Whenever I get the results of the Intuit® Rate Survey, the first question I ask myself is, "Should I be charging more for the work I do?" I think that is the question every QuickBooks ProAdvisor should be asking after reviewing the results found in Heather Satterley's summary of the rate survey published in "The Results of the New Intuit Rate Survey Are In"* within the Intuit Firm of the Future Blog.
This is a great article with some excellent graphics. I am not going to restate the article or the survey, but I will focus on just a few key points that can be taken from my interpretation of the data.
Make-up of ProAdvisors Participating
We were told that almost 900 participants answered the survey results, and that all but 1% were ProAdvisors. Of the ProAdvisors answering the survey, the number was just about 50-50 of Free QBO ProAdvisors in contrast to Paying QuickBooks Desktop ProAdvisors (or one subscription type or the other: Deluxe or Premium). That's an excellent mix of participating ProAdvisors from which any survey would reflect what the ProAdvisor community is doing from a rate standpoint.
Hourly Billing Prevails
Hourly billing, otherwise known as "by the hour" rates, clearly prevails with survey participants for QuickBooks-related services—ranging from monthly bookkeeping work to QuickBooks training. It was highest for troubleshooting/clean-up work and lowest for QuickBooks set-up.
Fixed-fee based on estimated hours—or cost to complete specific work—was the second most common billing method, but well below hourly billing.
Value Billing, which the survey defined as "marking down invoices" after work was performed, has the lowest responses. Value Pricing, defined as the maximum amount a client would pay, had the second-lowest response for billing methodology for QuickBooks services.
Overall, ProAdvisors still favor "hourly billing" of their clients for most QuickBooks services. If there is an area of QuickBooks work drawing close to flipping from hourly billing to fixed-fee, it appears to be QuickBooks Set-up.
It would be nice to see if the responses for fixed-fee came from predominately QuickBooks Online ProAdvisors in contrast to QuickBooks Desktop ProAdvisors. If I were a betting man, I would almost lay odds that would be the case because there is a far greater standard workflow to QBO set-up than to the multi-faceted varieties of QBD.
Hourly Rates by ProAdvisor Certification
I will only consider "Core" Certified and "Advanced" Certified ProAdvisor rates in this, but I will mention the percentage increase in rates between non-certified, Core and Advanced certified ProAdvisors.
Whichever one you are, the rate survey shows you charge between $83 and $87 per hour on average for bookkeeping work. According to the survey, the percent difference is 5%, yet ProAdvisors change at least 22% more than non-certified participants doing the same work.
When it comes to troubleshooting and clean-up work, ProAdvisors charge 31% more than non-certified participants, 38% more for QuickBooks Set-up and 45% more for QuickBooks Training. So my question is, "Why if you can charge 45% more for training than a non-certified participant do you think you can't charge 45% more for bookkeeping work or clean-up work, or QuickBooks set-up?
And if an Advanced Certified ProAdvisor can charge 18% more for training than a "Core" certified ProAdvisor, why can't they charge 18% more for every QuickBooks ProAdvisor service?
Concluding Remarks
Heather's biggest article takeaway was to advise you to "get your certifications." While I could not agree more, my biggest takeaway is, "Are you charging what you are worth, or, are you letting those certifications simply be another badge you collect?"
Footnotes:
* - The 2021 Intuit® Rate Survey as published within the Intuit Firm of the Future Blog article titled, 'The results of the new Intuit Rate Survey are in' by Heather Saterley, CPA, MSI.