Billing

Yup, billing.  The slow gains that the concept (and implementation) of value billing/pricing have been making over the last decade appeared (at least to some) to raise questions as to its viability.

Now, from our colleagues in the legal profession, comes news that the client community is moving towards a greater demand for a billing system other than the billable hour.  Tom Kane's excellent blog gives some great examples of the trend that he sees as corporations large and small demand a move away from the billable hour - driven at least partly by the current economy.

Within the legal profession it appears that the adoption of alternatives to the billable hour might be being led by smaller, boutique firms that can develop and deploy a nimble response to client demands that larger firms might not be able to.  Think of turning a supertanker around as opposed to a dinghy.

With IGAF Worldwide, perhaps 10 - 15% of firms use some form of billing other than billable hour on a regular basis - but few do it with all clients, all of the time.

We are likely going to add this as a tracking item in upcoming Practice Management surveys - to see if there really is a trend in accounting firms.