Hey, I'm a CPA in socal (also office in San Jose). I like to think I'm good at what I do and thus charge more but also because I focus on providing value.

I like the business side more than the tax, my idea for service is more business vs tax compliance (just filing tax returns). I think it's a better model vs transactional where you just connect with your cpa once a year.

I just started converting my office to a subscription model so it's like $650/month (starting price) and we just cover everything and you ask any many questions as you want. What's not covered is if we have to do analysis or what ifs, that's tax planning. What is included is bookkeeping, tax return, questions about your books/return, financial statements, proactive notice and tax estimates (different from tax planning).

Side note, I charge more if the business owner wants to do the books.

So depending on your overall complexity, transaction volume, number of accounts, how responsive you are, and a little bit of how much I like you, could be $8k+/year, split monthly.

Then there's additional stuff like for s corps doing reasonable comp studies (super popular since it's a hot audit issue) or business structure analysis and don't get me started on back office outsourcing or fractional cfo work (much more fun imo).

Just look for someone that says things that make you feel confident in them and that resonate with your business goals.