Value Pricing by Committee: Why CAS Pros Shouldn't Price Alone

Read Time: 4:10 minutes

✋Welcome to The CAS Cache, a newsletter designed to help accounting firms grow their CAS offerings in five minutes or less.

Disclaimer: Some links below support my writing of this newsletter, and some give you a deal.

Issue Sponsor 😎

If revenue is stalling during the summer months, Full Stadium Marketing has a few slots available to help boost your accounting firm’s momentum. They craft focused plans and execute them to connect you with your ideal clients. Book a strategy meeting today.

Want to sponsor The CAS Cache? Reply to this email to get more details.

In the last issue, I discussed the intangible side of value pricing. The stuff that doesn't show up in spreadsheets that shifts a client's perception of what they're paying for.

We talked about emotional ROI, identity shifts, and clients' relief from working with someone who "gets" them, not just someone who reconciles transactions. That issue came out of a $2.7k/month investment I made in a coach who, on paper, didn't make financial sense. But in practice? It's worth every penny.

That whole reflection had me thinking: If pricing is so much about emotion and perception, why are we trying to make these calls alone?

Upcoming Live Events that I will be at:

• All Things CAS Roundtable - Have you got a question, challenge, or idea about running and growing your CAS service? Join our live, unrecorded monthly roundtable in The Kick C@$ Community. A space to ask anything and hear what’s working (or not) from fellow CAS leaders in real time on the second Tuesday of every month at 3 PM CST.

• The CAS Quarterly Marketing Roundtable - Marketing a CAS firm isn’t one-size-fits-all. This live, unrecorded quarterly roundtable is your space to crowdsource ideas, check your strategy, and hear what’s moving the needle—from lead gen and niche positioning to referrals, content, and beyond. Join us on July 16th at 1 PM CST in The Kick C@$ Community.

• Speaking at Bridging The Gap Accounting Conference on July 22nd through July 24th.

• Speaking at Intuit Connect on October 27th through October 29th.

Enter: Value Pricing by Committee

The hardest part of value pricing is figuring out:

• What this work is worth to the client

• What role emotion and timing play

• Whether we're subconsciously projecting our own beliefs onto the number

This takes time and effort. Making most firms stick to pricing by the hour.

Due to the time constraint, I developed a more formulaic method to shortcut value pricing. But even with structure, there's still a human side to value pricing that no spreadsheet can automate.

Here's an idea I've been noodling on: Value Pricing by Committee.

Instead of one person pricing in a vacuum, the person who did the discovery shares what they learned: client goals, pain points, vibes, and budget sensitivity. Then, a small internal team asks questions, pokes holes, and offers perspectives. Not to "vote" on a price but to shape it with a broader context.

Last week, we ran a real-world version of this during a The Kick C@$ Community roundtable, which worked even better than I had thought.

Value Pricing by Community: A Case Study

A member brought a real-world prospect to the group. They shared the prospect's needs, scope of work, some financials, and the relationship. Then, we all asked clarifying questions and offered ideas on pricing strategy. The member shared their proposed price, and we responded with our own.

What stood out wasn't the number we chose. It was the process of thinking through it from different angles.

Here are a few takeaways that stuck with me:

1. There's No One Right Way to Price

Everyone brought a slightly different perspective. We looked at total investment as a percentage of revenue, the potential intangible investments, and compared it to full-time hire cost. The diversity of thought led to better pricing clarity. It's like crowdsourcing gut instinct.

2. Bookkeeping Has a Perceived Ceiling — Until It Doesn't

We all tend to hit the same mental ceiling: "They could just hire a bookkeeper for $60k/year." But that doesn't always match the reality. In this case, the client had already seen the member's value during a cleanup job. They were asking for more. When trust is established, willingness to pay shifts, especially if the client isn't just buying tasks but peace of mind and delegation of knowing it will get done without them.

3. When in Doubt, Use Tiers

Suppose you're unsure how the client perceives your value or where their budget lands; tiered pricing is your best friend. In the roundtable, the group discussed ways to present options: systematic vs. concierge. Let the client self-select their level of emotional and strategic buy-in. This potential client seemed to lean toward doing things their way in a concierge fashion rather than a systematic one.

So, What's the Real Lesson?

Sometimes, we're just too close to the client. We overthink. Or underthink. We assume what they value. We overcompensate for budget sensitivity. And honestly, pricing alone is like editing your writing. Eventually, you can't see it clearly anymore.

That's why having a second brain (or five) is powerful.

I've found that the more I surround myself with other CAS professionals who "get it," the more confident I feel in my pricing and how I explain it. The words matter. The framing matters. The options matter. And getting feedback before a proposal goes out is almost always a win.

From Committee to Community

This kind of collaboration isn't just for internal CAS firm teams. It can happen across firms, business models, and experience levels.

Our Kick C@$ roundtable showed me that we all get better when pricing is a shared conversation.

Think about it like this: when we talked about the intangibles last time, I shared how vulnerable pricing can feel, both for clients and for us. When someone shares their messy financials with you, that's a trust fall. But when you put a bold price out there, that's a trust fall too.

Final Thoughts

If you've ever been stuck on pricing—staring at your keyboard, wondering if $2,500/month is too much or shaving off $500 to "make it easier"—consider bringing someone else into the conversation.

Better yet, make it a habit.

Build a pricing committee inside your CAS firm.

Or find a peer group where value pricing is a way of pricing.

Because when we price together, we learn together. And that's where the real value lives.

Thanks for reading, Luke Templin!

P.S. There are four ways I can help you grow your CAS offerings when you are ready:

1. Join my How to Start Offering Advisory Services Cohort.

2. Cannot wait until it starts? Check out the pre-recorded version here.

3. Join The Kick C@$ Community to grow your CAS offering alongside others doing the same.

4. Automated white-labeled financial digests for your clients with FinDaily.io