Business Strategy for CPA's · Geraldine Carter

382 [WIP Series] The Messy Middle of Reshaping a Tax Firm with Michelle Kinnison, CPA

·31 min·2 clips

Michelle says 95 legacy clients are the pilot for tiered pricing after 159 disengagements in four years.

1. Business Strategy for CPAs follows Michelle Kinnison as she reshapes a tax firm built from 359 inherited clients. 2. Geraldine Carter hosts Michelle Kinnison, CPA, and the episode matters because Michelle is in the middle of the change, not at the finish line. 3. The episode asks how a small CPA firm can raise prices, cut legacy complexity, and protect capacity without losing control of the business. 4. Michelle says she bought clients from a former business partner who "lived out of Excel" and underpriced work. 5. She describes inheriting "great hearts, but bad behavior" from clients who did not value her new standards. 6. Before mastermind work, Michelle tried engagement letters, tax organizers, targeted price increases, and disengagements. 7. She says those four moves helped, but they did not solve the underlying pricing and capacity problem. 8. Michelle says her first instinct was to hire help for depth, client confidence, and time management. 9. She also wanted to recoup the cost of the purchased book of business, which made every pricing decision feel tied to sunk cost. 10. Geraldine and Michelle discuss how painful it is to review 359 clients in Excel and decide who stays. 11. Michelle says legacy-client pricing was doubled in some cases, such as moving a basic 1040 from $225 to $515. 12. She says new clients are now coming in at $850 to $950 minimum. 13. Michelle reports that a fall 2024 price increase went to about 180 clients and kept 80% of them. 14. She says that tax season used to reach 80 to 100 hours a week before mastermind work. 15. She says the most recent tax season was still about 70 hours a week, which she wants to reduce. 16. Michelle says she disengaged at least 50 clients and dropped all foreign-reporting work because it created too much research and anxiety. 17. She has created bronze, silver, and gold tiers priced at $950, $1,500, and $2,000. 18. Michelle says bronze includes basic compliance plus two quick questions and a safe-harbor estimate, while gold adds planning and collaboration with professionals or family members. 19. The conversation is candid and operational, with Geraldine repeatedly checking the numbers and Michelle answering with exact client counts, prices, and hours. 20. CPAs who manage inherited client bases and want firmer pricing will find this useful, while people looking for a polished success story may skip it.

As heard by us

A candid look at pricing, pruning, and the awkward middle of reclaiming time.

Michelle Kinnison's episode lands in the middle of a real business reset: at least 50 clients have been disengaged, foreign reporting is off the table, and a three-tiered pricing structure now matches the proposals already being given.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a real-time look at a CPA firm trimming clients and reshaping pricing before the finish line.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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