Why We've Deliberately Resisted Fixed Pricing
If you've spent any time around business advisors, you've probably heard that fixed pricing is the way to go.
The argument is usually that fixed-fee arrangements are more profitable. Businesses build risk into their pricing, create greater revenue certainty, and if they become more efficient over time, they retain that benefit.
From a business owner's perspective, that logic can make perfect sense.
But we've always viewed our role differently.
We've never wanted to build a pricing model that relies on estimating future uncertainty or retaining the benefits of efficiency improvements for ourselves.
Instead, we've chosen a model where clients can clearly see the work being done, understand where their money is being invested, and directly benefit when efficiencies are created.
That's why we've continued to favour hourly rates, even when much of the industry has moved to fixed pricing.
Bookkeeping Today Looks More Like IT Than Data Entry
One reason we've remained committed to hourly billing is that modern bookkeeping and business support is often far less predictable than people imagine.
We're not simply processing transactions.
Much of our work involves helping businesses implement change.
That may include introducing new software, integrating systems, improving workflows, restructuring processes, training staff, automating administration, implementing AI tools, and solving unexpected operational challenges.
In many ways, this work is more like IT consulting, systems implementation, or business improvement projects than traditional bookkeeping.
At the beginning of a change process, it's often impossible to precisely predict how much work will be required. Every business starts from a different place. Every team adopts change at a different pace. Every system has its own challenges.
Trying to lock that journey into a fixed fee can create tension between flexibility and profitability.
Hourly pricing allows the focus to stay where it should be: achieving the best outcome.
Stability Creates Predictability
Ironically, once improvements have been implemented and processes become established, the work often becomes highly predictable and that's exactly what we want to see.
When systems are working well, staff understand the processes, and workflows are running smoothly, bookkeeping becomes more efficient and more consistent.
The transparency of detailed timesheets makes this easy to see.
Clients can see when efficiencies are being achieved, why costs have reduced, where additional work is occurring, and what is driving changes in effort. There are very few surprises.
Instead of paying a fee based on assumptions, clients can see the reality of what's happening in their business. And when administration becomes easier and faster, the benefits flow directly back to them.
Transparency is More Valuable Than Ever Now
Perhaps the biggest reason we've remained committed to hourly rates is that we're entering an era where efficiency gains are accelerating.
AI, automation, integrations, and smarter software are creating opportunities that simply didn't exist a few years ago and we believe businesses should be encouraged to embrace those opportunities.
More importantly, we believe they should be rewarded for doing so. If technology reduces a task from three hours to one hour, we don't see that as lost revenue. We see that as success. Success for the client. Success for our business. And success for our profession.
Because our goal has never been to maximise hours. It's been to help businesses become stronger, more efficient, and better prepared for the future and in a world changing this quickly, transparency, flexibility, and client control are becoming more important than ever.