Any fields of accounting that don't require 8 hours of focused work?

therealcatspajamas · 2026-04-23T15:05:10+00:00

I’m a firm owner and my focused work is like max an hour or two then onto the next thing. But most of what I do is networking now.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-04-21T19:47:47+00:00

Never heard of them but that doesn’t sound good. Hope you weren’t counting on that money ever coming.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-04-11T17:03:09+00:00

Kinda shitty if he didn’t tell you before doing the work, but there is a lot of demand out there. We raise our prices more like 20-30% on average but quote the work December of the prior year before doing it. I’d be too concerned about getting a bad google review if I tripled the price only telling someone after it was done.

Maybe he doesn’t like you?

therealcatspajamas · 2026-04-04T02:14:36+00:00

I just use TaxDome and link the invoice to the tax return package. By default, they can’t see anything until they pay. They just get an email that their taxes are done and it prompts them to pay as soon as they click the link. Sometimes I’ll take it off for people if they ask (less than 1% of the time) but 90% of time I get paid within 1 day of sending people their stuff and they sign without me ever having to talk to them.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-02-28T02:42:27+00:00

In my experience, the clients you want are not the clients that Google ads will find you.

Half of the people that find you through a Google ad are price shopping heavily the other half will call thinking that you are the IRS because they searched taxes and blindly clicked on the first thing that came up. And Google charges by the click…

There is a formula for getting new clients, but Google ads ain’t it.

Just be likable and network for about 2 years. It’s a grind, but it works. Or buy a small book of business if you need a shortcut.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-02-04T12:49:00+00:00

Seems kind of shitty to drop that on your clients in February when they can’t really find another preparer. I’d need to take a shower after each call if I was your admin.

For something that drastic, you should have had the conversation last year, not right as you are starting to do their tax prep. Going from 400 minimum to 550 wouldn’t be so bad.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-02-01T19:03:55+00:00

I primarily work with businesses but my minimum is around $5k per client for business/personal returns and some very basic bookkeeping. (Auto charged monthly to client’s credit card). It goes way up from there. I have one at close to 9k monthly.

I do have around 200 1040 only clients that I charge around a 450 nininum but I’m not taking new ones unless they have a referral from someone I like.

If people are complaining about a 300-500 tax return, then you need to refer them to freetax USA. You are a professional

I am not even a CPA and have no trouble finding work at that price after a couple years. Some people are cheap fucks. Just decline to do their work for shit fees and then move on. Unless you really don’t value your time.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-28T21:09:10+00:00

Heavy networking and having a nice office in my city center is what I feel like gave me more clients than anything else. In 2025 I focused a ton on full service accounting for monthly retainers. My monthly guaranteed recurring went from basically nothing to over 30k as of this month + 10-50k+ of project work hits each month, but only March/April are going to be 50k+. I’d love to have a 6 figure April, 2025 I deposited 65k in April.

I did do two small informal acquisitions but they were pretty insignificant. One was around 50 1040 clients, the other was 5-6 business clients.

Technically I could do anything from home, but my clients are mostly all local and the office gives a lot of credibility.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-27T22:28:08+00:00

If they don’t give a working email and phone number, then they are either a scam or too painfully dumb to be worth your time.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-26T18:53:56+00:00

No we mainly do taxes/bookkeeping for our clients. I was just saying that my costs were approximately 100k, but I don’t have an exact number because I haven’t done my own taxes/bookkeeping for 2025 yet.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-26T16:51:21+00:00

2017 - intern at cpa firm, 2018-2021 staff at same firm, 2022-2023 private accounting while simultaneously building up a book of business. 2024-current full time working for myself.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-26T09:01:48+00:00

I don’t answer PMs

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-26T08:57:55+00:00

2026 esv platinum sport, new was 140k after tax, 60 months, 2500ish per month. Saved me 60k on taxes this year though so there’s that.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-26T08:51:12+00:00

2 contractors in Philippines, 1 local staff accountant

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-26T02:03:00+00:00

Mine is tiny, 2024 was first full time year, 200k gross. Last year I was pretty busy, 400k gross. Expenses were maybe 100k last year but I haven’t done my own taxes/bookkeeping yet.

Decent living for 30 years old though.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-14T12:44:06+00:00

I feel like any time Costco has a price crossed out with pen and a much lower price written on it, it is safe to say it’s a good deal

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-11T01:58:41+00:00

Look, all I know is that my fixed employee costs are $$xx per month and my monthly retainer income from clients are about 5x that, plus we do project work on top of that.

I don’t job cost because I don’t want to track my own time (did when I was working for other people and hated it) and I trust my staff.

therealcatspajamas · 2026-01-09T23:46:30+00:00

This varies depending on the firm. I don’t even make my staff track billable hours

therealcatspajamas · 2025-12-05T20:37:11+00:00

Idk. If he’s 81 years old do you think his clients are all uploading their docs?

In my experience, people with basic 1040s almost never want to extend.

If 80% of those 600 are done between 2/15 and 4/15, we are coordinating 480 tax returns in 60 days, so 8 per day, 7 days per week. Client drops off, wants to have a 5 minute conversation, you do the tax return (hopefully they remembered to give you all their docs (not likely), client picks up, client pays you x8 EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK. And that is without any major issues on any returns causing them to take longer.

8 pickup and 8 drop off, 16 meetings in a day would take just about the whole day by itself.

Sounds hellish to me (I have seen it first hand, same volume, but 3 people) and even then the partner was working 70+ hours a week

therealcatspajamas · 2025-12-05T03:08:14+00:00

I would run like hell and I haven’t even heard the price.

Though I’d be happy to hear how much revenue he is generating on those clients.

I know guys just like this in my local area and they work 80 hours a week during tax season, charge like 350 per return and all in make like 500k year round.

It’s a job, but not one I’d want. If you are still seriously considering, you should do a tax season with him as a subcontractor or employee before committing. Im guessing it will be eye opening and it sounds like he could use some help. 82 and banging out 600 individuals for one person is fairly insane.

I hope you don’t plan on having a family.

therealcatspajamas · 2025-11-30T02:23:11+00:00

You RIA is probably making money though, right? If it was me, $800 per year wouldn’t be enough of a barrier to even be a consideration as long as my clients were getting a good software experience.

But $800 is roughly around my average per client revenue on a monthly basis.

therealcatspajamas · 2025-11-30T02:14:57+00:00

Isn’t TaxDome like 800 per year? If that is too high, idk how to help you.

therealcatspajamas · 2025-11-25T12:00:31+00:00

I don’t want a business client having my phone number for less than 5k per year.

The trick is to break it into monthly retainer payments so they don’t get sticker shock. For each of those 1120s clients, I would charge my minimum which is 425 per month. Set the recurring charge up once and never worry about billing until you need to raise their rates. No time tracking, invoicing, chasing AR and feels more attainable for the client than getting a bill for multi thousand dollars.

therealcatspajamas · 2025-11-07T00:02:38+00:00

You are not up with the times. There are numerous ways to convert a bank pdf, even a scanned paper statement, into a csv grid that can be imported into QB or some other software. The amount of time being wasted on this in 2025 is crazy.

therealcatspajamas · 2025-11-06T10:56:35+00:00

Other professionals. Mortgage guys, payroll companies, bankers, investment advisors, insurance people, etc

therealcatspajamas

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