How Do Accounting Practices Price Their Services and Create Fee Proposals?

Ignition’s 2025 Accounting and Tax Pricing Benchmark surveyed 219 accounting firms and found a decisive shift towards value-based and subscription pricing. The data shows that firms charging fixed fees or subscription rates have more confidence in their pricing. Not only that, but they’re also losing fewer clients when they raise fees. Two-thirds of firms that increased prices in the past year either lost no clients at all, or lost some but maintained profitability.

What pricing models do accounting practices use?

The main models are hourly billing, fixed fees, subscriptions (monthly retainer), and value-based pricing.

• Fixed fees: Agreed upfront for a defined scope. Clear for clients, but scope creep is a risk if not managed

• Subscriptions (monthly retainer): Monthly recurring fee for an agreed service bundle. Predictable for both sides and associated with higher pricing confidence

• Value-based pricing: Fee set by the value delivered to the client, not the time taken. Requires a clear conversation about outcomes, but allows for higher margins on high-value work

18% of accounting firms now cite improving profit margins as their reason for raising prices, which is up from 12% the previous year. This indicates that the profession is becoming more commercially confident.

How do you create a fee proposal that converts?

A strong fee proposal does three things.

• It demonstrates that you’ve understood the client’s situation

• It presents the service in terms of outcomes not tasks, and it makes the next step easy. Proposals that list activities (prepare accounts, submit self-assessment, liaise with HMRC) are weaker than proposals that describe the outcome (your accounts filed on time, your tax position optimised, HMRC contact handled so you don’t have to)

• Presentation matters. A proposal that arrives as a Word document with no structure and no clear call to action will underperform relative to a professionally formatted proposal with service options, a clear pricing table, and an e-signature field. Clients shouldn’t need to print, sign, and scan anything.

What tools do accounting practices use to create and send fee proposals?

BrightPropose by Bright is built specifically for UK accounting practices to create, send, and track professional proposals with integrated engagement letters and e-signatures. Rather than building proposals in Word and emailing PDFs, BrightPropose by Bright lets practices build branded service packages, present pricing options, and get signed engagement letters back from clients in the same workflow. It removes the friction between winning work and starting it.

How does BrightPropose by Bright compare to Practice Ignition and GoProposal?

Ignition has a strong US and Australian following and integrates well with QuickBooks Online and Xero. GoProposal is well regarded for its pricing strategy guidance and margin visibility. BrightPropose by Bright is purpose-built for the UK and Irish market and integrates directly with the wider Bright platform, connecting proposals and engagement letters to practice management, payroll, and accounts production in a single ecosystem.

For practices already using Bright, BrightPropose eliminates the need for a separate proposal tool and a separate login.

Want to create professional proposals, engagement letters, and pricing packages in a single workflow?

This content may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools. Content is reviewed by a member of the Bright team before publication. Guidance on legislation can be obtained from your industry body.