some 8% cite uncertainty about what other firms are charging as a reason why they don’t raise their prices. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of the firms polled feel confident in their pricing, with 26% saying they are very confident. However, the report shows two-thirds of respondents that raised prices in the past year said they either lost no clients, or lost some, but profitability stayed stable.
The report also covers pricing models, service fees, and projected fee changes across service lines, including: tax preparation, tax planning and advisory, bookkeeping and accounting, and CFO/controller services.
With the exception of tax planning and advisory services, 10% or fewer firms report charging hourly for services benchmarked in the survey. Only 3% of the firms surveyed charge hourly for tax prep services. Hourly billing for CFO/controller services plummeted from over 20% to 10%. Tax planning and advisory services have more varied pricing. Only 17% of the firms charge hourly for these advisory services, down from 20% last year.
To achieve better cash flow predictability, more firms are embracing upfront billing for tax preparation services. Nearly one-third (31%) collected a deposit up front this year (compared to 26% in 2024), but the number of firms collecting the full fee up front remained steady at 13%.
“This year’s benchmark reveals more than just another round of price hikes — it’s a shake-up in how accounting firms think about and manage pricing,” said Ignition CEO Greg Strickland in a statement. “The era of hourly billing is fading fast. More firms are seizing the opportunity to price based on the real value they deliver to drive more sustainable profitability.”
The report covers the typical pricing for common accounting and tax services. Most price ranges remained the same from 2024, as firms continued to hold on changing pricing, or increased only by small percentages. For individual tax returns, the most common fees (for 27% of firms) are between $400 to $599 per return. For business tax returns, the most common fee range (cited by 29% of firms) is $1,000 to $1,499 annually. For tax planning and advisory services, the largest percentage of firms (25%) said they charge more than $2,000 annually for these strategic services.
For monthly bookkeeping and accounting, the services most commonly run $250 to $499 per month (according to 29% of the firms surveyed). For CFO and controller services, a more specialized offering, the most common pricing cited was more than $2500 per month (23%)
To enable firms to price with greater confidence and optimize revenue, Ignition plans to offer AI-powered pricing intelligence later this year. For more information, click here.
