Advisory work earns more, and becomes recurring income, when it is packaged in tiers and priced on the value it gives the client.
If your firm already does advisory work, it may not be charging for it in full, because the advice is buried in hourly billing or given away alongside compliance. Packaging and pricing advisory deliberately turns occasional advice into a business line with recurring revenue. That means moving off hourly rates, building tiers, pricing on value and making the work recurring.
Hourly billing caps advisory value and penalises efficiency, because the better and faster you get, the less you earn. It also presents advice to the client as a cost to keep down. Fixed and value-based pricing ties the fee to the outcome and to what the client is willing to pay. It also makes advisory income predictable, which helps if you ever plan to sell the firm.
Give clients a clear, structured choice, typically of three tiers. The top tier makes the middle look sensible by comparison (an anchoring effect), and some clients will choose the top tier itself. Structure the choice so the client is deciding which level to buy.
| Tier | Roughly what's inside | Example / month |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | Quarterly management accounts + a review call | £250–500 |
| Growth | Monthly accounts, KPIs, forecasting, regular calls | £600–1,200 |
| Partner | Full virtual FD: planning, cashflow, board-level input | £1,500–3,000+ |
Illustrative only — set your own numbers against the value you deliver and your market.
Frame the fee against what the advice is worth to the client, such as a decision that saves or makes them tens of thousands of pounds. The same advice is worth more to a £2m business than a £200k one, and your pricing can and should reflect that. What the client pays for is confidence, better decisions and a clearer view of the future, so describe the service in those terms.
Aim for recurring advisory retainers: a monthly cycle of reporting, planning and conversation. Recurring income is stickier, more valuable and easier to deliver consistently. It also lifts the value of your firm if you ever sell, because buyers pay more for predictable, repeating income. Monthly retainer work keeps you in contact with the client between year-ends.
Your team needs time to deliver advisory well. Moving compliance production off their desks is the first step — see moving from compliance to advisory and outsourcing your back office. And once advisory is a real recurring line, track it: the right KPIs tell you whether it's working.
No — hourly billing caps the value, punishes efficiency and frames advice as a cost. Fixed or value-based pricing ties the fee to the outcome and makes income predictable.
Typically in three tiers (e.g. Foundation, Growth, Partner), so clients choose which level to buy. The top tier anchors the choice and makes the middle option look sensible by comparison.
Frame the fee against what the advice is worth to the client: the decisions it improves and the money it saves or makes. The same advice is worth more to a larger business, and your pricing can reflect that.
Recurring income is stickier, easier to deliver consistently, and more valuable — including at sale, because buyers pay more for predictable, repeating fees. A retainer also keeps you in regular contact with the client.
Book a confidential call about moving routine compliance off your team so they have time for advisory, or about selling your practice.
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Andy Jackson, co-founder