You can't get strategic advice from someone who's billing you by the minute.
So we took the meter off. Flat fee, scoped to your business, agreed in advance — and it stays that way.
Bookkeeping, tax, advisory — bundled.
For the right-sized business.
No meter for in-scope work.
The hourly bill is the wrong tool for this job. It rewards us for taking longer, and it punishes you for asking the question. A flat fee fixes the incentive on day one — your win is our win.
Andy Hairgrove
Partner, Unify CPA
Two billing models, two very different relationships.
The way a firm bills shapes the way it shows up. Here's the contrast, plainly.
Billing by the minute
The clock starts when you call. The longer the work takes, the more they earn.
- PricingHourly rates × time spent
- InvoicesSurprise bills, monthly variance
- CallsYou hesitate before reaching out
- IncentiveSlower work = bigger bill
- AdvisoryExtra scope, extra invoice
- Year-roundMostly transactional, mostly Q1
One flat monthly fee
Scoped to your business, agreed in advance, and it stays that way unless your business changes.
- PricingFlat fee, scoped to your needs
- InvoicesSame number, every month
- CallsPick up the phone any time
- IncentiveSave you time and money
- AdvisoryBuilt into the fee
- Year-roundQuarterly reviews + always-on
Everything you'd expect from a CPA — under one fee.
For full detail by service line, see the Services pages. Here's the summary.
Your monthly fee includes
Monthly bookkeeping, sales tax & close
Reconciled books, P&L and balance sheet timely delivered. Sales tax handled. Meaningful conversations had.
Federal & state tax returns
Entity returns plus owner pass-through. Filed on time, every year.
Year-round tax planning
Proactive planning so the work happens before December, not in April.
Quarterly strategy reviews
KPIs, margin levers, decisions that need a second set of eyes.
Always-on advisory
Calls, emails, mid-month questions. We never bill for picking up the phone.
A dedicated team
Your CPA plus a staff accountant who know you and your business. No mysterious backroom accountants.
Four inputs, one number.
We don't pull a price out of the air, and we don't quote until we've seen enough to be confident. These are the four things that move the dial.
Business complexity
Entity type, number of owners, number of accounts, equity arrangements, multi-state footprint. The more moving parts, the more careful work each month.
Volume of work
Annual revenue and the number of transactions we'll be reconciling each month. A high-volume e-commerce shop is a different beast from a low-volume professional services firm.
Your in-house resources
If you have a bookkeeper or controller already doing solid work, we leverage what's there and price accordingly. We're not interested in charging you to redo something already done.
Advisory needs
How much strategic work the engagement calls for — tax planning depth, exit modeling, KPI work, partner buy-ins. More advisory means more partner time.
What a real fee actually buys.
An illustrative client to make the numbers concrete. Yours will be scoped to your business — but this is the rhythm.
S-Corp, 2 owners — $2.2M revenue
- Monthly bookkeeping & closeIncluded
- Federal & CO state entity returnsIncluded
- Sales & use tax filingsIncluded
- Quarterly strategy reviewIncluded
- Year-round tax planningIncluded
- Always-on advisory accessIncluded
Less than the cost of a part-time bookkeeper — with a CPA on top.
This client used to pay one bookkeeper plus a separate CPA for a once-a-year tax return. The combined cost was higher, the answers were slower, and nothing connected.
Now the books and the strategy are the same conversation, billed the same way, every month.
Illustrative · Your fee scoped during discovery
The right CPA should make you far more than they cost.
Tax savings, profit improvement, costly errors avoided, decisions made with better information. If the relationship doesn't pay for itself many times over, we're not doing our job.
“What I appreciate most about Unify CPAs is that I don't have to worry. Tax deadlines, compliance, proactive planning — they're on top of all of it. Switching to Unify was one of the better decisions I've made for the firm, and I'd say the same to any business owner looking for a CPA team they can actually trust.”
The questions clients ask before they sign.
Five we hear most often. If yours isn't here, ask Andy on the discovery call.
Isn't a flat fee just more expensive?
For most of our clients, no. The flat fee tends to come in below what they were paying for separate bookkeeper + CPA + occasional advisory time on the meter — and the work is materially better because it's connected. Never mind the time savings you experience from not having to be the go-between. We'll show you the math during discovery.
What if I don't need that much advisory work?
We'll scope out a reasonable estimate during discovery — our goal is to get it right. Not too much. Not too little. Most clients use more of the advisory time than they think they will once the value starts to materialize in the form of profits, tax savings, and value creation.
Why don't you publish a price list?
Because two businesses with identical revenue can have wildly different scope — entity structure, transaction volume, multi-state footprint, advisory needs. A published price list would either overcharge half our clients or undercharge the other half. The discovery call is what makes the quote honest and accurate.
When does the fee change?
Annually, or when your business materially changes — adding entities, opening a new location, crossing a revenue band, taking on outside investment. We discuss it openly before anything moves; you'll never see a surprise increase on an invoice.
What about one-off projects?
Things genuinely outside the engagement — SBA loan reviews, M&A diligence, litigation support — are scoped separately and quoted up front.
Get a number you can actually plan around.
One discovery call, one flat fee. No obligation, no pitch.