A tax client calls in March and asks whether to buy the new truck before year end. A bookkeeping client emails on the 9th asking why the bank balance is lower than the profit. Neither question is about tax or bookkeeping. Both are advisory questions, and they already arrive at firms that do not sell advisory.
Client advisory services, or CAS, is the work beyond compliance: reporting, planning and advice on a recurring fee, built on books that are kept to a standard. Tax and bookkeeping firms are closer to it than they think. This guide covers how to add an advisory tier, using Navigator for the client-facing layer, without building a CAS department first.
Why tax and bookkeeping firms are well placed
You hold the data. A bookkeeping firm closes the client's books every month. A tax firm sees the full year and every schedule behind the return. An advisory firm starting from scratch has to win that access first.
You hold the trust. The client already shares bank statements, payroll and their personal return with you. That trust is the hardest part of advisory to earn and the part you already have.
The questions already come to you. Owners ask their accountant about hiring, pricing, cash and loans because there is nobody else to ask. Most firms answer for free, or say "that is outside our scope". Either way the advisory demand is visible and unpriced.
Firms see it too. In Thomson Reuters' 2025 State of Tax Professionals report, three-quarters of respondents said their clients "strongly" desire more tax and business advice in addition to tax preparation. The same report found 75% of firms still citing tax return preparation as their most profitable service.
What actually stops firms from offering advisory
Hours. The owner-facing layer — a dashboard the client can read, a cash forecast, an explanation of why margin moved — takes a skilled person's time every month. In most small firms that person is a partner, so the number of advisory clients the firm can carry is the number of spare hours that partner has.
Skills. Preparing a return and keeping clean books are different skills from building a forecast or explaining a variance. Hiring for FP&A is hard and expensive. In Intuit's 2025 survey of 700 US accounting professionals, 80% reported difficulty hiring experienced professionals.
Tools. Business intelligence tools can produce the dashboards, but someone has to build and maintain them. The firm ends up with another production task instead of an advisory product.
Pricing. Firms that bill compliance by the return or by the hour struggle to price advice that does not map to either. Among tax firms growing advisory, Thomson Reuters found 47% citing clients' resistance to paying for advice as a challenge, 41% a lack of time because of compliance work, and 37% difficulty pricing advisory services.
Three routes to client advisory services
| Route | What you need | What you keep | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build in-house | Hire or train FP&A staff, choose and build tools | All of the margin | Slow to start, and depends on people who are hard to hire and keep |
| Partner for delivery | A delivery partner working under your brand | The client, the price and the relationship | Choosing a partner whose method and review standard match yours |
| Add a software layer | A tool that turns the books into an owner-facing view | Most of the margin, and your senior hours | Software exposes the quality of the books underneath |
The routes combine. Many firms start with the software layer on clients whose books they already keep, then add a delivery partner for close and forecasting work when demand outruns the team.
What Navigator does for the client
Navigator connects to the client's QuickBooks Online file read-only and answers the owner's questions in plain English, with every figure tracing back to the transactions behind it.
A daily view. Cash, margin, receivables and payables, refreshed daily, with a morning brief by email.
Answers on demand. The owner types a question the way they would text their accountant — did we make money last month, who has not paid — and gets the number with where it came from.
More than one company. Each entity's books are read separately and shown as one business, with intercompany elimination on the Pro plan.
Looking forward. On Pro, budget against actuals with variance explained, a 13-week cash forecast, a rolling 12-month forecast, and breakeven and loan coverage measured against the client's own loan terms.
Navigator never writes to the ledger. Your books, workpapers and close process stay as they are.
What it does for the firm
One console for every client. Which clients are connected, whose data needs a look, which of your people have access to each client, and one click into any client's view.
Your name leads. The deliverable is co-branded, with your firm in front and Navigator behind. It is not white-labelled, so when a lender asks where a number came from, there is a named source.
You control access. You add clients, decide what each one can see, and switch access off the day an engagement ends.
A written non-solicit. Navigator does not approach a partner firm's clients, for the life of the relationship and two years after it ends.
Routine questions answered without you. "What is the balance" and "did that invoice land" stop reaching your inbox. What reaches you is the question that needs judgment, which is the one worth your rate.
The three partner models
| Refer | Deliver | Co-deliver | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it suits | Tax firms that want the client looked after without adding a service | Firms building an advisory tier and delivering it themselves | Firms with more demand than capacity, or a gap above bookkeeping |
| What you earn | 25% of revenue every month for the life of the account | The spread between 25% off list and the price you set | Your fee on an engagement you price, with delivery staff behind you |
| Who invoices the client | Navigator | Your firm | Your firm |
| Who does the work | Navigator | Your team | Navigator's controllers and FP&A staff, under your brand |
| Commitment | No minimum, quota or certification | Stacks with the 20% annual discount | Priced per engagement, not per seat |
You can run different models for different clients. Nothing is exclusive. The current terms are on the Navigator partners page.
Packaging and pricing an advisory tier
Most firms do not sell Navigator as a line item. They put it inside an advisory tier and price the tier on what it is worth to the client.
For a bookkeeping firm, a simple ladder works:
For a tax firm, add one year-round tier above the return: a daily view, a mid-year review against the plan, and a year-end planning call before December rather than after.
Your cost, from published pricing. Navigator is $299 a month for one entity and Navigator Pro is $499, with every additional entity at half price. On the deliver model a partner pays 25% off list, and annual billing takes a further 20% off.
| Plan, one entity | List, monthly | Partner, monthly | Partner, billed annually |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navigator | $299.00 | $224.25 | $179.40 a month |
| Navigator Pro | $499.00 | $374.25 | $299.40 a month |
The client price is yours to set. Price the tier on the decisions it supports and the questions it answers, not on the software cost underneath it. The pricing page has the entity rules, and the partners page works through a five-entity example.
The upsell conversation
Start with a client who is already asking. The best first advisory clients are the ones who email between closes, run more than one company, or carry a bank loan with covenants. They feel the gap most and the fee is easiest to justify.
Lead with their question, not your service. "You asked in March whether you could afford the truck. Here is a view that answers that kind of question every morning, from the books we keep."
Show, do not describe. Connect the client's file and walk them through their own numbers. A demo on a fictional company is less convincing than ten minutes on theirs.
Use the books as the way in. For a tax firm that does not keep the books, the free Navigator Accounting Health Check runs 51 read-only checks on a QuickBooks Online or Zoho Books file and produces a scored report with cited findings. A low score is usually a clean-up engagement before it is an advisory one, which is work in its own right. We cover what the check looks at in what an accounting health check looks at.
Time it to the calendar. Tax firms have natural moments: after filing season, at extension deadlines, and in the fourth quarter, when year-end planning is a conversation the client already expects.
Delivering it every month
A light monthly rhythm is enough to start.
1. Close the books, or confirm the client's bookkeeper has. The daily view is only as current as the close.
2. Check data health in the console before the client does: connection, freshness, aging, budget.
3. Write the one-page story. The headline, the two or three movements that matter, one recommendation and one risk. We cover the method in from data to decisions.
4. Hold the call. Lead with the recommendation, not a walk through the statements.
5. Let the client self-serve between calls, and pick up the questions that need judgment.
As the tier grows, the close and the forecasting are what consume hours. That is the point to add delivery capacity, either by hiring or through a partner.
Check the professional standards first
Referral fees and commissions. Under the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct, a member may not accept a commission for recommending a product to a client for whom the firm performs audit, review, certain compilation or prospective financial information work. For other clients, commissions and referral fees must be disclosed. State boards of accountancy set their own rules, and some are stricter. Read both before using the refer model.
Independence. If you perform attest work for a client, check the AICPA independence rules on nonattest services before taking on advisory or management-type responsibilities for them.
Scope. Write the advisory tier into the engagement letter: what is included, how often, and what the client remains responsible for.
What Navigator will not do
It will not keep the books or close the month. It reads what is in QuickBooks Online. If the books are two months behind, the daily view shows two-month-old numbers next to today's bank balance, and the owner will notice.
It will not prepare returns, file anything or give an audit opinion. The Health Check is an automated diagnostic, not an assurance engagement.
It will not give the advice. Navigator answers "what happened" and "what is the trend" from the ledger. The recommendation, and the judgment about what matters to this owner, stays with the firm. That is the part the client pays for.
Frequently asked questions
How can a tax firm offer client advisory services?
A tax firm can offer client advisory services by adding a year-round tier above the return: a daily view of the client's numbers, a mid-year review and a year-end planning call, delivered from the client's books. Software such as Navigator provides the client-facing layer, and a delivery partner can take on close and forecasting work.
How do bookkeeping firms upsell advisory services?
Start with clients who already ask questions between closes, run more than one company or carry a bank loan. Show them their own numbers in a daily view, then offer a tier that adds budget against actuals, a cash forecast and a monthly call to the close you already deliver.
What does Navigator cost for accounting firms?
Navigator lists at $299 a month for one entity and Navigator Pro at $499, with each additional entity at half price. Partner firms on the deliver model pay 25% off list, with a further 20% off for annual billing, and set their own client price.
Can a CPA firm accept referral revenue from Navigator?
It depends on the client and the state. The AICPA Code prohibits commissions for recommending products to clients for whom the firm performs attest work, and requires disclosure for other clients. Check your state board's rules, which can be stricter, before using the refer model.
Does Navigator replace the bookkeeper or the CPA?
No. Navigator reads the books read-only and explains them. It does not keep the books, close the month, prepare returns or provide assurance.
Can Navigator run under our firm's brand?
Your firm leads and Navigator is co-branded behind you. On the deliver model your firm invoices the client, who does not see a Navigator bill. It is not white-labelled.
Where CFOLogic fits
CFOLogic is the delivery partner behind accounting firms that want to sell advisory without hiring for it: monthly close, FP&A with variance narratives, and CFO-level work, delivered under your brand to your review standard. Navigator, our software, is the client-facing layer on top of the books. Firms use one, the other, or both, client by client.